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Visa tests SMS and email alerts on credit card transactions

Categories: Announcements
By: , IntoMobile
Saturday, August 30th, 2008 at 10:28 AM

VisaVisa along with 8 North American financial institutions — including PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo in the United States, and Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity in Canada — is initiating a pilot program, involving 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts.

The program is designed to “enhance the consumer payment experience” by alerting cardholders in (near) real-time of transaction activity on their Visa account. Participants in the pilot may choose to receive the following notification alerts from Visa via email or SMS:

  • cash withdrawal from an ATM
  • a transaction initiated cross border
  • an Internet or telephone transaction, and
  • a transaction that exceeds an amount that has been chosen by the cardholder.

Once they receive an alert, cardholders can verify the transaction details and eventually contact their bank to help stop further transactions on the card. The service is designed to help cardholders keep closer track of their transactions and spending levels as they go about their daily routine.

[Via: slashphone]

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About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • Richard

    This will make for good fraud prevention. If a card fraud has taken place and can be relayed back to the merchant as well, credit card fraud could be significantly reduced.

  • Tulibelle

    This is a great service to prevent credit card fraud. I was a victim last week. I am surprise to see the name of my bank that provide this service and they do not know anything about it. Disappointed!