Credit Cards Online Information

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TOPIC: Credit card fraud is increasingly causing financial woes for many smaller online merchants, according to an article by USA TODAY. The National Retail Federation claims the recent security breaches among the large credit card issuers has resulted in small business owners paying the expensive bank charges when their products are purchased by stolen credit cards. While credit card-issuing banks waive fake charges and cash transfers for the consumer, the merchant must absorb that cost if the banks discover the merchant did not follow procedure to verify the consumer's identity. Larger online merchants say high-end security systems help keep fraud costs down.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

Carl Clump is a global credit card fraud specialist with expertise in the many aspects of online credit card fraud and payment card risk management services. Carl has been chief executive of Retail Decisions since 1998. Previously, he was group-managing director at the Harpur Group Limited, an international processor and issuer of corporate cards and, before that, he spent 13 years with Texaco. His roles included those of European marketing coordinator, manager of the UK marketing and planning division and secondment, as general manager, to TEPAR, a consortium of European card issuing companies.

Julie Fergerson is the co-founder and vice president of emerging technologies at ClearCommerce Corporation. She is the technical inspiration behind ClearCommerce's integrated e-commerce risk management and payment processing solutions. Fergerson is among the few Internet elites with 20 years' experience. Now that the Web is reaching the mainstream on a global scale, ClearCommerce is poised to dominate the online transaction processing market. After six years at IBM, Fergerson puts her Internet experience to work mapping out the ClearCommerce technical vision. According to Fergerson, integrating the Internet sale with legacy systems, protecting retailers and consumers from fraud, and making online payments safe, secure and automated are key elements to the rise to leadership for ClearCommerce. Fergerson is also Chair of the Merchant Fraud Squad, a non-profit industry group dedicated to helping retailers fight Internet fraud.

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and GE Consumer Finance (NYSE:GE) are launching two new credit cards on the Discover(R) Network -- one for business members of SAM'S CLUB and one for consumers. The new SAM'S CLUB(R) DISCOVER(R) will be available in all 552 SAM'S CLUB locations in April. Both cards offer members even more ways to save, and are issued by GE Consumer Finance. The Business card is the first such card ever offered on the Discover Network.

"The new SAM'S CLUB DISCOVER allows our Plus Members the opportunity to earn up to 2 percent cash back on every purchase, everywhere Discover Network cards are accepted," said Cara Kinzey, vice president of Membership, SAM'S CLUB. "With this offering, members do not have to revolve a balance or buy at specific locations to earn their cash back. We believe this revolutionary credit card is the best offering available in the marketplace and are very excited to give members more ways to save."

The SAM'S CLUB DISCOVER is the most convenient way for businesses and consumers to take advantage of low prices at SAM'S CLUB, and also offers additional value to business members through competitive interest rates and flexible payment options. There are no credit card fees and item exclusions. The card also includes a $1 million spending cap.

The new SAM'S CLUB DISCOVER offers up to 2 percent cash back for Plus members every time and everywhere Discover Network cards are accepted (up to 1 percent for Advantage and Business members). Consumers also can enjoy convenient no fee cash access at the register in amounts of $20, $40 or $60 when using their SAM'S CLUB DISCOVER at any of the 552 club locations across the U.S.

SAM'S CLUB and GE Consumer Finance also announced an extension of their retail card partnership in the United States.

"We're thrilled to be extending our partnership with SAM'S CLUB and to expand that relationship to include a credit card program that will bring more choices and more value to SAM'S CLUB members, plus help grow SAM'S CLUB sales," said Mark W. Begor, president and chief executive officer, GE Consumer Finance-Americas.

In addition, the new SAM'S CLUB Discover offers extra value and convenience, including:

--No annual credit card fee

--No item exclusions and an annual $1 million spending cap

eBillit today announced that it will officially launch itself as the world's first e-commerce Payment Service Provider (PSP) at the ISPCON 2000 conference in San Jose, Nov. 8-10, 2000.

Designed to provide a suite of billing solutions, eBillit allows Internet services, digital goods, content purchases, and more to be charged directly to a consumer's local phone bill, to a direct bill, or to a web bill rather than only to a credit card.

Similar to a long distance phone bill attached to a local phone bill, an eBillit Internet bill arrives monthly in the same familiar envelope, providing assurance to the consumer about the security of the billing and payment process. Internet service providers can be confident of payment because the familiar format of the bill ensures a high collection rate.

"Our vision is built on providing practical payment options users really want, and packaging such services up in a suite that high-powered new economy companies can rapidly deploy," said Joe Lynam, President and CEO of eBillit.

eBillit was established in March 2000 by Integretel, a leading billing company, to meet the growing demand for alternatives to credit card payment for online services. By 2004, over 90 percent of American households will be connected to the Internet, yet consumers remain very concerned about online payment security. A Wall Street Journal study shows that less than 16 percent of credit card holders feel comfortable using a credit card for Internet purchases.

As an outsourced PSP, eBillit is uniquely positioned to provide both large and small new economy companies with the necessary infrastructure to implement simple, familiar and reliable billing options. With more than 1,400 Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) contracts in place covering more than 90 percent of the American public, the eBillit PhoneBill provides Internet companies with a new way to expand their customer base. Credit can be extended to users via local phone service, without the need for a credit card or other personal information.

"The bricks-and-mortar shopping world has had to refine its payment options over time. At eBillit we will refine the online payment options to address the general public's demand for convenience, simplicity, and security," said Lynam.

MerchantOnline.com (OTCBB:MRTO - news; Frankfurt:WKZ928256) and (Berlin:WKZ928256), provider of secure credit and debit card processing for Internet e-tailers, and Cardservice International Inc., the nation's leading provider of integrated merchant accounts and payment technology, have announced an agreement to utilize and co-market each other's services.

MerchantOnline.com will utilize Cardservice International as its premiere merchant services provider. Cardservice International will integrate PC Pay(R), the patented encryption card swipe device and smart card reader, with Cardservice International's state-of-the-art LinkPoint Secure Payment Gateway.

Under the agreement, Cardservice will team with MerchantOnline.com to PC Pay-enable online merchants using Cardservice's LinkPoint Secure Payment Gateway, allowing merchants to accept secure online payments as fully-encrypted, card-present transactions from consumers using PC Pay.

LinkPoint offers merchants an encrypted connection to Cardservice International's secure payment engine. With the LinkPoint Secure Payment Gateway, Cardservice merchants get the benefits of fraud protection on each transaction submitted and real-time reporting via their Web browser.

"Cardservice International is the premier payments provider for the Internet," said Tarek Kirschen, President and CEO, MerchantOnline.com. "More than 55,000 online merchants trust Cardservice with their payments every day. This agreement will further that trust, offering consumers the ability to pay at thousands of merchant sites using the PC Pay device, the most secure way to transact over the Internet. Because PC Pay-enabled merchants can significantly reduce fraud, while increasing access to new customers around the world with the ability to accept ATM/debit cards online on a broad scale, we fully anticipate that this agreement will help merchants add to their bottom line."

NEW YORK -- In a continuing effort to support the unique and diverse needs of small business owners, CitiBusiness(R) Credit Cards announces Citi Identity Theft Solutions and Fraud Early Warning to assist small business cardmembers in dealing with identity theft. This crime affected nearly 10 million individuals in 2003 and required an average of 30 hours to resolve, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Identity theft occurs when someone steals key personal or business information in order to commit theft or fraud. Citi's Fraud Early Warning service can notify small business owners of unusual activity that may be fraudulent and can temporarily block activity or stop approving charges until the cardmember authorizes the charges. This early detection service can save potential victims countless hours and frustration.

Should identity theft occur, Citi Identity Theft Solutions for small business offers a free comprehensive support program that assigns a specially trained Identity Theft Specialist to each victim. The Identity Theft Specialist may facilitate a call to a credit bureau to check for fraudulent activity, assist in placing a universal "Fraud Alert" with all three credit bureaus, provide advice and information on contacting other creditors to close unauthorized accounts, and help the victim understand and complete all the necessary paperwork, such as a police report, and follow the case through until it is closed.

"Citi Identity Theft Solutions for small business continues Citi's long-standing commitment to safeguarding its customers' personal information and providing consumers with the latest resources to help them achieve financial well-being," said Steve Freiberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Citi Cards North America.

A small business owner must not only protect his/her personal identity and business identity (taxpayer identification number), but also the identity of his or her employees. Judith M. Collins, a professor at Michigan State University, says her research suggests that 51 percent of identities are stolen in the workplace, often by people hired to perform data-entry or other low-level jobs.

Nova, the third largest Credit card processor in the U.S., teamed up with the Bank of Ireland, creating a joint venture company called Euroconex, whose aim is to offer end-to-end credit card transaction processing to acquiring banks, institutions and merchants in Ireland and the U.K. The company plans to expand throughout Europe, where the outsourcing of retail payment processing has been limited. Customer service activities depend on an entirely new IT system, and will enable storage of call-monitoring recordings and imaging documents.

Custom designed with the help of Datalink, a U.S.-based network integration consultancy, the system relies mainly on a Windows 2000 active directory infrastructure. Euroconex, however, also intends to use Oracle and Sun Microsystems' Java technology for its merchant accounting database, so it required a data storage system capable of servicing multiple platforms. The firm turned to MTI's Vivant 20 (V20) for multiplatform high-availability data storage--scalable and easy to manage--when its storage area network (SAN) in Atlanta was in need of more capacity.

The core of the company's SAN and network-attached solution (NAS) solutions, the Vivant V-series of products delivers continual access to online information, and is used in distributed computing environments, or as a focused storage solution for applications with specific processing requirements.

"Nobody else did Windows 2000 with a storage area network on the back end," says Matthew Yeager, senior systems architect at Datalink.

"We had already learned a lot from the system implementation in the States, and we wanted to take what we had learned from this project and bring it with us to the Irish development," says Gene Budd, director of technical support at Euroconex. "When we sourced a storage vendor in the States, we looked at all the main players and asked them to test the products over a two-month period. MTI provided us with the most cost-effective solution."

MTI provides support capabilities for comprehensive enterprise storage solutions for an increasing number of Global 2000 and high-growth Internet companies. For its total data storage solutions, a group of complementary services can be implemented, as needed. Euroconex decided to base the systems infrastructure around the Vivant 20, which provides a storage capacity of 1.5 TB, and upgrades to 4.5 TB with the adjunction of more disks.

Malicious hackers used a bug in PDG Shopping Cart - a popular e-commerce software tool - to break in to a number of merchant Web sites and steal credit card numbers, according to the software's vendor.

Atlanta-based PDG Software said PDG Shopping Cart, its e-commerce transaction software used by many small to mid-sized merchant sites, had been compromised.

"On Monday, April 2, it was alerted to us that some unknown hackers had broken into some Web stores running PDG Shopping Cart," said PDG President David Snyder.

Snyder said PDG investigated and contacted all vendors with a software patch that same afternoon. But in an undisclosed number of cases, the damage had already been done.

"On Tuesday, April 3, we were notified that there might have been some credit card misappropriation from some of these sites, and as soon as we hear that we brought in the Atlanta office of the FBI, and turned over all of the information to them," Snyder said.

Snyder said he was unable to say exactly how many vendors or how much information might have been compromised.

The FBI's cybercrime division, the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), posted an alert on the subject Monday April 9.

"We're a very proactive company, and we don't like to sit on things or hide things if there's any chance we can reach more of our customer base through whatever means," Snyder said. "That's why we told the FBI to put that notice on NIPC."

E-commerce, the sale of goods and services online, is expected to pass the $20 billion mark next year as more merchants adapt to the relatively new technology and consumers overcome fears of being defrauded.

Those fears - that hackers will hijack credit-card numbers out of cyberspace - have been well-publicized. But an equally thorny problem, and one that has gotten less attention, is finding ways to make it simpler for merchants to do business over the Internet.

"Right now, someone places an online order and it takes us about 15 minutes to process it, from approving credit cards to filling out invoices," said Warwick Stone, senior creative director at Los Angeles-based Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which sells merchandise and offers hotel bookings online.

"So far, online purchases are automated on the screen for the buyer, but for us there's still a lot of legwork," Stone said.

Enter Pasadena-based Earthlink Network Inc. The company introduced a pilot e-commerce program this month that promises to give companies the means to verify credit-card purchases more quickly and easily than they can using current technology.

The Earthlink program has two main attractions - it provides instant online verification of credit and a state-of-the-art encryption program to ease the fears of wary buyers.

Hard Rock Hotel is one of the four companies chosen by Earthlink to participate in the pilot program. The others are Shell Lubricants (a division of Shell Oil Co.), Surfer Magazine and Goldmine Software Corp., representing a cross-sampling of products and business models.

"We've already had a strong response from companies trying to get into the pilot program," said Bill Greene, director of corporate sales at Earthlink. "We hope to open it to a few thousand merchants in 1998 and grow from there."

Earthlink's program is elbowing its way into an increasingly crowded field. Countless software companies have launched or are scrambling to launch e-commerce packages that offer a variety of features.

Among them is "Intershop Online," the San Francisco's Intershop Co.'s software package that will be one of Earthlink's more direct competitors similarly claims to be a comprehensive e-commerce solution. Its selling point is advanced database organization of online sales.

According to a study released today by Gomez Inc., the Internet quality measurement firm, the Internet is profoundly changing the way credit cards are solicited, applied for, managed, billed, and paid. The State of Online Credit Cards 2001 reveals that Internet start-ups are challenging credit card giants to redefine the traditional value proposition of a credit card.

The study also found that consumers are demanding innovative online services, as well as the integration of new credit card technologies, and that success will come to those firms who successfully exploit the Internet to acquire new accounts. The State of Online Credit Cards 2001 was released today at Gomez's inaugural Best Practices in Online Financial Services Summit at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

"Gomez research indicates a steady, if not dramatic, growth in consumers' adoption of the Internet to meet their banking needs," explains Paul Jamieson, director of financial services research at Gomez. "A new type of online consumer is emerging, one who actively uses the Web and intends to apply online for a credit card within the next six months. Knowing what motivates these consumers, and how to communicate to them is critical in attracting and serving them."

The State of Online Credit Cards 2001 is an extensive research report that evaluates key trends in the rapidly evolving credit card market. The study identifies a group of active Internet users, called Credit Card Shoppers, who have expressed an intention to apply online for a credit card within the next six months. These users have embraced the Web as a major part of their lifestyle, have longer Internet tenures than other groups of Internet users, and are comfortable using the Web to meet their many personal and professional needs. Such online buying activity should be attractive to credit card issuers, as the vast majority of Credit Card Shoppers will use a credit card to buy online.

--Keynote Examines Competition for Customers in Online Credit Card Industry

--Discover, American Express and Chase Provide Best Online Experience

--Chase, Citi and American Express Winning Competition for New Customers

--Online Account Management Grows in Importance as Card Selection Factor

--HSBC and Providian Sites Provide the Most Reliable Online Service Levels

New competitive intelligence from Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), The Internet Performance Authority(R), shows Discover, American Express and Chase charging ahead in the credit card industry by providing the best online experience for prospective card customers at a time when online services are becoming an increasingly important factor in the card selection process. More than half (52%) of prospective credit card customers consider online account management an essential component of credit card services, with only account fees and interest rates considered more important as a selection factor.

The Keynote Rankings for Credit Card Prospects study is an examination of the customer experience and service levels on leading credit card Web sites. The study is based on an examination of the online experience of 2,000 prospective credit card customers as they interacted with leading credit card Web sites; and an examination of the technical service levels on these sites including overall site responsiveness and reliability. The American Express (NYSE:AXP), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Capital One (NYSE:COF), Chase (NYSE:JPM), Citi (NYSE:C), Discover (NYSE:MS), HSBC (NYSE:HFC), MBNA (NYSE:KRB), U.S. Bank (NYSE:USB) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) sites were examined for the studies.

Discover, American Express, Chase Provide Consumers the Best Online Experience

Keynote reports the competition for new customers in the $42 billion credit card industry is heating up online as consumers increasingly turn to the Internet to research and compare credit cards, and as online account services become increasingly important in card selection.

Discover, American Express and Chase topped the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings, an overall measure of site success across the more than 250+ metrics measured during the study. Keynote also ranked the sites in more than a dozen subcategories including customer satisfaction, customer acquisition and brand affinity, as well as functions such as ease of applying for a card online.

Mint Inc., a subsidiary of Mint Technology Corp. (TSX-V: MIT), is pleased to provide the following update on the Company's progress on the introduction of prepaid credit cards in the marketplace. A widely accepted and popular method of payment in the United States, Mint is the first company to deploy and support prepaid, reloadable credit card programs in Canada.

Mint announced today that two of the Company's prepaid, co-branded credit cards have launched to date and are being sold through retail outlets in and around Toronto. Initial sales of the cards show a positive trend in consumer acceptance. Furthermore, another five prepaid, co-branded credit cards are due to be launched over the next quarter, and will be distributed through nationwide retail networks. The number of cards pre-sold equals 275,000 thus far, providing upfront revenue to the Company. In addition to the co-branded programs being introduced, Mint has been approached by several corporations to supply another Canadian first -- a prepaid payroll credit card. Participating companies will supply their employees with a prepaid credit card to automatically transfer paycheques and corporate expenses to their cards. The convenience of a prepaid payroll credit card will lead to direct administrative cost savings.

Mint's prepaid credit card programs generate revenue from four different sources; consumer card purchases, cardholder transactions, monthly user fees, and interest on the prepaid float.

A large segment of Canadians who have been excluded from obtaining traditional credit cards now have access to the convenience, services and safety that a credit card provides. Virtually anyone can purchase a prepaid credit card because prepaid credit cards do not require a credit check and age requirements are lower. A prepaid credit card can be useful in countless situations including parents funding university expenses or wanting to teach financial responsibility to their children; giving consumers a safe way to make online purchases; or supplying a platform for business owners to provide and track employee expenses. Prepaid credit cards can be used at the millions of worldwide locations where traditional credit cards are accepted today including retailers, websites, mail order, mobile purchases and select ATM cash withdrawals.

Silicon Valley-based Technology Credit Union (Tech CU), which serves some of the most demanding consumers in the world, has announced the expansion of its credit card portfolio to offer a choice of Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit cards to its members. As of this date, Tech CU is one of only three credit unions in California to offer such a diverse credit card portfolio through its partnership with MBNA.

In addition to the Visa credit cards that Tech CU offered in the past, the Credit Union's credit card portfolio now includes a co-branded American Express rewards card and two Business MasterCard credit card options -- either with or without a rewards program. These cards, along with a new, more robust Platinum Visa rewards card, will help existing members earn rewards faster without having to pay maintenance fees. Tech CU's consumer Visa and American Express rewards cards have no annual fee, and WorldPoints® can be redeemed for cash, merchandise and travel.

"Our goal is to find new and innovative ways to reward our members for choosing Tech CU as their financial institution, and partnering with MBNA enables us to do just that," said Harold Roundtree, Senior Vice President of Member Services at Tech CU.

With a convenient online application and bill pay, in addition to 24/7 customer service, Tech CU members enjoy superior service and global access to their credit lines. "We understand that members value flexibility and choice, and our new credit cards will give our members the options they want and the service they've come to expect from Technology Credit Union," Roundtree added.

About Technology Credit Union

Technology Credit Union is a member-owned, full-service financial provider that offers services to technology and business professionals in California and their families, focusing primarily on serving individuals who work, live, go to school, or regularly worship in Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties. Tech CU was started in 1960 and is now among the top 1% of the nation's largest credit unions. With more than $1 billion in assets, and seven full-service branches in the Bay Area, Tech CU is a leader in the credit union industry.

Sage Software announced today that a leading consortium of credit and debit card processors in Canada, including Paymentech, TD Canada, BCE Emergis, and Moneris, have officially certified Sage Accpac ePOS point-of-sale (POS) software for use by retailers in the consortium's processing of their credit and debit card transactions with most of the leading banks in Canada, including CIBC, Scotia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, NDC, Bank of Montreal, and many other smaller Canadian banks. The certification applies to both dial-up and broadband Internet processing of retail transactions in conjunction with approved clearing house partner Tender Retail, who will manage the data transfers from the retailers' Sage Accpac ePOS systems to the credit and debit card processors, and then to the banks.

"We have hundreds of retailers across Canada already using Sage Accpac ePOS for their credit and debit card processing," said Craig Downing, Sage Software vice president and general manager for Sage Accpac. "This certification by leading processors and Canadian banks puts an official stamp on that relationship. With it, we assure peace of mind for current and future Sage Accpac ePOS clients."

As further evidence of the company's commitment to expanding its credit card processing capabilities, Sage Software recently acquired Verus Financial Management, Inc. in February 2006. Verus currently provides electronic transaction authorization and settlement services throughout the United States. With the acquisition, Sage Software plans to further expand Verus' services into Canada. After the expansion is completed, Canadian merchants using Verus will be able to acquire full service, certified credit and debit card transaction processing services, including settlement to their bank of choice.

Sage Accpac ePOS is an award-winning, leading POS application for small and mid-sized retailers. Taking advantage of credit and debit card processing via Internet connections, Sage Accpac ePOS helps clients reduce the wait time of their retail customers -- a critical factor in creating customer loyalty. Payment by credit card is the second most common method (after cash) used by retail customers, with debit cards being the third most used payment method.

To benefit from today's low interest rates, you've got to keep your credit clean. Here's how.

Time was when most folks prided themselves on paying cash for what they needed. Not anymore. Today even teens have their own credit cards, and it's nearly impossible to rent a car, shop on the Web, or book a flight without one.

From the time you start putting your purchases on the plastic, you're creating a history of your credit worthiness-at least in the eyes of financial, retail, and insurance institutions. Even employers are now looking at the credit records of job candidates. A clean credit record puts you in the clear, while spotty credit habits will make it harder for you to get insurance or benefit from today's low interest rates on cars and home mortgages. It may seem frightening that so many decisions can be made about you based on seemingly superficial facts. But even if you don't agree with the rules, you've got to play by them.

Some ways to get and maintain a good credit history:

Don't apply for too many credit cards.

Lenders look at the total amount of credit that is available to you on your cards. If your credit lines total $20,000, that counts against you, even if you owe only $150. Two or three cards are plenty.

Pay bills on time.

"If you don't pay on time, it will haunt you for seven years," says Nancy Castleman, editor of The Pocket Change Investor. That's how long it takes to clear negative information off your credit report. A bankruptcy filing stays on your record for 10 years.

Never get behind on student loans.

Once you fall behind, the interest is added to the principal and it can be difficult to get out of "the student loan nightmare," Castleman says.

Before you plan a big purchase or a job change, check your credit report.

The three major bureaus (www.equifax.com, www.experian.com) and www.transunion.com) maintain credit reports on you. These reports frequently contain errors; cleaning up mistakes take longer because you must contact each of the bureaus. Don't risk losing a job opportunity or a mortgage approval because of an error on your report. Dispute errors as soon as you become aware of them.

If you are denied credit, ask which credit bureau provided the report.

You are then entitled to a free copy of your report from that bureau. Otherwise reports cost $8.50 each.

If your credit is damaged, apply for a "secured" Visa or MasterCard.

NEW YORK -- JPMorgan Chase, a full-service provider of cash management, trade finance and treasury solutions, today announced the rollout of pre-paid debit cards to speed payment of tax refunds to low-income tax filers without bank accounts.

The new Chase Direct Benefit Card allows taxpayers to get their refund in a debit card instead of a paper check, eliminating check cashing fees and allowing consumers to use them at stores, ATMs and online. The card, which is convenient and secure, is geared especially for people who qualify for refunds under the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Chase Direct Benefit Cards for EITC are being rolled out in cities across the country, including Phoenix, Denver, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Columbus, Shreveport, Salt Lake City, McAllen, Flint, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Indianapolis, San Antonio and Milwaukee from now until April 15th.

"The Chase Direct Benefit Card provides an alternative banking service for consumers without bank accounts. Participants in this program will get their refunds faster, eliminate check cashing fees and not have to worry about carrying around cash," said Mark A. Willis, Executive Vice President, JPMorgan Chase Community Development Group (CDG).

The process is simple and free. The JPMorgan Chase CDG has partnered with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites in 15 cities to promote awareness of EITC refunds and support VITA's free tax preparation services. VITA sites offer taxpayers free tax information and assistance in completing tax returns and most locations also offer free electronic tax filing. VITA sites are generally located at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other convenient locations.

The money is available to consumers as soon as the IRS deposits the EITC refunds electronically. The Chase Direct Benefit Card is protected by a Personal Identification Number (PIN), but may also be used for signature-based purchases at Visa(R) retail locations where a PIN is not required. In addition to avoiding check-cashing fees, there are no late fees, minimum balances required or credit checks and the accounts are fully FDIC insured. Overdrafts are also not a concern, since cardholders can purchase or withdraw only up to the amount on deposit at the time of a transaction.