PayPal Backtracks on Robocalls Amidst FCC Complaints

Following recent reports that PayPal's new user agreement would allow the company to send all of its users automated (robocalls) and texts the company has today announced it’s plans to amend the User Agreement once again to clarify the language it uses to communicate to customers how the company is allowed to contact them.

PayPal had recently faced several complaints for customers and consumer advocacy groups following media reports of a change to PayPal’s terms. Rather vague language found in an update to the User Agreement, which was originally set to go live on July 1st, seemed to indicate that the company would be allowed to robocall and text users on any number it could obtain – not just the one associated with a PayPal account – and for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to marketing.

Following these reports several advocacy groups reached out the the FCC voicing their concerns. In turn this prompted the FCC to respond with a warning voicing concerns that PayPal’s updated user agreement may be in violation of federal law. One issue, according to the FCC, is that consenting to robocalls cannot be a condition of using PayPal’s service. In addition, customers must provide prior written consent before receiving robocalls, they must be able to opt out, and if they choose to consent, they must be able to specify which phone number they’re agreeing to be contacted on by PayPal.

Opting to heed the FCC's warning and avoid potential penalties of up to $16,000 per call or text message, PayPal decided to remove the vague language from the newest User Agreement and has  published a blog post apologizing to consumers for the confusion. The company says it’s now modifying the disputed section (1.10) of the User Agreement to clarify that PayPal “primarily” uses autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts for the following purposes:

• Help detect, investigate and protect PayPal customers from fraud
  
• Provide notices to  customers regarding their accounts or account activity
  
• Collect a debt owed to PayPal

In addition the new Sections (1.10(a) and 1.10(b)) will make it clear that:

•  PayPal will not use autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts to contact our customers for marketing purposes without prior express written consent
• Customers can continue to enjoy our products and services without needing to consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts
• We [PayPal] respect our customers’ communications preferences and recognize that their consent is required for certain autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts. Customers may revoke consent to receive these communications by contacting PayPal customer support and informing us of their preferences.

PayPal today says it’s clarifying the agreement’s terms, which should satisfy the FCC. The company added it worked with regulators on the new language, so it’s not likely there will be further issues. In addition to post linked above, PayPal also states they will be emailing all of their customers fully detailing the new change and allowing them the chance to provide further feedback.

PayPal to Pay $25 million In Fines and Refunds For Credit Card Deception

A top US financial consumer protection watchdog has slapped PayPal with fines totally more than $25million for claims that the online payment company illegally and unknowingly signed up users for PayPal Credit, coerced users to use PayPal Credit instead of their preferred payment method and mishandled billing disputes.

According to the filings and and ongoing investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau PayPal illegally signed tens of thousands of customers up for credit cards through the company's PayPal Credit, formerly known as Bill Me Later, without their permission. It also made changes to account holders accounts changing their default payment method to utilize their PayPal credit card, and then failed to address disputes when customers complained.

“PayPal illegally signed up consumers for its online credit product without their permission and failed to address disputes when they complained,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Online shopping has become a way of life for many Americans and it’s important that they are treated fairly. The CFPB’s action should send a signal that consumers are protected whether they are opening their wallets or clicking online to make a purchase.”

Since 2008, PayPal has offered PayPal Credit to consumers across the country making purchases from thousands of online merchants, including eBay. In their filings with the US District Court in Maryland the CFPB alleges that many consumers who were attempting to enroll in a regular PayPal account, or make an online purchase, were signed up for a credit product without realizing it. The company also failed to post payments properly, lost payment checks, and mishandled billing disputes that consumers had with merchants or the company. Tens of thousands of consumers experienced these issues. Specifically, the CFPB alleges that the company:

• Deceptively advertised promotional benefits: The CFPB alleges that PayPal failed to honor advertised promotions, such as a $5 or $10 promised credit toward consumer purchases.

• Abusively charged consumers deferred interest: The CFPB alleges that PayPal offered consumers limited-time, deferred-interest promotions, and that PayPal purported to let consumers pick how payments would be applied to these promotional balances. But consumers who attempted to contact the company to get more information or request to apply their payments to promotional balances often could not get through to the company’s customer service line or were given inaccurate information. Many such consumers were hit with deferred-interest fees that, due to the company’s conduct, they could not avoid.

• Enrolled consumers in PayPal Credit without their knowledge or consent: The CFPB alleges that the company often automatically enrolled consumers in PayPal Credit when those consumers were signing up for a regular PayPal account or making purchases. The company enrolled other consumers while they tried canceling or closing out of the application process. Many consumers ended up enrolled in PayPal Credit without knowing how or why they were enrolled. They discovered their accounts only after finding a credit-report inquiry or receiving welcome emails, billing statements, or debt-collection calls for amounts past due, including late fees and interest.

• Made consumers use PayPal Credit for purchases instead of their preferred payment method: The CFPB alleges that the company automatically set or preselected the default payment method for all purchases made through PayPal to PayPal Credit. This meant consumers used PayPal Credit even when they intended to use another method of payment such as a linked credit card or checking account. Other consumers were not able to select another payment method, finding that their purchases were charged to a PayPal Credit account even when they affirmatively selected another payment. Many of these consumers incurred late fees and interest because they did not know they had made purchases through PayPal Credit.

• Engaged in illegal billing practices: The CFPB alleges that the company failed to post payments or failed to remove late fees and interest charges from consumers’ bills even when the consumers were unable to make payments because of website failures. Numerous consumers reported that the company lost payment checks or took more than a week to process checks.

• Mishandled consumer disputes about payments: The CFPB also alleges that PayPal mishandled consumers’ billing disputes and made billing errors.

 
Under a proposed settlement, PayPal will hand over $15 million in refunds to consumers and another $10 million in civil penalties. The company also will have to improve its disclosures for PayPal Credit. PayPal neither admitted nor denied any of the complaint's allegations, and the settlement doesn't constitute a finding that the company violated any laws. Consumers who are eligible for payments don't need to take any action; they will be contacted by PayPal, the CFPB said.

Google Wallet Updated To Focus Less On NFC

Google has announced a newly updated version of Google Wallet is now available for 'all Android devices' running Android 2.3 or higher. The new app shows less focus on NFC dropping the previous requirements of an NFC chip with a secure element, something only Nexus devices and about 12 other, mostly Samsung phones had.

This new update makes the app compatible with the vast majority of Android handsets currently on the market and adds compatibility with several carrier devices that had all but been block. Carriers had been declaring all-out war on Google Wallet, with three of the big four (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) banning it outright from their phones in favor of ISIS, a competing solution that has yet to be released.

New App New Focus
 While Google really hasn't changed the way Wallet works. Paying for stuff at a terminal will still require you to have one of the select few phones with NFC and be using a carrier that hasn't banned it. What Google has done is add features that non-NFC equipped phones can use. You can now send money to an e-mail address, just like PayPal. There is also increased focus on the use of loyalty cards which can be scanned directly into the app. Several companies including Alaska Airlines, Belly, and Red Mango will allow you to join their program directly within the Google Wallet app. For these, and several upcoming merchants, you will be able to view your loyalty status, rewards point balance and in the coming days, Google Now will notify you when you have a saved loyalty program nearby.

Sending Money PayPal Style
Google recently announced the ability to send money in Gmail using Google Wallet. Now, with the Google Wallet app, you can easily and securely send money on the go much the same as you would with PayPal. As with PayPal it will be free to send money directly from your bank account or Google Wallet Balance, with what are promised to be low fees applied when using your linked credit or debit card.


Doing What Google Wallet Is Best At
One thing that hasn't changed much is the overall backbone of the new Google Wallet app. As mentioned you can still use NFC and a supported device (and carrier) to make payments. You can also see all your purchases made with Google Wallet in one place:

• In-store purchases: If you have one of the 29 different NFC-enabled devices, you can continue to tap and pay at hundreds of thousands of US locations, while also enjoying the new Wallet features. We also have more NFC-enabled devices on the horizon as we continue to invest in NFC with our partners.
• Online and mobile purchases: You can continue to speed through online shopping by using your Google Wallet account to pay on Google Play, select mobile websites or a growing set of Android apps.

You can download the new version of the Google Wallet app on the Google Play Store, which will begin rolling out this week in the US.

Staples Now Offers Rebates Via PayPal

I've played the mail-in-rebate game for as long as I can remember, all the way back to the mail them in and hope and prey that your check comes in the mail days. Now days the rebate game has changed dramatically. For some sites gone are the days of filling out forms you can submit all your rebate information online - no clipping, no mailing, no hassles.

Staples has always led the way in the new paperless MIR game. They were one of the first large retailers to take all the hassles out of the rebate game and make the rebate process easier. For years now they've used the Easy Rebate system which allow you to submit almost all of their rebate offers online which removes the delay in mailing along with the postage cost and there is no worry that Staples didn’t receive the rebate. You can track the rebate online and so far I haven’t had any issues with rebate payment.

Now they've gone a step further and are allowing you to receive your payments electronically through PayPal. With the new PayPal payment system users can skip the snail mail process altogether which should actually make receiving rebate payments quicker and easier as there is no wait time for the check to arrive. This new option should also help ease concerns from many rebate shoppers who note that the rebate postcards often get lost in the mail.

Staples has said that not all their rebates will allow for PayPal payment so you'll need to check for the option when submitting. Staples has a short FAQ about the PayPal rebate payment option. It unclear, what if any, PayPal fees might apply, so users might check into that before opting for the option. But getting your rebate a little quicker might be worth a few pennies.

eBay Tightens PayPal's Monopoly Officially Bans Third Party Online Checkout Options

Most eBay sellers that are familiar with the eBay seller agreement know that eBay holds a tight reign on the services sellers can use to collect payments and while Google Checkout and several other third party services have never explicitly been disallowed the company has never listed most of them as accepted payment services.

According to a recent post by Todd Lutwak, eBay’s vice president of the seller experience, the company is instituting a new policy that will disallow collections of payments from not only Google Checkout but any and all third party online payment services.

Once the new policy takes affect PayPal will stand as the only online payment method available to users. The company claims the move is intended “to give eBay buyers a consistent, speedy checkout experience and to ensure support for fast-growing sales via mobile platforms...,”

Clearly this has more to do with eBay owning PayPal than the user experience. Users have for years complained about the monopolistic approach eBay has taken towards PayPal. This seems to me nothing more than eBay looking to further double dip on their sellers!

Read more via eBay:

• Special Seller Update: eBay Checkout
• Third party phase-out

New PayPal And GreenDot Agreement Allows More Customers To Shop Online

Green Dot Corporation and PayPal today announced a new agreement that will allow U.S. consumers to load money directly to their PayPal accounts using Green Dot’s MoneyPak. This will enable people to shop anywhere PayPal is accepted without the need for a bank account or credit card.

MoneyPak can be purchased with cash at a retail store, then the money can be loaded directly into a PayPal account and used to shop online anywhere PayPal is accepted, including eBay. MoneyPak is available at more than 40,000 stores nationwide, such as Walmart, CVS/pharmacy, Kmart, Rite Aid and Walgreens.

The new agreement provides a convenient option for customers who prefer to use cash when shopping. MoneyPak has been fully integrated into PayPal’s site, allowing money to be added directly, without needing to link to any personal financial accounts.

“This relationship is transformative,” said Steve Streit, founder and CEO of Green Dot Corporation. “It creates a cash-based solution for millions of people who want to use PayPal to shop online, but don't have a credit card or bank account.”

“Working with Green Dot, PayPal can now reach the large audience of people who prefer to fund their accounts with cash,” said Dickson Chu, vice president with PayPal. “We are thrilled to offer this new service to our customers.”

In addition to funding a PayPal account, MoneyPak enables people to reload prepaid cards, make cash payments, pay bills and fund other accounts. MoneyPak is powered by Green Dot’s industry-leading cash acceptance network, and costs $4.95 or less. For more details, visit www.moneypak.com.

About Green Dot Corporation:
Green Dot is the leading provider of prepaid financial services in the United States, and owns and operates the Green Dot Network, which is the largest cash loading and reloading network in the United States. The company offers consumers a comprehensive portfolio of financial products and services through thousands of leading retailer locations nationwide including Walmart, CVS/pharmacy, Fred Meyer, Kmart, Kroger, Radio Shack, Ralphs, Rite Aid, Smiths and Walgreens. Green Dot’s products include Green Dot MasterCard and Visa branded prepaid debit cards and the Green Dot MoneyPak. The Green Dot MoneyPak provides a convenient and efficient way for consumers to load cash to prepaid cards, use cash to make purchases and pay bills, and add cash to a variety of accounts. Green Dot is headquartered in the greater Los Angeles area. To learn more about MoneyPak, visit www.moneypak.com. Green Dot and MoneyPak are registered trademarks of Green Dot Corporation.

Source: PayPal

eBay Bumps Up Fraud Protection For Paypal Users

Late last week eBay made a feeble attempt to attract more online users by boosting its fraud protection for PayPal users. The new fraud protections, which will go into effect later this year and will be offered at no extra cost.

eBay executives, at the company's annual user conference, announced last Thursday that buyers who pay for items with PayPal (and only PayPal) will be eligible for full refunds, with no cap, if a seller fails to deliver an item as promised. Previously a buyer's coverage was capped at $200, or $2,000 if the item's seller enjoyed a particularly good reputation on eBay.

Sellers will who accept PayPal as a payment method — (as nearly all of us are forced to do) — will now also get unlimited protection against a charge being reversed. The coverage protects sellers from against claims, chargebacks and reversals due to an unauthorized payment or an item that was not received. Previously sellers' coverage had an annual limit of $5,000, and applied only for shipments to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The fraud protection is a move in the right direction for eBay, however the push for more and more usage of PayPal is not. eBay has been, and by this move looks to continue, double dipping on its fees that it is charging users. In my opinion its not right, eBay should extend the protection to more payment options as well as opening its doors to more sites than just the one they own!

eBay Tries Out PayPal Only In Australia

eBay Australia is laying down the law with payments, its PayPal or nothing!

Starting June 17th eBay plans to institute a new payment arrangement that would do away with direct deposits, personal cheques or money orders to purchase items - all in the name of enhanced security. Essentially this move forces all of its Australian users to use PayPal, a move that has angered users and prompted antitrust scrutiny.

Many critics think that the move in Australian is a precursor for a global move. "It's a test case," Ina Steiner, editor of Auctionbytes.com, told the Mercury News. "I'm sure they're very much considering rolling it out to other countries."

eBay is denying the claims that it might try the same approach here in the states. "In the U.S., we are not mulling, planning, or otherwise seriously considering a move to PayPal-only," wrote spokesman Usher Lieberman on the company's eBay Ink blog. "There are U.S. market-specific reasons why PayPal-only is something we simply cannot do in the U.S."

However nothing has been mentioned of them not trying to do the same thing in other countries.

If you read eBay's accepted payments policy you'll notice they've already made provisions to disallow any forms of online payments other than PayPal.

Not permitted on eBay.com
"Payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy."

It would looks as though eBay is trying to place a strangle hold on its buyers and sellers all in the name of "security".

eBay says it wants to reduce disputes and restore trust in its marketplace with the PayPal-only plan. Because eBay and PayPal can share information on each transaction, eBay says use of PayPal allows it to stop fraud more efficiently than outside payment services.

How it plans to do so is a mystery, especially considering the high numbers of fraud that current occur with eBay and PayPal both.

For more check out these articles:

• eBay rules turn users off
• EBay denies PayPal-only plan for U.S.
• Mayday! eBay raises white flag over forced PayPal in US
• eBay mulls PayPal only payments

Great PayPal Alternative, Revolution Money Exchange Reviewed

A few months ago we covered a story on the new online payment site Revolution Money Exchange (R.M.E.), that is trying to create competition for PayPal and Google Checkout. After three months of use I can say the site seems to be headed in the right direction. Not just with verifying users through their SSN (more on that later) but also with added security and lower fees.

The peer to peer money exchange site launched nearly four months ago. At the time, chairman Ted Leonsis said, "We want to become for social networks what PayPal is for eBay."

Revolution Money Exchange has been aggressively courting new members with a $25 sign-up bonus which was a great incentive for us to try them out.

Signing Up:

Obviously signing up is the first step in the process, as with any other site you begin with your first and last name and then create a username and password. At this time you must also create a security question, this is important as you will later need to use this question to be able to log into your account.



In the second step you simply input your address, this must be your home address. This information will be used in the verification process. In the third step you will need to enter your correct date of birth and SSN this too is part of the verification process. You will also need to create a unique PIN number, again this will be needed later in order to access your account for transferring funds.




Collect Your $25 Sign-up Bonus:
Update - they no longer offer the $25 sign-up bonus

As previously stated in order to promote Revolution Money Exchange and generate traffic they have been giving away a $25 free sign-up bonus. The $25 bonus will be credited as a pending transaction to your Money Exchange account within twenty-four hours of your account approval. To accept the $25 bonus and have it transferred into your Money Exchange account for immediate use, you must login into your account and accept the $25 bonus within 30 days from the date we notify you of the availability of this bonus at the e-mail address you provided during your account registration.


Once you login and accept the funds they are yours to do with as you wish. In my case I had my funds almost immediately. I attached my bank account, I use and recommend using a secondary account with limited funds for both R.M.E. and PayPal, and withdrew the funds the next day. As with PayPal it usually takes a couple days for the funds to be available from your bank.

Security:

First and foremost I have to say Revolution Money Exchange's security is far greater than anything PayPal or Google Checkout has. Unlike either of the two whereas you only use a login ID and password to gain full access to an account, Revolution Money Exchange requires users to input a security question at login and a specialized PIN number for transferring funds. This double blind type security makes it very difficult for any wrong doers to cheat you out of your money.

I will say I found it a little tedious to begin with as there are a few extra steps involved but when looking at it from a security stand point and thinking of the numbers of people that have been phished over the years I can see how it could be beneficial.

While a phisher might be able to get my login id and password they'd have to go the extra mile in order to actually get my security question and there is almost no way at all that they could get my pin number.

Verifying Users:

The one area people question me about the most is the need to add your SSN. I'll admit at first I was skeptical, that's why I did the leg work and checked the company out before I signed up. I'll be the first to admit the only reason I originally signed up was for the $25 bonus. But I wasn't going into it blindfolded, I've seen too many scams over the years for that. So I did the research, the information I found is covered in my original blog post. From all my ongoing research I have yet to find anything that points to any negative activity, fraud or scams. As best as I can tell everything is on the up and up.

When you sign up for your MoneyExchange account they create and account for you at First Bank & Trust in Brookings, SD (Member FDIC). They in turn ask for your Social Security Number, which is then used to confirm your identity against other information you provide. This helps keep identity thieves from using your personal information to open a MoneyExchange account in your name. It also makes it harder for potential scammers to open accounts!

I'm still on the fence about this aspect of R.M.E. While I can see its a good way to keep out scammers, faking SSNs is something that is a lot harder to do than just being verified at PayPal, I feel it makes more people less likely to sign-up, therefore making it a bit harder to find people that use the service. From my point of view this creates a big catch-22.

Fees:

Sending and receiving funds on Money Exchange is free (as it is on PayPal for funds between two PayPal members) as well as transferring money to your bank account. A transaction fee applies for check withdrawals, check stop payments, paper statements, ACH returns, and overdrafts. See Schedule of Fees and Accountholder Agreement for more information.


My Conclusion:

As I've said I've used Revolution Money Exchange for a few months now, all in all the only two issues I have are not actually with the company itself nor are they with the site. Both seem to live up to my expectations. Transactions are handled smoothly and efficiently and the site never seems to have any downtime.

The first issue I faced was with eBay. According to eBay's Accepted Payments Policy you technically can not use R.M.E. for transactions. There is some ongoing debate about this however I've been told that sources at eBay have said they will not back R.M.E. as a payment option. Now obviously if both the buyer and seller agree to use R.M.E. then there is little that can be done, however should disputes over none payment arise you might be in a little trouble.

The second issue is actually the lack of people that take R.M.E. Now this might simply be a case of me not doing as much trading as I have in the past therefore not finding them to be as prevalent. It could also be that the people are unaware of R.M.E. or they could be turned off by the SSN issue. However this is something that given time should remedy itself.

The same goes with Revolution Money Exchange and retailers or e-tailers, I haven't seen many that actually accept them as a form of payment. Not yet anyways! The RevolutionCard was recently part of a Buy.com promotion (see link) however that's a different part of the company.

All in all I can say this, I've never once had an issue with pay-pal. I have heard tons of horror stories but never once has anything bad happen on my end. So that said why change to R.M.E? Well I'm not to happy with the fee structure at Pay-Pal. I'm also not happy that eBay force feeds me those fees. While I've only used R.M.E. for a few months, granted that's typically longer than most people that right reviews, I won't go so far as to say they are the perfect answer however it is nice to have an alternative

PayPal Denies Plans To Block Safari

PayPal Inc., has denied that it plans to tag Apple's Safari as "unsafe" and block it from accessing the site.

"We have absolutely no intention of blocking current versions of any browsers, including Apple's Safari, from our Web site," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail late Friday.

PayPal was reacting to recent reports that they would ban browsers that lacked a way to block known or suspected phishing sites and didn't support Extended Validation (EV) certificates.

Although PayPal only called out Microsoft Corp.'s 1996 browser, Internet Explorer 3, and 1997's IE4, Michael Barrett, the firm's chief information security officer, defined "unsafe browsers" as those "which do not have support for blocking phishing sites or for Extended Validation certificates." This would also include Safari as it does not have an antifraud blocker and does not support EVs.

On Friday, the company made a major backtrack of that statement. "PayPal is developing features to block customers from logging into PayPal when using obsolete browsers on outdated or unsupported operating systems," the company's spokeswoman specified. "An example of such a browser/OS combination might be, for example, Internet Explorer 4 running on Windows 98."

According to PayPal's revised criteria of "obsolete browsers on outdated or unsupported operating systems," it would not block IE5 until 2010 and would not bar Safari 2.0 on Tiger until Apple ships the successor to Mac OS X 10.5, a.k.a. "Leopard."

PayPal's Answer To Phishing, Block Older Browsers

According to recent reports PayPal plans to take the dramatic step of locking out people using older versions of Web browsers in order to stem phishing attacks.

PayPal has said a "significant" group of people still use older version of IE such as IE3, IE 4 and IE5. Those browsers lack a phishing filter, which can block users or will at least warn them when they are trying to access a reported phishing Web site.

"In our view, letting users view the PayPal site on one of these browsers is equal to a car manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seatbelts," according to a paper released during the RSA security conference in San Francisco earlier this month.

The ban on older browsers could eventually mean trouble for users of Apple's Safari browser, which has no phishing filter. PayPal could decided to try and block any/every browser that is not equipped with the filter. Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2 and Opera 9 have phishing filters, but Apple's browser -- Safari -- does not. Safari also does not support Extended Validation SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificates, issued to Web sites that have been vetted as legitimate.

Obviously there are several flaws in PayPal's plan. Phishing has been around for a long long time, and even though it has been highly publicized people still get duped into clicking links and entering personal information on the would be sites. This does prevent a person from being victim, this only pushes people towards updating. Updating to the latest version of your browser is always a good idea, as is staying away from IE. But the use of common sense and safety are the only things that will solve the phishing issues.

Everyone should learn safe internet practices, and learn to spot phishing attempts, scams, hoaxes ect. By now you should know to question any emails you get from your bank, Pay-pal or any other site that involves important personal information. Don't just click the links in the emails, use your own bookmark so you know where you are going to. Once you are there double check the address bar and make sure you are actually on the right site.

Revolution Money Exchange

**Update**
I've posted an updated review
Great PayPal Alternative, Revolution Money Exchange Reviewed

*Correction note*
I previous stated the company was founded by Ted Leonsis and Steve Case. They are indeed investors and board members in the company. Jason Hogg and Patrick Graf however are the founders of Revolution Money, previously called Gratis Card.

Revolution Money Exchange is a new online payment system launched last year. The company founded by Jason Hogg and Patrick Graf and run with current investors and board members Ted Leonsis and Steve Case has placed itself in direct competition with PayPal. Offering free online money transfers and currently drumming up business by offering a $25.00 sign-up bonus. A deal that is spreading fast across sites like Slickdeals.net, FatWallet.com and Dealighted.com.


InformationWeek and USAtoday did stories on the site back in November however until recently I hadn't heard anything about it. Of course once I heard of the $25.00 sign-up bonus I had to investigate. After reading several articles and several blog posts I saw I was just in the dark.

Revolution its self is more tied to a next-generation credit and debit card that promises to be more secure and less expensive than current cards. According to the InformationWeek article the card itself is anonymous, so it doesn't have the cardholder's name on the card nor does it contain any information about the cardholder in the magnetic stripe.

The MoneyExchange side of the business is the online money transfer. They offer FDIC insured accounts issued by First Bank & Trust. For most services there are no fees, however there do seem to be high fees for things like check withdrawals, check stop payments, paper statements, ACH returns, and overdrafts. You will also need to be prepared to enter your SSN, a step that can not be avoided to sign-up.

In addition to the $25.00 sign-up bonus they offer $10 refer a friend bonuses (up to 50/yr). The only draw back I've seen there is you can't simply refer people, you have to directly email them from within your account on the site. Personalized referral links would be helpful, but I guess that cuts down on the some spam issues.

Follow up 4/7/08

Having used the service now for a couple months, I can report no issues. I received my $25 instantly, attached my bank account and withdrew my funds. The only real drawback I've ran into is that eBay does not currently allow the service. I have seen a few questions regarding its use on eBay and from what I can gather it won't be approved, or endorsed by eBay because it doesn't allow buyers to dispute payments. (not to mention eBay doesn't want to loose out on Pay-Pal fees)

According to eBay's Accepted Payments Policy as a seller you can only accept payments through approved methods. So at least for now I won't be able to fully rid myself of Pay-Pal.