Visa debuts real-time mobile transaction alerts

Payment and credit solutions goliath Visa announced agreements with eight North American financial institutions to launch a pilot program testing delivery of real-time transaction notification alerts via SMS and email. Visa will team with PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia and Wells Fargo in the U.S. as well as Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group and Vancity in Canada to conduct the trial, which promises cardholder participants real-time mobile alerts in the event of transaction activity on their Visa accounts--the service is based on the credit card firm's transaction authorization system, which analyzes and conducts risk score transactions "in flight." Cardholders may establish the thresholds that trigger transaction alerts, and upon receiving notification may immediately contact their bank to halt further transactions on the card if behaviors seem irregular. According to a recent Javelin Strategy & Research report cited by Visa, consumers view timely alerts as an important resource to help detect and prevent fraud.

For more on Visa's transaction alert trial:
- read this release

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