PRINCETON, N.J. -- Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a provider of credit/debit/prepaid-card processing, payroll, check management and payment services, acquired the Network Services division of Alliance Data Systems.
With the acquisition, Heartland has become the nation's second-largest processor of petroleum payments—currently processing more than 25% of the pay-at-the-pump transactions in the United States—and one of the top five payment processors in North America.
Heartland's proprietary technology positions the company to lead the efforts to bring major improvements [image-nocss] to the petroleum/convenience-store marketplace, according to the company. These enhancements will help operators and suppliers better control the cost and complexities associated with payments processing, and significantly mitigate the security risks associated with breaches and fraud.
True to its foundation of advocating for business owners and helping them succeed, Heartland is developing technology solutions evolving around "P.I.E.R.":
Payment decoupling for independent distributors and wholesalers. Interchange management. End-to-end encryption. Real-time clearing.Payment decoupling. This new concept will enable big companies with many locations and owners to free themselves of the logistics and risks associated with payment processing. Decoupling will enable franchisees, who typically don't want to be tied to corporate contracts, to select the payments processors of their choice and work with them directly.
Interchange management. Heartland is developing best-in-class reporting and procedures for the lowest-cost interchange settlement. Proactive reporting will provide data that enables business owners to identify and address transaction costs that could have been avoided.
End-to-end encryption. Being developed to address the ever-increasing regulations associated with PCI (payment card industry) compliance, end-to-end encryption will encrypt the card number when it is swiped, protecting data. This will significantly impact and reduce the potential of breaches and fraud for business owners.
Real-time clearing. Heartland will be one of the first processors to implement Visa's new real-time clearing for pay-at-the-pump transaction solution. This will enable customers to fill their tanks completely, without pumps automatically turning off at predetermined levels, while keeping their lines of credit open.
With its technology and a national sales and servicing force with a presence in every community across the United States, Heartland aims to make significant improvements in the payments landscape for the petroleum/convenience-store industry.
Princeton, N.J.-based Heartland Payment Systems delivers credit, debit and prepaid card processing, payroll, check management and payments solutions to more than 250,000 businesses nationwide.
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