COCONUT CREEK, Fla. -- National Payment Card Association (NPCA), a leading provider of merchant branded PIN-based debit cards and mobile solutions, has announced that it has been issued a sixth U.S. patent in the area of decoupled debit technology.
This most recent patent is in the rapidly emerging merchant debit-card area. "Decoupled debit" payment methods refer to situations in which a U.S. checking accountholder from any bank or credit union is able to accomplish an electronic payment without needing to use a card issued by the bank or credit union they have their checking or debit card with. NPCA said that its decoupled debit technology "is of particular interest to merchants seeking to have the lowest method of payment settlement fees in the marketplace, which now includes mobile payment."
"NPCA has pioneered decoupled debit as a payment form and has displaced several billions of dollars from being processed through Visa and MasterCard," said Joe Randazza, CEO of NPCA. We have established decoupled debit as a viable payment form."
NPCA is currently the processor for 70 merchants, including more than 30 convenience store chains, and is approaching one million cardholders.
Its patent portfolio specifically addresses the business case for a merchant-funded consumer rewards program with the lowest settlement method available to these merchants, it said.
The patent is United States Patent Number 8,701,986, titled "Payment System & Methods." The patent contains various independent claims for a consumer to purchase goods and services as an ACH payment method for the holder of a U.S. checking account with a financial institution to accomplish a purchase at a retail site.
NPCA, based in Coconut Creek, Florida, is a leading provider of brick-and-mortar alternative payments in the United States.
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