Visa has launched a pilot program testing real-time transaction alerts sent to mobile phones via SMS text-messaging and e-mail. Joining in the trial involving 2,000 participants are 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.
The service would give cardholders notification
of account activity within seconds rather than hours or days. Based on Visa's transaction authorization system, the program would let customers set thresholds that would trigger an alert. In the event
of any unauthorized payments, users would be able to immediately contact their bank to halt further transactions.
According to a recent Javelin Strategy & Research report cited by Visa, consumers
view timely alerts as a valuable resource to help detect fraud.--Mark Walsh