Consumer briefs

Visa waives PIN in use of debit cards

Consumers can now use Visa debit cards for smaller purchases without entering a personal identification number, the same way they can skip signing receipts.

Visa said last week that it would no longer require merchants to treat its debit cards differently when customers use them as PIN debit cards rather than signature cards. The move prompted the Justice Department to drop an antitrust investigation of the practice.

Visa has allowed banks to permit merchants to waive the signature requirement when customers use Visa debit cards, usually on purchases of less than $25, the department said. But Visa had prohibited banks from allowing merchants to waive the entry of a PIN if a customer chose that route.

When a customer uses the debit card as a signature card, the transaction is processed over Visa's network; if the customer uses a PIN with the same card, it is processed over another network. The signature waiver has reduced processing time, the Justice Department said, potentially giving Visa's signature network an unfair advantage over PIN networks.

RETIREMENT

We'll be poorer when we're old

Few workers -- barely 1 in 5 -- will be able to maintain their lifestyle upon retirement, with women at a disadvantage because of their longer life spans and lower pay.

On average, employees are projected to replace just 85% of their income in retirement, compared with the 126% they would need when factoring in inflation, longer life spans and medical costs, a study by Hewitt Associates found.

The study looked at the projected retirement levels of nearly 2 million current workers of varying ages at 72 large U.S. companies and used actual employee balances.

Of those studied, more than 1.2 million employees (67%) are expected to have less than 80% of what they would need to maintain their lifestyle at retirement. The study found that 19% of workers were on track to be able to maintain their standard of living upon retirement. Although the same percentage of men and women contributed to retirement plans, women faced an 8% greater shortfall in savings.

TRAVEL

Ways to avoid ID theft on the road

Tourists are prime targets for identity thieves, said Lyn Chitow Oakes of TrustedID, which provides theft protection services. "People can identify you as being from out of town," Oakes said.