By Jeff McKinney
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jeanie cardholders at Fifth Third Bank now will be able to buy goods at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores with their debit cards using a personal identification number, fee-free, starting Sunday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer, has agreed to join the Jeanie network, part of Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions, the companies said Friday.

The deal means that 9 million Jeanie cardholders nationally - including about 6.5 million in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana - will be able to make PIN-based purchases at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores.

A PIN-based transaction is when a customer enters a four-digit number when making a purchase.

It is considered more secure than a signature-based transaction.

Wal-Mart last month said it would no longer process Mastercard signature-based debit transactions, citing transaction fees higher other debit cards'.

Paul Brunner, senior vice president at Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions, said Fifth Third Jeanie cardholders will not be charged fees.

Jeanie, one of the nation's largest electronic-funds-transfer networks, is accepted at more than 14,000 U.S. merchants and has about 700 member financial institutions.

The deal also will allow Fifth Third's data-processing unit to generate additional fee income from the transactions.

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E-mail jmckinney@enquirer.com