Wells Opts To Join Interlink And Plus, But Effect On Star Remains Unknown.

The second big shoe may have dropped on Star, the nation's largest PIN-based debit network. Wells Fargo & Co. announced Oct. 20 that Visa USA's Interlink will become its primary PIN-based point-of-sale debit network. Wells also will drop MasterCard International's Cirrus ATM network and join Visa's Plus ATM network.

San Francisco-based Wells is the second top-10 debit card issuer and major Star user to choose Interlink over Star recently. Wachovia Bank Corp. in September announced a decision to use Interlink instead of Star for PIN-based POS debit transactions and to use the NYCE electronic funds transfer network to handle most of its switched ATM transactions.

However, unlike the Wachovia decision, it remains …