Cardline articles from April 2006

Cardline archives from April 2006

AGGARWAL RESIGNS FROM TSYS PREPAID.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Anil Aggarwal resigned today as CEO of TSYS Prepaid to pursue other opportunities, Total System Services (TSYS) announced. TSYS bought Aggarwal's firm Clarity Payment Solutions in 2004 for $53 million and renamed its TSYS Prepaid. The CEO...

GLOBAL REPORTS 39% RISE IN NET INCOME.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Global Payments Inc., an Atlanta-based transaction processor, today reported net income of $30.1 million for the third quarter ended Feb. 28, up 39% from $21.6 million during the same period last year. Revenues rose 15%, to $225.2 million from...

TRM REPORTS $13.7 MILLION LOSS, TRAVELEX DEAL OFF.
April 7, 2006... ATM operator TRM Corp. late yesterday reported a loss of $13.7 million for the fourth quarter and $8.9 million for 2005, a drop the company blames on last year's acquisition of eFunds ATM fleet and a recently nixed purchase of the United...

VISA, BOFA DROPPING CHECK CARD PERKS.(Bank of America Corp.)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Starting July 1, Visa USA will no longer require its debit card issuing members to support certain perks that have come with card use, including protection from stolen or damaged goods, concierge services for travel and entertainment...

INVESTORS PAY NOW FOR BILL ME LATER.(I4 Commerce gets financing from Crosspoint Venture Partners, Azure Capital Partners and GRP Partners)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... I4 Commerce, the provider of the Bill Me Later payment service, raised $27.4 million in a round of venture funding led by Crosspoint Venture Partners, Azure Capital Partners and GRP Partners. Bill Me Later is an alternative to cards for online...

CONSUMERS TO SHIFT TO DEBIT FOR ONLINE SPENDING.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Debit cards will surpass credit cards next year as the most used payment device for online purchases, according to Jupiter Research's recent report "US Online Payments Forecast, 2005 to 2010". However, many consumers will stick with credit...

EFC GEARS UP FOR CHECK CONVERSION.(acquisition of De Palma Group Inc. )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Check imaging firm EFC Systems Inc. this week bought the De Palma Group Inc. to expand its presence in the back-office check conversion market, Larry De Palma, CEO of the firm, tells CardLine. De Palma will become executive vice president at...

BRIEFS.(TransUnion LLC signs contract with ID Analytics Inc.)(BANKFIRST Minnesota appoints John Barbella)(Christopher Cox to speak at American Securitization Forum meeting )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Bank First, the Minneapolis-based subsidiary of Marshall BankFirst Corp., has appointed John Barbella as senior vice president of the company's stored value division, developing prepaid card products.... TransUnion LLC added the ID Score risk...

CREDIT CARD FRAUD HITS NEARLY HALF OF ID THEFT VICTIMS.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... In one of the most comprehensive studies yet of identity theft, the Department of Justice reports that 3.6 million households were victims of some type of ID theft in the second half of 2004. Almost half, 48%, say they'd experienced...

HOLOMAG DEBACLE BRINGS $2.8 MILLION LOSS.(American Bank Note Holographics Inc. )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... American Bank Note Holographics Inc. reported on Friday a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2005 of $2.8 million compared to net income of $500,000 in the same period in 2004. The decline is due to a $5 million pre-tax charge following Visa's...

COLLECTORS STILL REEL FROM BANKRUPTCYFILINGS.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... The rush of consumers filing for bankruptcy late last year before changes in the federal bankruptcy law went into effect spelled a difficult January for the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry, reports consulting firm Kaulkin...

DUANE READE PLEASED WITH CONTACTLESS CARDS.(Duane Reade Holding Corp.)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Contactless payment cards account for about 4% of card transactions at New York-based pharmacy chain Duane Reade, Chris Darrow, vice president and controller for the 250-store chain, tells CardLine. "We think this is very good," he says. About...

GLOBALPLATFORM NAMES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.(Kevin Gillick )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Kevin Gillick has been named the first executive director of GlobalPlatform, an international smart card specifications organization with administrative offices in the U.S. Gillick tells CardLine that he will promote the adoption of...

OBOPAY TO LAUNCH MOBILE MONEY-TRANSFER SERVICE.
April 7, 2006... Palo Alto, CA-based startup Obopay plans to launch a service April 15 that will allow consumers to send money to each other through their mobile phones. Customers who set up accounts will also receive a MasterCard-branded debit card that will...

BTOB CARD PURCHASING SAVES BUCKS.(business to business)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Deloitte Consulting found that firms that integrated commercial payment cards with procurement and accounting programs saved $360,000 to $900,000 annually. The report was conducted for Visa USA and released today for the opening of the National...

OFFICIAL PAYMENTS TO PROCESS FOR GEORGIA.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... The state of Georgia has hired Official Payments Corp. to process Web payments from businesses, the Reston, VA-based acquirer of government payments announced. Businesses can make credit and debit card payments for sales taxes and motor fuel...

BRIEFS.(Discover Financial Services Inc. appoints Christina Favilla as its president)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Vital Processing Services gave Class A approval to the Saturn 5000 contactless reader of On Track Innovations Ltd.... Discover Financial Services today named Christina Favilla president of Discover Bank. She will focus on marketing and new...

MASTERCARD GETS INTO THE YANKEES' LINEUP.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... MasterCard International today boasted that it sent archrival Visa USA to the showers as the official card of the New York Yankees, Major League Baseball's most popular team. MasterCard, the Purchase, NY, card association, says it has signed a...

PAYPASS SCORES FIVE MORE BASEBALL TEAMS.(MasterCard International Inc. contract with St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... MasterCard International announced this morning that its contactless PayPass card will be in the starting lineups of five more major league baseball teams. The St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox and the New York...

TSYS SIGNS HEALTH CARE PROCESSING DEAL.(Exante Bank)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Total System Services Inc., TSYS, has signed a multiyear deal to provide processing services for Exante Bank, a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based health care provider UnitedHealth Group. UnitedHealth, which provides health insurance for some 12...

CREDIT CARD SOLICIATIONS SET RECORD.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Consumers last year received a record-setting 6.05 billion credit card solicitations, up 16.3% from 5.2 billion in 2004, according to Synovate, the Chicago-based market research arm of communications specialist Aegis Group plc. This number has...

CITIBANK BEGINS ATM BRANDING DEAL WITH 7-ELEVEN.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Citibank on Monday announced that it has signed an ATM branding deal with 7-Eleven Stores Inc. The deal will have Citibank brand about 5,500 7-Eleven ATMs in 31 states, including about 1,000 of 7-Eleven's multi-function Vcom ATM kiosks, which...

PROCESSING STOCKS TEAR IT UP IN THE FIRST QUARTER.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... The stocks of 14 publicly traded electronic payment processors roared like lions in March, registering a mean return of 8.36%, laying waste to the 0.47% return of the S&P 500 Index and the 1.06% gain of the Dow Jones Industrial Average,...

CRUICKSHANK NAMED CYBERSOURCE PRESIDENT.(Scott Cruickshank )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... CyberSource Corp. today named Scott Cruickshank president and chief operating officer and David Hansen president of its BidPay.com subsidiary. Both report to Bill McKiernan, chairman and CEO. Cruickshank will remain as a CyberSource board...

CANADA'S DIRECTCASH BUYS MONETA'S ATMS.(DirectCash Income Fund acquires Moneta Systems Inc., Moneta Management Inc. and Moneta Financial Services)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Calgary-based DirectCash Income Fund today announced it has purchased the ATM assets of Edmonton, Alberta-based Moneta Systems Inc., Moneta Management Inc. and Moneta Financial Services for approximately $4.1 million. The acquisition includes...

BRIEFS.(CO-OP Network, TRM Corp., Transaction Network Services Inc., Vital Processing Services L.L.C.)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Co-Op Network renewed its ATM branding partnership with TRM Corp.... Online fraud-detection firm The 41st Parameter has formed a strategic partnership with Elite Analytics LLC, a data analytics firm.... Transaction Network Services Inc. will...

BANKRUPTCIES DROP TO 20-YEAR LOW.
April 7, 2006... Consumer bankruptcy filings for the first quarter of 2006 dropped to the lowest quarterly mark in 20 years, a trickle-down effect of the stricter bankruptcy filing law enacted last October. First-quarter filings totaled 102,949, down from...

MASTERCARD INTRODUCES PAYPASS MOBILE PAYMENT PROGRAM.(MasterCard International Inc., and Giesecke und Devrient GmbH launches payment service for mobile phone users)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... MasterCard International and Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) introduced today at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association conference in Las Vegas an over-the-air personalization system designed to make it easier for consumers to use...

PULSE GETS EXCLUSIVE WITH FIRST TENNESSEE.(First Tennessee Bank )(Pulse EFT Association )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... First Tennessee Bank reports today it will use the Pulse EFT Association exclusively as its network provider for PIN-debit transactions at the point of sale for its 500,000 debit cardholders. The Memphis, TN-based bank is a member of the...

HYPERCOM NAMES TWO OUTSIDE DIRECTORS.(Todd S. Nelson)(Philippe Tartavull)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Phoenix-based point-of-sale terminal vendor Hypercom Corp. yesterday named two new members to its board of directors from outside the company. The board now has six members with five of them from outside the firm. The new members are Todd S....

AGGARWAL JUMPS TO PREPAID MEDIA.(Anil D. Aggarwal )(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Anil D. Aggarwal was named today CEO of Prepaid Media, an organizer of prepaid card events. Aggarwal stepped down last week as CEO of TSYS Prepaid, a division of Total Systems Services (TSYS). The Columbus, GA-based processor bought Aggarwal's...

DISCOVERCARD WEB SITE BEST FOR FRAUD FIGHTING.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Market research firm Corporate Insight has named Discover Financial Services' discovercard.com Web site "Best in Class" for fraud information and protection services in its newly released "Credit Card Monitor Report." The report evaluates the...

DINERS INTRODUCES P-CARD.(Diners Club)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Diners Club introduced this week a purchasing card that offers a choice of billing cycle with up to 25 days to pay interest free, and "online reporting tools that provide organizations with a wide range of functionality." The Diners Club P Card...

BRIEFS.
April 7, 2006... Fifth Third Processing Solutions will provide EFT services, including gateway access, ATM driving and debit processing, for the $500 million-asset Sabine State Bank and Trust Co. of Many, LA.... Brenda Vann was named regional manager of 10...

VISA SCORES WITH THE WORLD CUP, GIVING IT THE TWO LARGEST SPORTING EVENTS.(Federation Internationale de Football Association)(Summer Olympic Games)
April 7, 2006... Visa International said today that it has signed an eight-year agreement to sponsor the Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup, the world's largest sporting event. The agreement means that Visa will sponsor the world's two...

ATM REPLACEMENT MARKET GOING FLAT.(Survey)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... The ATM replacement market in the U.S., robust for several years, is flattening, according to a new ATM shipment survey by Cardline's sister publication, ATM&Debit News. The survey shows ATM shipments grew by only 9.3% last year, to 72,136 in...

ABN AMRO SIGNS INTERNATIONAL PROCESSING DEAL WITH FIRST DATA.(ABN AMRO Bank N.V. has signed an agreement with Denver-based card processor First Data Corp.)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... Dutch banking group ABN AMRO Bank N.V. has signed an agreement with Denver-based card processor First Data Corp. to jointly offer cross-border processing services to multinational companies. Ann Cairns, CEO of transaction banking for ABN AMRO,...

ANOTHER ONE UNDER ROLLING STONE'S THUMB.(U.S. Secret Service's Operation nabbed another person suspected of credit card fraud)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... The U.S. Secret Service's Operation Rolling Stone has nabbed another person suspected of credit card fraud and possible involvement in the PIN-debit fraud that has affected the nation's financial institutions. The Secret Service, working with...

PAYPAL'S TEXT TO BUY SIGNS NBA, MTV AND FOX.(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... PayPal today officially launched the new mobile telephone payment service it announced in March (CardLine 3/31) and released the names of some of the retailers and charities now accepting its text message-initiated transactions. Consumers with...

AMEX REVISES REVENUE, SHIFTS LINE ITEMS.(American Express Co.)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... American Express Co. reported today it is revising downward its revenue numbers for the past two years, and changing the way it reports certain revenue and expense items. The changes do not affect net income. AmEx lowered its revenues for 2005...

CO-OP NETWORK REVERSES ITSELF ON TRM ATM USE.(The Co-Op Network of credit unions)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... The Co-Op Network of credit unions, after cutting its use of TRM Corp. ATMs for surcharge-free access to Co-Op cardholders, now has decided to expand its use of the machines. Ontario, CA-based Co-Op and Portland, OR-based TRM announced...

FASTLANE SIGNS $2 MILLION ADVERTISER.(Fastlane signed its first advertiser)(Brief article)
April 7, 2006... A mortgage company will pay $2 million to advertise its services at the point of sale when a consumer uses her driver's license to make a purchase. Huh? Let's take that one out for another spin. Fastlane, the new network that makes a driver's...

BRIEFS.(Cardtronics Inc.)
April 7, 2006... The Community Bankers Association of Georgia endorsed credit card processor TransFirst to its 300 community bank members.... First National Merchant Solutions will provide debit and credit card processing for United Bank Card Inc., an...

VISA PAID $350 MILLION FOR CUP DEAL.(Visa International sponsors Football World Cup)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Visa International will pay an estimated $350 million to sponsor the World Cup, one observer estimates. "That's the consensus opinion for a sponsorship at this level," Marcus DiNitto, managing editor of Sports Business Daily in Charlotte, NC,...

CHAPTER 7 FILINGS AGAIN OUTPACE CHAPTER 13.
April 14, 2006... Personal bankruptcy numbers compiled by LexisNexis CourtLink for the first quarter of 2006 are supporting early critics of last year's bankruptcy relief bill that made it harder for consumers to dismiss debts by filing Chapter 7. In the first...

CAP ONE SCORES AS TOP CREDIT CARD BRAND.(Capitol One Financial)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Capitol One is the top credit card issuer brand, according to a recent market research study by Auriemma Consulting. Auriemma created the Issuer Brand Index (IBI) by considering card usage, consumer awareness of the brand, brand quality, and...

TRITON BUYS UK ATM ASSETS.(Cash Point Machines and InfoCash)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... ATM manufacturer Triton announced it has purchased several ATM businesses from UK-based independent ATM deployers Cash Point Machines and InfoCash. Triton has purchased ATMs and management services from Cash Point Machines, and purchased ATMs...

SMOOTHIE KING WILL MIX IN MORE GIFT CARD FOBS.(restaurant chain plans to offer contactless fobs and keychain tags)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... With Denver-area consumers taking to the new keychain tags they can tap on readers to pay at Smoothie King, the 375-store chain plans to roll out the contactless fobs nationwide by the fourth quarter, Brian Douglas, regional operations and...

CONSUMERS LOVE PERSONALIZED CARDS, VENDOR SAYS.
April 14, 2006... Some issuers are seeing response rates of over 100% when they offer customers the option of personalizing cards with images of their kids, pets or favorite causes, claims Adam Elgar, president of UK-based Serverside Group, which hosts the...

PIER 1 COULD SELL CARD PORTFOLIO.
April 14, 2006... Pier 1 Imports Inc. is considering selling its credit card portfolio or adding a loyalty card to the program, Marvin J. Girouard, chairman and CEO, told analysts during a conference call yesterday. The Fort Worth, TX-based home furnishings...

VERIFONE TO BUY LIPMAN FOR $793 MILLION.(VeriFone Holdings Inc., Lipman Electronic Engineering)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... VeriFone Holdings Inc. will buy Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. in a deal valued at $793 million based on VeriFone's closing stock price on April 7, the firms announced today. The two are ranked among the top four point-of-sale terminal...

A VERIFONE LIPMAN COMBO WILL LEAD IN TECH AND SALES.(VeriFone Holdings Inc. to acquire Lipman Electronic Engineering )
April 14, 2006... VeriFone Holdings Inc.'s proposed $793 million purchase of Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. will create a point-of-sale terminal outfit with top technology and worldwide distribution channels, according to analysts and company executives....

DEBITMAN SHAKES UP MANAGEMENT.(Debitman Card Inc. promotes R. Scott Hatfield, and Mike Grossman )(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... In a change at the top, Debitman Card Inc. today announced that Mike Grossman has taken over as president and CEO. He replaces as CEO John Lannan, who remains vice chairman of the company's board. R. Scott Hatfield, who cofounded Debitman and...

VISA BOLSTERS SMALL-TICKET PROGRAM.(Visa U.S.A. Inc. eliminates signature requirement for credit and debit card payments )(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Visa USA on Saturday officially eliminated its cardholder signature requirement for credit and debit card payments of less than $25 in 17 merchant categories, including parking lots, laundries, video and DVD rental stores, taxis, limousines and...

CONSUMER CREDIT GROWTH SLOWS.(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Consumers scaled back their use of credit in February as consumer credit outstanding increased at an annual rate of 1.8% for the month, compared with a 3.4% increase in January, the Federal Reserve reported late Friday. While economists had...

CHASE TO GAIN 402 ATMS, 600,000 RETAIL CONSUMERS.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., The Bank of New York, acquisition deal)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... JPMorgan Chase & Co. will boost its debit card and ATM penetration in its home base of New York City in the deal announced over the weekend with Bank of New York. Chase will take over all of the retail banking assets of Bank of New York and the...

NO NEED, SAYS CHASE.(management of Tom O'Donnell from Chase Card Services)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... A front page story in today's Wall Street Journal suggests some consumers are deliberately disabling their new contactless cards because they believe their account data will be stolen as it travels through the air or that they will be charged...

DEBT COLLECTORS SEE MODEST PAY RAISE.(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Employees handling collections at banks, collection agencies and individual companies saw pay increases ranging from 2.95% to a high of 3.44% over the past 12 months, according to an exclusive analysis by CardLine sister publication Collections...

MASTERCARD ENHANCES BEAN COUNTERS' LIFE.(MasterCard International Inc. uses Enhanced Merchant Reporting)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Corporate users of MasterCard International purchasing cards next month will be better able to track and report spending data for each merchant they contract with, MasterCard reports. The enhancement of MasterCard's Enhanced Merchant Reporting...

BRIEFS.(Info Touch Technologies Inc. changes its name)(PassMark Security, Schools Federal Credit Union, contract)(Pemco Technologies, Hartford Municipal Employee's Federal Credit Union, contract)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Info Touch Technologies Corp. has changed its name to Tio Networks Corp. after its Tio-branded kiosks in 750 locations in North American convenience stores.... Sacramento, CA-based Schools Financial Credit Union is adding the two-factor,...

BOFA TO CLOSE THREE CALL CENTERS, AFFECTING 1900 WORKERS.
April 14, 2006... Bank of America is closing three card-services call centers and letting go the facilities' 1,900 workers as part of the company's purchase of MBNA Corp. The centers in Colorado Springs, CO, Horsham, PA, and Dover, DE, will close by yearend, a...

PULSE ATMS OPENED UP FOR DISCOVER CARDHOLDERS.(Discover Financial Services Inc.)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Discover Financial Services announced today that its Discover credit cards could now be used to withdraw cash at 250,000 ATMs linked to the Pulse electronic funds transfer network. Discover acquired Pulse last year. In total, Discover cards can...

VENDORS FLOCKING TO PREPAID CARDS.(MasterCard International Inc., Datawave Systems Inc., contract)(NetSpend Corp., PLS Financial Services, contract)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... The possibility of prepaid card profits attracted several vendors this week, including a payday loan operator and a firm seeking to initiate an instant-issuance market in Canada. Chicago-based PLS Financial Services reported it will sell...

DEBT M&A ACTION IN 2006 ON PAR WITH LAST YEAR'S START.(mergers and acquisitions )(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Deal-making activity in the collections and credit business is off to a similar start in the first quarter of 2006s compared to the same period in 2005, with eight transactions completed totaling roughly $128 million, reports Kaulkin Ginsberg...

CONSUMERS WANT CLEARER CARD TERMS, SURVEY SAYS.(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Many consumers don't know basic terms of their credit card contracts, according to a new survey from Braun Research of Princeton, NJ. Braun reports that 44% of survey respondents said they didn't know the APR charged on their own cards and 20%...

CELL PHONE PAYMENT SCHEME TARGETS YOUTH AND UNBANKED.
April 14, 2006... Another new service has emerged seeking to use the increasingly ubiquitous cell phone as a payment tool. Long Valley, NJ-based iSelfPay aims to make the mobile phone operate like a prepaid card, and will initially target consumers without bank...

ISSUERS SENT 8% MORE OFFERS IN JANUARY, FEBRUARY.(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Credit card issuers mailed 1.311 billion acquisition letters in January and February, topping the same period in 2005 by 8%, according to Mintel Comperemedia. The top 10 mailers accounted for 89% of the acquisition letters in the two-month...

BRIEFS.
April 14, 2006... VeriFone Holdings Inc. introduced the Kiosk Solutions program for self-service kiosk developers.... Fiserve Inc. will use PassMark Security's multifactor identity-verification system....GE Consumer Finance and Yamaha Corporation of America...

WITH A BOSTON FEE PARTY BREWING, SIMON MALLS FIRES BACK.(Thomas F. Reilly, Simon Property Group Inc.)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... The Simon Property Group Inc. earned profits of $2.9 million in gift card fees from Massachusetts consumers from March 2003 to March 2005, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly wrote state legislators last week in arguing for a bill that would...

TRANAX TEAMS WITH TIO ON HYBRID ATM.(automated teller machines, Tranax Technologies Inc., Tio Networks Corp.)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Tio Networks Corp., and Fremont, CA-based ATM distributor Tranax Technologies Inc. today announced a partnership to distribute self-service kiosks. Initially, the two will launch a "hybrid" ATM that combines bill payment capability with...

BY CANDLELIGHT IF NECESSARY, STRAPPED CONSUMERS PAY THEIR CARD BILLS.( utility bills are payed later)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Consumers facing a money crunch are more likely to pay credit card bills than utility bills, according to an analysis of consumer payment behavior by credit bureau Experian. Of consumers who had payment problems, 82% chose to pay either their...

NACHA GOES DIRECT TO CONSUMERS.(National Automated Clearing House Association )(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... The move of automated clearinghouse payments from an obscure banking method to a technology that many consumers might actively seek to use was highlighted recently with the launch of a consumer-oriented Web site from NACHA, which oversees the...

BANKRUPTCY FEES RISE UNDER REFORM LAW.(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Fee increases mandated under last October's sweeping bankruptcy law took effect yesterday, hiking the cost of filing Chapter 7 petitions by $25 and by nearly $100 for those filing for Chapter 13. The cost of filing a Chapter 7 petition rose...

FEDS BAN ADVANCED FEE CARD SWINDLER.(Federal Trade Commission)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... The Federal Trade Commission announced last week the permanent ban of Jeffrey A. Ullman from involvement in commerce related to stored value cards or credit-related goods and services. Ullman and Steven M. Kirkovich promised to deliver a credit...

AMEX MEMBERSHIP HAS MORE PRIVILEDGES.(American Express Co.)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... American Express Co. has expanded its Membership Rewards program, adding retail and travel partners, offering more merchandise brands, and rolling out new experiential options. Additionally, members can now redeem points for Apple iTunes and...

BRIEFS.
April 14, 2006... MasterCard International named Richard A. Hartzell president of its Latin America and Caribbean region, succeeding Javier Perez who was recently named president of MasterCard Europe.... Processor Transfirst and StrikeForce Technologies teamed...

HSBC TO BUY BOSCOV'S CARD PORTFOLIO.(Boscov's Department Stores Inc. to acquire HSBC North America Inc.)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... HSBC - North America will acquire the credit receivables and manage the ongoing credit program of Boscov's Department Stores, the two announced today. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. HSBC is the third-largest operator of private-label card...

PAYPAL MUST TURN OVER CUSTOMER TRANSACTION RECORDS.(James Ware of the Northern District of California asks)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... A California judge has told PayPal Inc. to provide transaction records of some customers in a long-running investigation of tax evasion. U.S. District Judge James Ware of the Northern District of California in February issued the "John Doe"...

UNION SLAMS DEBT COLLECTORS IN IRS FIGHT.
April 14, 2006... The Internal Revenue Service is under pressure from its union to reveal exactly what criteria were used to choose three debt-collection agencies awarded contracts last month to chase $1.4 billion in back taxes. The National Treasury Employees...

EXPERIAN SALES RISE FROM RECENT ACQUISITIONS.(Experian Information Solutions Inc.)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Sales at credit reporting agency Experian North America grew 35% in the six months ending March 31, 2006, a result of corporate acquisitions and a rising demand for consumer credit profiles, according to parent company GUS plc. The United...

GE CONSUMER FINANCE PROFITS UP 14%.
April 14, 2006... General Electric Consumer Finance, the parent of the payments segment of the industrial giant, reported today profits of $836 million in the first quarter, a rise of nearly 14% from $735 million in the same period in 2005. Revenues for the...

COINSTAR MORPHS INTO VIRTUAL JUKEBOX.(with Apple Computer Inc. and Virgin Digital)(Brief article)
April 14, 2006... Coinstar Inc. added this week an Apple iTunes gift card and Virgin Digital e-certficate to its "Coin to Card" program at its big green machines at the front of supermarkets and drugstores nationwide. A consumer can load from $5 to $1,000 on the...

MASTERCARD, VISA OFFER WEAK JABS AT EU COMMISSION REPORT.(MasterCard International Inc. and Visa International being questioned for charging more administrative fees on credit card)(European Union)
April 14, 2006... MasterCard International sidestepped yesterday responding to the European Commission's study on credit and debit card fees, releasing a statement that says the card business in Europe is "complex and diverse." MasterCard noted that any planned...

BRIEFS.
April 14, 2006... Ronald L. Turner will retire Oct. 6 as chairman, president and CEO of Ceridian Corp., the parent of Comdata, a processor and issuer of credit, debit and stored value cards.... Global Payments Inc. is providing front-end credit card...