Cardline articles from April 2007

Cardline archives from April 2007

BUDGET PROPOSAL WOULD REQUIRE MORE DATA FROM ACQUIRING BANKS.
April 6, 2007... A 2008 federal budget proposal that would require acquiring banks to report how much their merchant clients receive in credit card payments remains unchanged after a review last week by the House Ways and Means Committee. The Internal Revenue...

MANUFACTURERS WORKING OVERTIME AS BANKS REISSUE COMPROMISED CARDS.
April 6, 2007... The TJX Cos. data breach, which has compromised at least 45.6 million credit and debit card numbers and forced many banks to reissue cards, has overwhelmed card manufacturers, Jeff Lewis, senior vice president of Metavante EFT Solutions, part...

FIRST DATA BUYS LEADING POLISH PROCESSOR.(Polcard SA)(Brief article)
April 6, 2007... Processor First Data Corp. announced today an agreement to acquire Polcard SA, a major Polish processor for both card issuers and merchants, for $325 million in cash. First Data says it expects the deal to close in the second quarter of this...

BOFA PULLS OFF AN AFFINITY CARD DOUBLE PLAY.
April 6, 2007... Bank of America Corp. signed deals with the Boston Red Sox and San Francisco Giants this week that adapt the bank's credit card affinity programs to other bank products, such as checking and savings accounts and debit cards. The deals may be a...

GLOBAL PAYMENTS REPORTS 14% RISE IN NET INCOME.
April 6, 2007... Driven by growth in its merchant-services sector, Global Payments Inc., an Atlanta-based transaction processor, today reported net income of $34.3 million for the third quarter ended Feb. 28, up 14% from $30.1 million during the same period a...

PROCESSOR EXPANDS KIOSK NETWORK.
April 6, 2007... Processor ChoicePay says that it plans to install at least 100 Source Technology-manufactured financial services kiosks in convenience stores and other retail locations this year. The kiosks will enable customers to pay bills from multiple...

ENCORE CEO BUYS STOCK, ANOTHER EXEC RETIRES.
April 6, 2007... Encore Capital Group Inc. CEO J. Brandon Black acquired 5,000 shares of stock in the company on Wednesday at prices between $9.73 and $9.75 per share, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares of...

BRIEFS.(Brief article)
April 6, 2007... Inside Contactless, a France-based provider of contactless smart card chips, has upgraded its membership in the Smart Card Alliance to "Leadership Council" status. The company also announced that its executive vice president for payments,...

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM BUYS FIRST DATA FOR $29 BILLION.
April 6, 2007... Private equity behemoth Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has agreed to purchase credit card and payments processor First Data in a deal worth roughly $29 billion that ranks as one of the largest buyouts in history, the companies announced today....

FIRST DATA BUYOUT 'NOT MUCH OF A SURPRISE', SAYS ONE ANALYST...
April 6, 2007... Because rumors have been swirling that a private equity firm might scoop up transaction processor First Data Corp., whose stock price was down sharply from a year ago, today's offer from investment firm Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts is not much...

...DEAL OFFERS OPENS MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS, OTHERS SAY.
April 6, 2007... Investment firm Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts's purchase of First Data Corp. raises more questions than answers, Theodore Iacobuzio, a managing director and practice leader in the TowerGroup Payments practice, tells CardLine. With a breakup of...

ARE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE WOES LINKED TO MORE CARD DEBT ON MARKET?
April 6, 2007... The amount of credit card debt portfolios listed for sale on public Web sites last week climbed to $98.7 million from $25.9 million the previous week. The increased supply may reflect nervousness on the part of card issuers regarding the...

FINANCE COMPANIES' RECEIVABLES ROSE 1% IN JANUARY.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
April 6, 2007... Consumer, real estate and business receivables outstanding held by U.S. finance companies during January grew 1.0% from December-after December's revised 5.2% increase-for a combined total of more than $2.02 trillion. Consumer...

YOUNGER CONSUMERS ACTUALLY OPEN DIRECT MAIL CARD OFFERS, REPORT FINDS.
April 6, 2007... Roughly 45% of 18- to 24-year-old consumers typically open credit card offers they receive in the mail, compared to 36% of all consumers, according to a new Mintel International Group report. The survey of 1,299 consumers also found that among...

MASTERCARD LAUNCHES MOBILE SERVICE FEATURE.
April 6, 2007... MasterCard Worldwide launched today a trial of MasterCard Nearby, a mobile phone-based Web service that allows cardholders to use their phones to locate ATMs, find driving directions, and obtain rewards and special offers. To use the free...

COMPANIES WORLDWIDE PLAN MORE CORPORATE CARD USE, SAYS VISA.
April 6, 2007... Corporate card use will rise in the near future, according to a Visa International report issued last week. Visa's Global Cash Management Survey included a survey last August of 400 financial executives and cash managers in the United States as...

BRIEFS.
April 6, 2007... Smart card vendor Gemalto is rolling out the EMV Pilot Package that aims to help Canadian credit and debit card issuers implement the international Europay, Visa and MasterCard standards as they convert from magnetic stripe-only cards to cards...

REPORTS SUGGEST METAVANTE MAY BE SPUN OFF.
April 6, 2007... A spokesperson for Metavante Corp., owner of the NYCE EFT network, today declined to comment on two newspaper reports that Metavante Corp. will be spun off from Marshall & Ilsley Corp., Metavante's parent company, into a separate corporation in...

HSBC UNVEILS PIN-BASED LOYALTY REWARDS PROGRAM.
April 6, 2007... HSBC-North America's retail services business today announced plans to offer retailers a PIN-based debit card loyalty rewards program that uses the low-cost Tempo Payment Network within the next six months. Concept Shopping Inc., a retail...

DARDEN SETTLES FTC CHARGES, REFUNDS GIFT CARD FEES.
April 6, 2007... The Federal Trade Commission announced today that Darden Restaurants Inc., the company that owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Smokey Bones and Bahama Breeze chains, has entered a consent order agreement with the FTC regarding charges that the...

CITI INTRODUCES MOBILE PHONE BANKING.
April 6, 2007... Citibank introduced yesterday Citi Mobile, a free mobile banking application that the bank's debit cardholders can download on their mobile phones. Citi Mobile allows the bank's customers to view real-time balances, see account activity, pay...

FIRST DATA SALE IS 'BEST OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD VALUE,' SAYS FIRST DATA CEO.
April 6, 2007... In response to the news that New York-based private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. agreed to purchase First Data for $29 billion, Henry C. "Ric" Duques, chairman and CEO of First Data Corp., said yesterday in a filing with the...

TJX CONFIRMS EUROPEAN DATA BREACH.
April 6, 2007... TJX Cos. Inc. has determined that European card data also was stolen last year in the much-publicized breach of the retailer's computer systems. In January, TJX announced that it had discovered in December 2006 that criminals had hacked into...

AMEX REVAMPS EARNINGS REPORT.
April 6, 2007... American Express Co. said it would begin including more details about delinquencies, interest income, expenses and other figures when it files its first-quarter results April 19. The plans to expand disclosure were announced Friday in a filing...

BRIEFS.
April 6, 2007... Transaction processor EFD, formerly known as eFunds, and Co-Op Financial Services, a credit union-owned EFT network and processor, extended their 19-year partnership for EFD to provide third-party EFT processing services, including ATM...

METAVANTE TO SEPARATE FROM PARENT COMPANY.
April 6, 2007... Marshall & Ilsley Corp. announced late Tuesday afternoon that it is spinning off Metavante Corp., owner of the NYCE EFT network, into an independent publicly traded company. The deal is tax-free to Marshall & Ilsley shareholders, who will own...

DISCOVER LAUNCHES WNBA AFFINITY CARDS, REVAMPS OTHER CARDS.
April 6, 2007... Discover Financial Services LLC announced today the launch of Discover-branded WNBA Team Affinity Cards, which will feature the 13 Women's National Basketball Association teams as part of a multi-year agreement signed last year that also made...

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS VOLUME DROPS IN Q1 AMONG COLLECTION AGENCIES, DEBT BUYERS.
April 6, 2007... The dollar volume of mergers and acquisitions among collection agencies and debt buyers dropped more than 46% in the first quarter to $119 million from $223 million in the same period of 2006, but merger and acquisitions activity should be...

BARCLAYS SELLS SUBPRIME CARD PORTFOLIO.
April 6, 2007... United Kingdom-based banking group Barclays PLC has agreed to sell most of its Monument credit card portfolio, which focuses on consumers with limited credit history, to CompuCredit Corp., an Atlanta-based subprime card issuer. The announcement...

STUDY: AVERAGE COLLECTOR RECOVERS $655,162 IN A YEAR.(Brief article)
April 6, 2007... New research from Kaulkin Ginsberg, a consulting firm to the accounts receivable management industry, shows the average collector brought in about $655,162 in gross revenues in the 12 months ended last June. The figure was calculated by...

NETSPEND OFFERS ACCOUNT UPDATES VIA TEXT MESSAGING.
April 6, 2007... NetSpend cardholders can now receive their Anytime Alert account information through two-way text messaging, the Austin, Texas-based prepaid card provider announced yesterday. With the Anytime Alerts, "our customers can receive a text message...

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL SLAMS RADIOSHACK FOR MASS DOCUMENT DUMP.
April 6, 2007... The Texas attorney general on Monday charged RadioShack Corp. with violating consumer privacy laws, alleging that employees at a RadioShack store in Portland, Texas dumped thousands of unshredded customer records into trash containers behind...

BRIEFS.
April 6, 2007... E-commerce technology provider Plimus is partnering with New York-based prepaid card provider and processor Payoneer to offer a prepaid MasterCard....NCR Corp. will install Postilion Inc. payment-processing software at its NCR Toronto data...

Q1 CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY FILINGS RISE 70%.
April 6, 2007... First quarter consumer bankruptcy filings rose 70% compared to the same period in 2006, according to data compiled by Jupiter eSources, which tracks federal bankruptcy court filings. In the first three months of 2007, 177,685 consumers filed...

MASTERCARD SELECTS TORONTO FOR FOUNDATION HQ.
April 6, 2007... MasterCard Inc., the parent company of MasterCard Worldwide, has selected Toronto as the site for the card organization's newly created charitable foundation. A MasterCard spokesperson tells CardLine that the company chose Toronto to reflect...

ISSUERS BUYING MORE SECURE SMART CARDS.
April 6, 2007... The Smart Payment Association, a group of four European smart card makers, says shipments of banking smart cards carrying the more secure security scheme known as dynamic data authentication, or DDA, more than doubled last year. The...

PAY BY TOUCH LAUNCHES FIRST GREENPOINTS LOYALTY PROGRAM SINCE S&H ACQUISITION.
April 6, 2007... Pay By Touch and independent grocery chain Harps Food Stores Inc. announced the debut of Harps Rewards with S&H greenpoints in several Harps' locations across Arkansas. The program is the first new greenpoints loyalty program Pay By Touch has...

LAW ENFORCEMENT, RETAILERS TEAM UP TO FIGHT CRIME RINGS.(National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association)(Federal Bureau of Investigation)
April 6, 2007... The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this Monday are officially launching a new weapon against professional shoplifting gangs, burglars and...

WELLS FARGO CARD AIMS TO HELP CARDHOLDERS REPAY MORTGAGE.
April 6, 2007... Wells Fargo & Co. announced today the launch of a new Visa-branded credit card for its more than 6 million Wells Fargo home mortgage customers. The new card gives cardholders a 1% rebate on all purchases, which is automatically applied in $25...

U.S. BANCORP AND PAYMETRIC OFFER NEW SAP TRANSACTION TOOL.
April 6, 2007... U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems is partnering with payment software company Paymetric Inc. to tie U.S. Bank purchasing card transactions to business systems developed by Waldorf, Germany-based software maker SAP AG. Businesses and...

BRIEFS.
April 6, 2007... TNB Card Services named Kurt Schroeder vice president, account executive in charge of western and Midwestern states credit union client management.... First Data Corp. named Kyle Thomas senior vice president of processing and product sales in...

Q1 CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY FILINGS RISE 70%.
April 13, 2007... First quarter consumer bankruptcy filings rose 70% compared to the same period in 2006, according to data compiled by Jupiter eSources, which tracks federal bankruptcy court filings. In the first three months of 2007, 177,685 consumers filed...

MASTERCARD SELECTS TORONTO FOR FOUNDATION HQ.
April 13, 2007... MasterCard Inc., the parent company of MasterCard Worldwide, has selected Toronto as the site for the card organization's newly created charitable foundation. A MasterCard spokesperson tells CardLine that the company chose Toronto to reflect...

ISSUERS BUYING MORE SECURE SMART CARDS.
April 13, 2007... The Smart Payment Association, a group of four European smart card makers, says shipments of banking smart cards carrying the more secure security scheme known as dynamic data authentication, or DDA, more than doubled last year. The...

PAY BY TOUCH LAUNCHES FIRST GREENPOINTS LOYALTY PROGRAM SINCE S&H ACQUISITION.
April 13, 2007... Pay By Touch and independent grocery chain Harps Food Stores Inc. announced the debut of Harps Rewards with S&H greenpoints in several Harps' locations across Arkansas. The program is the first new greenpoints loyalty program Pay By Touch has...

LAW ENFORCEMENT, RETAILERS TEAM UP TO FIGHT CRIME RINGS.
April 13, 2007... The National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this Monday are officially launching a new weapon against professional shoplifting gangs, burglars and...

WELLS FARGO CARD AIMS TO HELP CARDHOLDERS REPAY MORTGAGE.
April 13, 2007... Wells Fargo & Co. announced today the launch of a new Visa-branded credit card for its more than 6 million Wells Fargo home mortgage customers. The new card gives cardholders a 1% rebate on all purchases, which is automatically applied in $25...

U.S. BANCORP AND PAYMETRIC OFFER NEW SAP TRANSACTION TOOL.
April 13, 2007... U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems is partnering with payment software company Paymetric Inc. to tie U.S. Bank purchasing card transactions to business systems developed by Waldorf, Germany-based software maker SAP AG. Businesses and...

BRIEFS.
April 13, 2007... TNB Card Services named Kurt Schroeder vice president, account executive in charge of western and Midwestern states credit union client management.... First Data Corp. named Kyle Thomas senior vice president of processing and product sales in...

AMEX DROPS "MY LIFE, MY CARD" CAMPAIGN.
April 13, 2007... American Express is replacing its "My life, my card" advertising campaign that launched in 2004 with one that focuses more on how consumers can use an AmEx card for travel, according to the company's Web site and an AmEx statement. The "My...

CONSUMER BORROWING RISES 1.5% IN FEBRUARY.
April 13, 2007... Consumer credit outstanding rose at an annual rate of 1.5% in February, following a 3.3% increase in January while credit card debt was relatively unchanged, according to the Federal Reserve Board's monthly Consumer Credit survey, known as the...

CARD DEBT SALES DOWN.
April 13, 2007... Sales of charged-off credit card accounts slowed last week with only $20.2 million in portfolios listed on the public portion of various debt-sale Web sites compared to $98.7 million the prior week. But market participants say more deals are...

BETTER PRICING COULD BOOST ISSUER REVENUE FROM PURCHASING CARDS: AITE.
April 13, 2007... Use of purchasing cards for larger business-to-business transactions will help boost revenue for purchasing card issuers over the next few years, according to a new report by Aite Group LLC. Aite researchers interviewed representatives of 16 of...

LAPTOPS STOLEN FROM CHICAGO SCHOOLS HELD WORKERS' SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS.
April 13, 2007... Two laptop computers were stolen from central offices of the Chicago Public School system Friday. The laptops contain the names and Social Security numbers of employees who contributed to the Chicago Teacher Pension Fund between 2003 and 2006....

ECOUNT INTRODUCES HEALTH CARE INCENTIVES ON PREPAID CARDS.
April 13, 2007... Ecount, a company owned by Citigroup, launched a suite of prepaid health care incentives last week to help insurers, employers and health insurance plan managers encourage healthy living and reduce overall health care costs. Ecount Health Care...

PAYMENT DATA SYSTEMS POSTS MARCH NUMBERS.(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... Payment Data Systems Inc., a San Antonio, Texas-based electronic payment company, says its March card processing dollar volume increased 98% over the same month a year ago, while the number of transactions was 61% larger than in March 2006. For...

BRIEFS.
April 13, 2007... In a 96-0 vote, Washington State senators passed a law to allow victims of identity theft to place security freezes on or remove freezes from their credit reports.... First Data Corp. has completed its acquisition of Instant Cash Services from...

STUDY: CARD PAYMENT TRUMPS MORTGAGE FOR SOME BORROWERS.
April 13, 2007... The traditional assumption of lenders-that borrowers will meet their mortgage obligation first before any other required monthly payment-"has been relaxed in the subprime segment," Stan Oliai, vice president of decision sciences at Experian,...

MASTERCARD BOARD APPROVES EARLY CLASS B STOCK CONVERSION.
April 13, 2007... MasterCard Inc. announced today it plans to begin this year allowing banks to gradually convert a limited number of their Class B common stocks each year into publicly traded Class A common shares. To prevent the conversion this year of up to...

CITIGROUP TO ANNOUNCE COST-CUTTING MOVES TOMORROW...
April 13, 2007... Citigroup said yesterday that the company's chairman and CEO, Charles Prince, would release the details of the company's much-anticipated cost-cutting measures tomorrow during a Web conference. The moves are expected to include the loss of up...

...AND ANNOUNCES TAIWANESE BANK PURCHASE.
April 13, 2007... Citigroup Inc. agreed yesterday to purchase Taiwan's Bank of Overseas Chinese for about US$427.3 million in cash. In a statement, Citi says it will pay existing shareholders of the Taiwanese bank 11.80 Taiwanese new dollars (36 U.S. cents) for...

MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL OFFERS PROPOSALS TO COMBAT ID THEFT.
April 13, 2007... Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley made several proposals to combat identity theft in Massachusetts, including timely notice to consumers of a security breach, in testimony today to the state legislature. She also proposed giving...

INNOVATIVE TESTS ONE-TIME PASSWORD CARD IN KOREA.
April 13, 2007... Employees of a South Korean brokerage firm are testing cards produced by Los Angeles-based Innovative Card Technologies that produce one-time passwords for banking and Internet authentication. The trial involves workers at Meritz Securities Co....

QUIKTRIP STORES TO TRY BILL-PAYING, CHECK-CASHING KIOSKS THIS SUMMER.(CashWorks Inc. plans to offer check cashing services through QuickTrip stores)(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... CashWorks Inc. plans to offer check-cashing and bill-payment services this summer through mini kiosks in 34 Wichita, Kan.-area QuikTrip convenience stores. The kiosks will cash government-issued and payroll checks and allow users to pay bills...

BRIEFS.(Touch-N-Buy Inc. signs agreement with LTT Telecards Inc.)(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... Touch-N-Buy Inc. entered into an exclusive agreement with LTT Telecards Inc. to market and distribute what it claims is the first interactive kiosk in Puerto Rico to provide prepaid products and services, including phone cards, gift cards and...

CITIGROUP TO SLASH 17,000 JOBS.
April 13, 2007... Citigroup Chairman and CEO Charles Prince announced today that the banking behemoth will lay off nearly 17,000 workers, about 5% of its workforce, in a move aimed at cutting costs, driving future expansion and creating a "more streamlined...

NEARLY HALF OF AMERICANS WILL PAY DOWN DEBTS WITH TAX REFUND.(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... Approximately 46% of Americans who expect a tax refund this year plan to use their U.S. Treasury check to pay down personal debt, according to an online survey conducted last month by Chicago-based tax consultants UHY Advisors. A random survey...

HYPERCOM CONDUCTS EMV CONTACTLESS PILOT IN SWITZERLAND.(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... Contactless technology vendor On Track Innovations, along with payment-terminal maker Hypercom and Hypercom's Swiss partner, Commtrain Card Solutions AG, announced yesterday that their contactless payments system performed one of the first EMV...

PREPAID CARD TARGETS JET SETTERS.(JetOne Jets Inc. launches prepaid cards)(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... Charter plane service provider JetOne Jets Inc. announced Monday that it is partnering with American Express Incentive Services to offer its clients the JetOne Jets American Express-branded prepaid AccessOne card. Available in denominations of...

SMART SMS CORP. LAUNCHES T-WEED WIRELESS VISA.
April 13, 2007... Smart SMS Corp., a mobile-entertainment marketing and payments company, has announced that the brand-engineering firm founded by Kevin Watson, also known as T-Weed on VH-1's "I Love New York" reality show, is launching the T-Weed Wireless Visa...

CIBC COMPLETES ATM UPGRADE.
April 13, 2007... The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has completed an upgrade of its network of 3,800 ATMs across Canada. The C$90 million (US$78.6 million) in upgrades include improvements at 1,129 of the bank's ATMs to accommodate a wide range of...

ANOTHER LOSS: GEORGIA LOSES MEDICAID DATA.
April 13, 2007... In the latest in a series of large data losses, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported this week that it has lost a compact disc containing 2.9 million Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids' members' Social Security numbers, addresses and...

BRIEFS.
April 13, 2007... San Jose, Calif.-based DVD kiosk operator DVDPlay hired former Team Safeway executive Melissa Moore as its senior vice president of retail operations and sales.... Springfield, Mo.'s convention and visitors bureau is offering tourists a $40...

TARGET RESTATES CARD EARNINGS THROUGH EARLY 2007.(Financial report)
April 13, 2007... Mega-retailer Target Corp., one of the largest credit card issuers in the United States, has redefined its card contribution to earnings before taxes and on Wednesday reclassified figures on revenues, expenses and receivables for the past two...

MASTERCARD ADDS HIGH-END PERKS FOR THE WEALTHY.
April 13, 2007... MasterCard Worldwide is adding more extravagant perks for its premium cardholders to drive spending and target more of the 19 million households that exceed $100,000 in annual income. The program, called MasterCard Unique Experiences, is...

REPORT: 20% OF MOBILE PHONES COULD FEATURE NFC BY 2012.
April 13, 2007... About 20% of the global market for wireless-telephone handsets, or 292 million units, will come equipped with Near Field Communication technology by 2012, according to a new projection from New York-based ABI Research. NFC is a short-range...

E-MAIL MARKETING HELPS SMALLER FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANIES COMPETE.
April 13, 2007... While many large financial-services companies are experimenting with a blend of direct-mail and e-mail marketing to sell new products and services to existing customers, many smaller financial-services companies are focusing on e-mail marketing...

CONSUMERS SHIFT AWAY FROM CLOSED-LOOP CARDS, SURVEY SAYS.
April 13, 2007... Usage of closed-loop gift cards, which generally are merchant-specific cards, dropped for the second year in a row, to 45.4% of consumers this year from 54.3% last year, according to a February survey of 1,013 U.S. adults ages 18 or older....

NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE AIMS TO BAN UNIVERSAL DEFAULT.(Brief article)
April 13, 2007... Three New York state Senate and Assembly committees examined a number of credit card industry practices, including late fees, interest rates and universal default, during a public hearing yesterday at Hoftstra University in Hempstead, N.Y....

POS VENDOR SHIPS SECURITY COMPONENT.
April 13, 2007... Shift4 Corp., a Las Vegas-based payment-security company, says MicrosPOS4Less, a point-of-sale system vendor, is offering a Shift4 security-software component for Micros POS systems. The component, available at no charge, requires the merchant...

BRIEFS.
April 13, 2007... Payment processor and prepaid card provider Innovative Processing Solutions LLC says MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc., a subsidiary of MoneyGram International Inc., will offer reloading services for its Transcard prepaid card.... Wireless...

NO SURPRISE: VISA INTERCHANGE INCREASE IRKS MERCHANTS.
April 20, 2007... Visa USA plans to release a new interchange rate schedule Saturday that will average 1.77% per transaction amount for credit and signature-debit purchases, an increase of less than a basis point from the current average rate, Visa says. A basis...

VISA TO CHANGE CHARGEBACK POLICY ON FUEL TRANSACTIONS.
April 20, 2007... Visa USA is changing how it handles chargebacks for transactions at the gas pump in favor of merchants. Visa has a $50 threshold on how chargebacks for transactions at gas pumps are handled. Visa's rule change, which goes into effect Saturday,...

HOUSE COMMITTEE MAY HOLD HEARING ON CREDIT REPORTING.
April 20, 2007... The House Financial Services Committee is likely to hold a hearing later this month to investigate the process and accuracy of credit reporting, a Washington lobbyist tells CardLine. A spokesperson for committee chair Barney Frank (D-Mass.)...