Cardline articles from April 2008

Cardline archives from April 2008

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES STILL HOPES TO BUY DIEBOLD, ANALYST SAYS.
April 4, 2008... United Technologies Corp., which earlier this month made a hostile takeover bid for North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold Inc., disclosed yesterday that it owns about 3.5% of Diebold's outstanding common stock. United Technologies says it owns 2.28...

TJX AGREES TO STRICTER SECURITY AND EASIER FTC MONITORING.
April 4, 2008... TJX Cos. Inc. has agreed to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that TJX failed to provide reasonable protection for sensitive information it had collected from customers, the FTC announced yesterday. The settlement requires TJX to...

SECRET SERVICE DENIES REPORT OF TJX CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.
April 4, 2008... The Secret Service released a statement today clarifying a Wall Street Journal article that stated TJX Co. Inc. was under investigation for "possible criminal misconduct" regarding its data breach last year. "Not only is TJX Companies Inc. not...

SURVEY: STUDENTS WELCOME CAMPUS CARD-MARKETING RESTRICTIONS.
April 4, 2008... The majority of college students favor stronger policies that might bar issuers from marketing cards on campuses, according to a survey released this week by U.S. Public Interest Research Group. In "The Campus Credit Card Trap," the Washington,...

ANALYST MAINTAINS HOLD RATING ON DISCOVER'S STOCK.
April 4, 2008... An analyst maintained his "hold" rating Wednesday on shares of Discover Financial Services, citing credit problems during the card issuer's first quarter ended Feb. 29. "Credit quality deteriorated beyond our conservative expectations with...

ISOS DRIVE STRONG QUARTER FOR GLOBAL PAYMENTS.(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... Growth in its merchant-services business that includes independent sales organizations helped Global Payments Inc. to generate double-digit growth in fiscal third-quarter revenue and net income, according to the Atlanta-based transaction...

PAYPAL STOPS SERVICING CANADIAN NUDISTS.
April 4, 2008... PayPal has canceled services for the Federation of Canadian Naturists, the federation said this week in a press release. PayPal stopped accepting payments for the federation because its magazine, "Going Natural," includes photos of nude...

BRIEFS.
April 4, 2008... West Telemarketing Corp., a communications-services company, says it complies with Visa Inc.'s Cardholder Information Security Program and PCI Data Security Standard....Payment Processing Inc., a provider of integrated payment software, is...

CITI CREATES SINGLE GLOBAL BUSINESS UNIT FOR CARDS.
April 4, 2008... Citigroup Inc. today announced a sweeping reorganization that will break its card operations away from consumer banking, creating a separate, global business unit for cards. Steven J. Freiberg, previously chairman and CEO of New York-based...

REPORT: PUBLIC VALUES PRODUCTS AND SERVICES MORE THAN REWARDS.
April 4, 2008... Half of U.S. cardholders pay attention to better products and services, and 28% look for better rewards, according to an online survey of 500 U.S. consumers by Boston-based Aite Group LLC. Some 84% of consumers carry credit cards that are not...

AMEX DISCONTINUES CONTACTLESS KEY FOB.
April 4, 2008... American Express Co. has dropped its Express Pay contactless key fob payment device, which it began testing with employees and some consumers in 2002, a company spokesperson confirms. The fob was just not as convenient as initially touted,...

CONSUMERS REGISTER ANY CARD WITH CHOCKSTONE TO EARN POINTS.
April 4, 2008... Chockstone Inc., a loyalty marketing and technology provider, is launching a service called SingleSwipe that enables customers to register any credit or debit card to receive loyalty points and promotions automatically, the company announced...

CARDS COMBINING STUDENT ID AND DEBIT FUNCTIONS EXTENDED OFF-CAMPUS.
April 4, 2008... A payment system developed by Off-Campus Advantage LLC enables colleges and universities that combine university identification and debit functions on a single card to extend purchasing capabilities to off-campus merchants. Off-Campus Advantage...

EXPECT MOBILE-BANKING FEES IN TWO TO THREE YEARS, ANALYST SAYS.(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... Financial institutions may charge a fee for mobile banking services "in the next two or three years," says Greg Schratwieser, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based ICI Consulting. Schratwieser made a presentation about mobile banking...

STUDY: HALF OF CHECKS ARE WRITTEN BY CONSUMERS TO BUSINESSES.
April 4, 2008... Nearly 50% of checks written in the United States are consumer-to-business checks, according to the Federal Reserve's 2007 study of the check market. The "Check Sample Study" reports on the composition of the check market based on surveys of...

BRIEFS.(ValleyStone Credit Union)(Survey)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... Fair Isaac Corp., a Minneapolis-based provider of analytics and the FICO credit score, will present findings of a credit card issuer survey on April 30 at the North American InterACT customer conference in San Francisco. The survey will review...

CONSUMER DATA COMPROMISED AT 14 ADVANCE AUTO PARTS STORES.
April 4, 2008... A network intrusion that affected 14 Advance Auto Parts Inc. stores potentially compromised credit, debit and check information of up to 56,000 customers, the Roanoke, Va.-based automotive-parts retailer announced Monday. The intrusion occurred...

WAMU PLANS TO BECOME LARGEST ISSUER OF PAYPASS CARDS.
April 4, 2008... Washington Mutual Inc. expects to issue 12 million to 15 million MasterCard PayPass-enabled debit cards this year, making it the nation's largest PayPass issuer, the bank announced today. WaMu launched its debit MasterCard with PayPass...

TRM REPORTS ANOTHER ANNUAL LOSS.(Financial report)
April 4, 2008... TRM Corp. reported a smaller net loss in 2007 compared with a year ago, but says it may seek bankruptcy protection if it cannot refinance some of its debt. The Portland, Ore.-based ISO reported a 2007 net loss of $8.4 million compared with a...

PHILLY TAXI DRIVERS COMPLAIN OF PAYMENT SYSTEM PROBLEMS...(VeriFone Transportation Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... Reviews still are mixed on the performance of a credit card acceptance, ride dispatching and global positioning unit system in Philadelphia taxis (CardLine, 2/1). Representatives of the Philadelphia Taxi Workers Alliance say many of their 1,200...

...BUT PHILLY TAXI AUTHORITY SAYS PERFORMANCE HAS IMPROVED.(Philadelphia Parking Authority)(VeriFone Transportation Systems)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... The Philadelphia Parking Authority, a state agency that oversees taxi and limousine service in the city, is midway through a two-month investigation into complaints about the performance of the network and equipment that provides credit card...

TRUMPET MOBILE TO OFFER MOBILE-PHONE FUNDS TRANSFERS.
April 4, 2008... Trumpet Mobile, an Irving, Texas-based subsidiary of Affinity Mobile LLC, is making available a prepaid mobile phone that enables users to make Western Union funds transfers within the United States and from the U.S. to Latin America and the...

PIPELINE DATA POSTS 19.4% REVENUE INCREASE IN 2007.(Financial report)
April 4, 2008... Pipeline Data Inc., a Quincy, Mass.-based payments processor, yesterday reported 2007 revenue of $49.9 million, up 19% from $41.8 million the previous year. The company had a net loss of $1.9 million this year compared with a net loss of $2.3...

BRIEFS.
April 4, 2008... Discover Financial Services yesterday announced the completion of the sale of its United Kingdom-based Goldfish credit card business to Barclays Bank PLC for approximately $70 million....Citigroup Inc. yesterday announced a partnership with...

VERIFONE AUDIT FINDS LARGER-THAN-EXPECTED ERRORS...(VeriFone Holdings Inc)(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... VeriFone Holdings Inc. today said accounting errors disclosed in December were larger than the company anticipated. The point-of-sale terminal maker says it will reduce the value of its inventories by $77.8 million for the first three quarters...

...AS THE COMPANY MAKES PERSONNEL CHANGES.(resignation of Douglas Bergeron and Barry Zwarenstein and promotion of Charles Rinehart at VeriFone Holdings Inc)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... Douglas Bergeron has lost his chairman title at VeriFone Holdings Inc., and the company's chief financial officer is quitting in the wake of a financial review by the San Jose, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal maker, VeriFone announced...

AMAZON INTRODUCES MOBILE-PAYMENTS SERVICE.
April 4, 2008... Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. last night launched a service that enables customers to use text messages to find and buy products sold on its Web site, a company statement says. A company spokesperson declined to discuss the results of earlier...

VAGUE DEFINITION OF WEB GAMBLING DELAYING RULES, WITNESSES SAY.
April 4, 2008... Testifying today before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services, representatives for the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of the Treasury said Congress provided "no clarity" on what constitutes unlawful Internet...

FIELDGUIDE ENTERPRISES OFFERS SERVICE TO SELL RESIDUALS.(FieldGuide Enterprises LLC)(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... FieldGuide Enterprises LLC last week unveiled a Web site, SellYourResidual.com, for buyers and sellers of residuals. Residuals are monthly payments agents receive, typically from credit and debit card processing, but they also can come from...

CHARGE-OFFS UP IN JANUARY BUT STILL BELOW HISTORIC AVERAGE.
April 4, 2008... Charge-offs rose in January 2008 on credit card receivables held in trusts by major issuers, according to Standard & Poor's monthly Credit Card Quality Index released Tuesday. The payment rate on card accounts in the Index in January fell 70...

TRANSUNION PROJECTS 0.5% BOOST IN 2008 CARD DELINQUENCIES.
April 4, 2008... TransUnion's quarterly Trend Data report predicts the national 90-day bankcard user delinquency rate will rise to 1.9% of loans outstanding by the end of 2008 from 1.36% in the fourth quarter of 2007, primarily because of anticipated...

BRIEFS.
April 4, 2008... Point-of-sale terminal maker Hypercom Corp. says it has completed its $120 million purchase of the e-Transactions terminal business from Thales S.A.... USA ePay, a payment gateway, will sell check-payment services from ACH Payment Solutions....

TJX TO PAY MASTERCARD UP TO $24 MILLION BECAUSE OF BREACH.
April 4, 2008... TJX Cos. Inc. Wednesday announced a settlement with MasterCard Worldwide to fund up to $24 million pretax in payments associated with last year's massive data breach that affected more than 89 million debit and credit cardholders. The...

NCR CEO: 40% OF U.S. BANKS WILL SWITCH TO ENVELOPE-FREE ATMS THIS YEAR.
April 4, 2008... Forty-percent of bank-owned ATMs in the United States will convert to envelope-free deposits this year, Bill Nuti, chairman and CEO of NCR Corp., predicted this morning at the ATM maker's 2008 Self-Service Universe Executive Conference in...

FOUR SWITCH NETWORKS CERTIFY NCR'S SELFSERV LINE OF ATMS.
April 4, 2008... Four companies have certified NCR Corp.'s new SelfServ line of multifunction ATMs, the company announced Tuesday at its Self-Service Universe Conference in Orlando, Fla. Fidelity National Information Systems, ACI Worldwide, Fifth Third Bank...

CITI CHECKING ACCOUNT CUSTOMERS TO TEST MOBILE P2P PAYMENT.
April 4, 2008... Citigroup Inc. announced Wednesday that Obopay Inc.'s mobile person-to-person payment service will be available to the bank's U.S. checking-account customers on a trial basis. The trial will start this summer and will enable Citi customers to...

CREDIT MANAGER'S INDEX FALLS BELOW 50 FOR THE FIRST TIME.
April 4, 2008... For the first time since its inception in 2002, the seasonally adjusted Credit Manager's Index has fallen below the crucial 50 level, indicating an economic contraction, the National Association of Credit Management reported this week. The...

LOAN DELINQUENCIES RISE EXCEPT ON BANKCARDS.(Brief article)
April 4, 2008... Fourth-quarter 2007 consumer-credit delinquencies on eight types of closed-end installment loans reached their highest levels since 1992, according to the American Bankers Association's Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin issued today....

VISA EUROPE EXPECTS DEAL TO END ANTITRUST CASE, CEO SAYS.
April 4, 2008... Visa Europe expects to reach "a negotiated settlement" with European regulators over charges that the card organization's policies violate antitrust rules, Peter Ayliffe, Visa Europe CEO, told reporters Wednesday. The European Commission last...

BRIEFS.
April 4, 2008... Wescom Credit Union has launched a personalized-image feature for its credit and debit cards with Serverside Group Ltd..... Vindicia Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based billing-services and fraud-prevention company, says it has introduced...

CARD DEBT LIKELY TO INCREASE AS UNEMPLOYMENT CLIMBS TO 5.1%.
April 11, 2008... The nation's unemployment rate rose to 5.1% in March from 4.8% in February, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers in March slashed some 80,000 jobs, many of them in...

BANKATLANTIC CUSTOMERS MOVE FROM ONLINE TO MOBILE BANKING.
April 11, 2008... More than 5% of BankAtlantic Bancorp's online-banking customers have moved to mobile banking, Nona A. Wilgus, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based bank's former chief merchant, said during a presentation Thursday at NCR Corp.'s 2008 Self-Service...

FIFTH THIRD REPORTEDLY PONDERING NATIONAL CITY PURCHASE.
April 11, 2008... Fifth Third Bancorp may be considering a bid to purchase National City Corp., reports the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the situation. A Fifth Third spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the report. If Fifth Third...

SMALL BUSINESSES USE CREDIT CARDS TO MAKE UP FOR LACK OF LOANS.
April 11, 2008... Small businesses use credit cards to make up for a lack of funding from other sources, according to a press release from Nydia M. Velazquez, chair of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Small Business. The committee yesterday heard...

USA TECHNOLOGIES SELLS MORE THAN $500,000 IN VENDING SERVICES.
April 11, 2008... Sales of USA Technologies' products to enable vending machines to accept credit cards have exceeded $500,000, the company said yesterday in a statement. It began offering the G7 ePort, which accepts magnetic stripe and contactless cards, and...

DEBIT-REWARDS MARKET YOUNG BUT GROWING.
April 11, 2008... The number of community and regional banks with debit card rewards is likely to double in the next two years, and most financial institutions will offer debit rewards within five years, according to Mike Bender, CEO of Image Products Inc., a...

AS MOBILE BANKING GROWS, FRAUD WILL INCREASE, CONSULTANT SAYS.
April 11, 2008... Mobile-banking fraud will rise along with the increasing popularity of mobile-banking services, contends Greg Schratwieser, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based ICI Consulting. Criminals who want to steal consumer financial information are...

BRIEFS.
April 11, 2008... Affinity Mobile, which offers mobile financial services to prepaid and underbanked mobile-phone users, has hired Todd Achilles as managing director....Chicago Car Title Loans is offering to new customers gift cards from several major...

DISCOVER GOES GLOBAL WITH DINERS CLUB ACQUISITION.
April 11, 2008... Discover Financial Services today announced an agreement to acquire Diners Club International, the once-mighty travel-and-entertainment credit card brand established in 1950, from Citigroup Inc. In the $165 million all-cash deal, Discover...

VISA AND MASTERCARD: THE INDUSTRY'S 'NEW GORILLAS'.
April 11, 2008... They both are public companies now, but Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide still are the "gorillas" of the payment card industry. However, they are new gorillas acting on behalf of the shareholders, and there is every reason to believe they...

MASTERCARD LAUNCHES DEBIT PROCESSING PLATFORM.
April 11, 2008... MasterCard Worldwide today announced the launch of MasterCard Integrated Processing Solutions, a debit-processing platform that includes ATM, signature and PIN processing services. MasterCard made the announcement today at the 20th annual Card...

BOFA GETS TOP SCORE FOR CARD SAFETY.
April 11, 2008... Bank of America achieved the top spot in Javelin Strategy & Research's 2008 Card Issuers' Identity Safety Scorecard, Javelin announced today. Second place went to Discover Financial Services, followed by FNB Omaha and U.S. Bank. Javelin's...

AITE REPORT: REMOTE DEPOSIT WILL BECOME UBIQUITOUS.(Brief article)
April 11, 2008... By the end of 2009, a majority of banks will offer remote deposit technology that enables businesses and consumers to deposit checks without having to visit a financial institution branch, according to a report from Boston-based Aite Group LLC....

MASTERCARD: PUBLIC LIKES CONTACTLESS CARDS AND KEYCHAIN FOBS.
April 11, 2008... MasterCard International says consumers prefer the option of having PayPass contactless technology in a credit card as well as in a keychain-sized tag, according to a survey the brand conducted recently among PayPass users. The survey measured...

CONSUMERS REMAIN DOUBTFUL ABOUT ONLINE FINANCIAL SECURITY.
April 11, 2008... A majority of U.S. consumers fear their online banking passwords are targeted by fraudsters, according to the "Digital Trust Barometer" survey commissioned by France-based smart-card maker Gemalto N.V. The survey found that 57% of respondents...

BRIEFS.
April 11, 2008... Magensa LLC, an authentication-services company, says it has joined the PCI Security Standards Council as a participating organization.... Chevron Corp. today announced new features for its no-annual-fee Chevron and Texaco credit cards,...

ALTERNATIVE PAYMENTS HIP, HYPED BUT ARE THEY HAPPENING?(Brief article)
April 11, 2008... Despite the hype around so-called alternative payments, new transaction methods - such as mobile phone-enabled funds transfers, deferred billing and debit cards that move money using automated clearinghouse networks - occupy only some 1% of the...

NCR EXPERIENCES FASTER ROLLOUT OF SELFSERV ATM LINE:.
April 11, 2008... NCR Corp. is experiencing a faster rollout of its SelfServ family of ATMs that the Dayton, Ohio-based manufacturer introduced in January. Bill Nuti, NCR's chairman and CEO, attributes the faster acceptance by the financial-services community to...

FED: CONSUMER DEBT GREW 2.4% IN FEBRUARY.
April 11, 2008... Consumer credit outstanding rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.4% in February 2008, aided by a 5.9% increase in borrowing on revolving accounts, consisting primarily of credit cards, according to the Federal Reserve Board's monthly...

FAMOUS FORMER FRAUDSTER PAYS WITH CREDIT CARDS TO AVOID RISK.
April 11, 2008... Reformed fraudster Frank Abagnale, who was immortalized in the Hollywood film "Catch Me If You Can," protects himself from fraud by paying for virtually everything with a credit card. "The credit card is the greatest tool in the world for...

U.S. BANK WILL PROVIDE PURCHASING CARDS TO AIR FORCE AND DEFENSE AGENCIES.
April 11, 2008... U.S. Bank today announced it will provide purchasing, travel and fleet cards to the United States Air Force and Defense Agencies, which have an estimated charge volume of $2.2 billion. U.S. Bank did not disclose how many cards it will issue...

BEST IN PAYMENTS AWARDS ANNOUNCED AT CARD FORUM.
April 11, 2008... Andrew Rowe, publisher of CardLine and CardLine sister publication Cards&Payments magazine, announced the winners of Cards&Payments' Best In Payments Awards this morning at SourceMedia's 20th annual Card Forum and Expo in Miami. MasterCard...

NFC PHONES HIT SNAG IN CHINA.
April 11, 2008... China, one of the first countries where consumers could buy phones enabled with Near Field Communication, has experienced problems in making the contactless technology work, CardLine sister publication Cards&Payments has learned. Readers on...

BRIEFS.
April 11, 2008... Hypercom Corp. says Microsoft Corp. has certified its SmartPayments Server payment-processing software for use with Windows Server 2008.... The Members Group has hired Sara Petty as vice president of strategic development and Donna Rehtmeyer as...

TRITON SUES FORMER EXECUTIVES; ALLEGES THEFT OF TRADE SECRETS.
April 11, 2008... Triton Systems of Delaware Inc. is suing former president and CEO Brian J. Kett and five other former top executives who allegedly used misappropriated Triton documents to found Global Cash Services LLC, an ATM-marketing firm that competes...

ANALYST AFFIRMS HOLD RATING ON WAMU; CITES LOSS RATES.
April 11, 2008... Following yesterday's announcement that Washington Mutual Corp. would receive $7 billion in cash from TPG Capital, Stifel Nicolaus equities analyst Chris Brendler today warned that although the bank's "card growth has been strong recently, WaMu...

PANELISTS VENT FRUSTRATION BUT EXPRESS HOPE FOR NFC PAYMENTS.(Discussion)
April 11, 2008... Mobile telecommunication companies in the United States still are demanding a cut of the interchange fees merchant acquirers would pay card issuers for credit and debit transactions enabled by Near Field Communication chips embedded in phones....

IMPROPER CARD SPENDING SPANS SEVERAL AGENCIES, GAO SAYS.
April 11, 2008... A review of credit card spending at more than 12 U.S. government departments, including Homeland Security, Defense and Veterans Affairs, found internal-control weaknesses that exposed the federal government to fraud, waste and abuse, according...

REWARDS MAY REQUIRE RETOOLING DURING ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN.
April 11, 2008... Card issuers may need to retool their rewards to maintain their effectiveness in the current economic downturn, according to a TowerGroup report released today. In "Pointing in the Right Direction: Rethinking Card Payment Rewards in a...

MERCATOR CALLS ON PREPAID INDUSTRY TO IMPROVE TRANSPARENCY.(Brief article)
April 11, 2008... The Mercator Advisory Group says the prepaid payments industry should define its market segments more clearly and publicly to make comparing data and understanding the market easier. Mercator issued the comments in response to a report from the...

VERIFONE SAYS NEW PRODUCT HIDES CONSUMER DATA.
April 11, 2008... VeriFone Holdings Inc. says its new VeriShield Protect system can hide encrypted consumer payment card data until it is decrypted on the receiving end. Encryption occurs in a security module inside the payment terminal. The decryption happens...

BRIEFS.
April 11, 2008... The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Monday it will accept credit cards for all motor-vehicle fees. The department will apply a $1 convenience fee for each credit card transaction....Fifth Third Bank Processing...

CAPITAL ONE CHARGE-OFFS RISE, DELINQUENCIES FALL.
April 11, 2008... The net charge-off rate for Capital One Financial Corp.'s U.S. card segment rose to 6.54% of managed receivables in March compared with 5.97% in February, and its 30-days-or-more delinquency rate fell to 4.62% of managed receivables in March...

BOFA LAUNCHES PREPAID DEBIT CARD FOR TEACHERS.
April 11, 2008... Teachers can make classroom-supply purchases with the Supply Shelf prepaid Visa debit card that Bank of America Corp. launched Wednesday. Participating educational organizations manage card issuance to teachers and can load cards with $25 to...

HSBC SAYS IT HAS RESTORED ITS ONLINE-PROCESSING SYSTEM.(Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 11, 2008... HSBC's online Secure ePayments service "has been restored and is live," Neil Brazil, a spokesperson for the United Kingdom-based financial institution, told CardLine sister publication CardLine Global Wednesday. The service crashed early this...

ARIZONA CAMPUS CREDIT CARD REGULATION BILL FAILS.
April 11, 2008... A bill that would have curbed credit card solicitation on Arizona's public college campuses failed to get past the House's Higher Education Committee yesterday. House Bill 2518 would have stopped creditors from offering free gifts, such as...

LOYALTY PROVIDER SELECTS NETWORK.
April 11, 2008... Pacific Network Access Inc. has agreed to use an authorization and payment-processing network from HBNet Inc., a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Hypercom Corp., for a loyalty campaign scheduled to begin this year. Consumers participating in Las...

FRENCH OPERATOR DELAYS NFC COMMERCIAL LAUNCH.
April 11, 2008... A delay in the rollout of Near Field Communication technology in France provides more evidence the contactless-payment technology could take longer to reach large numbers of consumers than many market participants hoped. France-based...

NCR'S CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER TO LEAVE COMPANY.
April 11, 2008... Donald H. Hopkins, a top executive at NCR Corp., is leaving the world's largest ATM manufacturer in the near future for unspecified reasons. Hopkins is chief information officer, overseeing technology and information services and infrastructure...

BRIEFS.(RBS Lynk)(eImprovement LLC)(Brief article)
April 11, 2008... Assurz Inc. says eImprovement LLC, an online home-improvement products retailer, is using its online satisfaction-guarantee product.... CrossCheck Inc. says processor RBS Lynk has renewed a check-guarantee and check-conversion services...

AIRLINE PINS BANKRUPTCY WOES ON CARD PROCESSOR.
April 18, 2008... Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following an unexpected move beginning today by its credit card processor to "substantially increase" the amount it withholds to cover potential losses based on...

SMARTPAY 2 CAN CURB MISSPENDING, BUT HUMAN MONITORING NEEDED, TOO.
April 18, 2008... The recent U.S. General Accountability Office report on misspending on government purchase cards gives some credit to purchasing card programs for reducing fraud and waste compared with paper-based transactions and spending reports. The report...

INVESTMENT BANK INITIATES VISA COVERAGE WITH 'BUY' RATING.(Company overview)
April 18, 2008... Stifel Nicolaus, a St. Louis-based investment bank, initiated coverage Friday of Visa Inc. with a "buy" rating. In his report, Managing Director Chris Brendler writes that his investment thesis "is largely based on our positive sector views and...

USE NEW MEDIA, CONSUMER TRIALS TO REACH NEW CARDHOLDERS, CITI EXEC SAYS.(Terry O'Neill, executive)(Brief article)
April 18, 2008... The cacophony of advertising noise from a growing variety of media channels makes standing out a greater challenge than ever, Terry O'Neill, executive vice president at Citi Cards, said during a presentation this week at SourceMedia's 20th...