Cardline articles from August 2006

Cardline archives from August 2006

FORMER ISSUER AGREES TO PAY $16.1 MILLION TO SETTLE INTEREST-RATE DISPUTE.(to remove negative information from affected consumers)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Chevy Chase Bank this week agreed to pay $16.1 million and to remove negative information from affected consumers' credit reports to settle a consumer class-action dispute over allegedly excessive credit card interest rates. Filed in 1999, the...

GLOBAL PAYMENTS REPORTS GROWTH IN FOURTH QUARTER.
August 4, 2006... Global Payments Inc., the Atlanta-based merchant processor, today reported fiscal fourth-quarter and year-end earnings. In the fourth quarter, Global Payments reports its income was $34.l million, up 32% compared with $25.9 million for the same...

CYBERSOURCE SEES STRONG GAINS.
August 4, 2006... CyberSource Corp. reported this week gross profit of nearly $8.7 million in the second quarter, up 24.3% from $7 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues were $16.4 million, a 38% increase from $11.9 million in second quarter 2005,...

PREPAID FINDS FAVOR WITH BOTH BANKED AND UNBANKED.(aggregate spending data of recurring cardholders)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Prepaid cards have been promoted as a tool to reach the unbanked, but consumers with bank accounts are using the cards for business-related purchases, according to "Banked vs. Unbanked Cardholders: Understanding the Use of Prepaid Cards in...

ATLANTA TRIES KIOSKS FOR BILL PAYMENTS.(pay their water bills with credit cards, debit cards )(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... The City of Atlanta this week began exploring self-service card payments for city services, installing two kiosks in its city hall where residents can pay their water bills with credit cards, debit cards and checks. Mayor Shirley Jackson...

CANADA'S DEXIT EXPLORES OPTIONS.(contactless payment system)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Dexit Inc., a Canada-based operator of a contactless payment system for low-value purchases, is considering the sale of all or part of the company. "There's a number of people who've approached us" since Dexit announced a change in its top...

BRIEFS.(online debt-paying system)(Pemco Technologies )(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Seattle-based Pemco Technologies is processing Visa credit cards for the River Region Credit Union in Jefferson City, Mo., and providing credit card, debit card and ATM services for the Abilene Federal Credit Union.... The Securities Industry...

SPENDING ON CARDS BLOSSOMS AS PAPER PAYMENTS WILT.(Visa USA Research Services report)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Consumer spending with credit and debit cards grew quickly from 1995 to 2005 as spending on cash and checks fell, according to Visa USA Research Services' 2006 Payment Trends Summary. The study found that checks and cash accounted for 51% of...

CARDS USED FOR 73% OF SPEND AT THE PUMP.(Federal Reserve Bank of Boston)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Consumers spent an average of $80 a month at gas stations in 2005, and cards accounted for nearly 75% of the total dollars spent, according to a Visa payment study. Visa found that general-purpose cards accounted for 35% of the dollar volume...

SECTION OF BANKRUPTCY LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL.(Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... A Texas federal district court ruled unconstitutional last week a section of the sweeping bankruptcy legislation that went into effect last October. The ruling could set precedence for similar suits pending in other states. Dallas District...

HSBC MASTERCARD/VISA RECEIVABLES UP 6% THROUGH JUNE.
August 4, 2006... HSBC Holdings plc today reported six-month results for its U.S. Credit Card Services unit. As of June 30, Credit Card Services had $24.96 billion in receivables, up 6% from $23.45 billion compared with the same six-month period a year ago, the...

ISSUERS MAY USE ORBISCOM'S DISPOSABLE NUMBERS ON DEBIT CARDS.(online transaction)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Software developer Orbiscom is holding discussions with several unnamed U.S. banks about applying the software developer's single use, disposable credit card numbers to online transactions made with signature debit cards, Diane Shaib, the...

MEMO A JAVELIN TO THE HEART OF NRF.(National Retail Federation)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Deceitful. Awful propaganda. Ludicrous. Slanted and incorrect. No, that isn't a description of the latest credit card direct mail campaign. Bruce Cundiff, an analyst with Javelin Strategy & Research, takes a sledgehammer to a July 19 press...

SENIORS PLAGUED BY HIGH CREDIT CARD DEBT, STUDY SAYS.
August 4, 2006... Older Americans are falling deeper into debt because of credit card use, contends a newly released report from the National Consumer Law Center in Boston. The group bases its findings on recent interviews of seniors across the United States,...

BRIEFS.(contactless cards in nine states)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... JPMorgan Chase & Co. has issued nearly 7 million blink contactless cards in nine states.... Wincor Nixdorf is a strategic reseller of Hypercom Corp. The German point of sale system supplier will include Hypercom's Optimum payment terminals as...

AMEX SCALES BACK REWARDS.(AmEx green, gold and platinum charge cards)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... American Express Co. reported today it would remake its cardholder rewards program, raise the annual fee for some cards and drop double-point rewards for purchases at gas stations and grocery and drug stores for most of its cards. The changes...

PIN AND SIGNATURE DEBIT ADD UP TO MORE POS TRANSACTIONS.(survey found that debit use at the point-of-sale )(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Debit cardholders make more than twice as many monthly purchases when they can choose between using either their PIN or their signature when confirming the purchase, according to a survey released today by First Data Corp.'s Star Network. Debit...

NCO PROFITS FALL 29% DESPITE CLIMB IN REVENUE.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Debt buyer NCO Group reported second quarter net income of $10 million or 31 cents a share, down 29% from $14.1 million or 42 cents a share in the same period last year. The current quarter's results include special charges of $1.4 million or 4...

REWARDS CARDS NOW DOMINATE: VISA STUDY.(Visa Payment Panel study)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Consumer rewards credit cards in 2005 accounted for 77% of total dollars spent and 80% of card transactions conducted with general-purpose cards, according to the Visa Payment Panel study released at last week's payments conference at the...

UNLIKE WU, POLITICS NO PROBLEM FOR DOLEX.
August 4, 2006... The recent massive marches tied to U.S. immigration policies didn't affect transactions at DolEx Dollar Express Inc., the cross-border money-transfer division of Global Payments Inc., according to top executives. Global Payments reported Friday...

U.S. BANK ISSUES 10 MILLION GIFT CARDS.(bank gift cards )(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... U.S. Bancorp yesterday announced the issuance of its 10 millionth prepaid Visa gift card. John Focht, senior product manager of prepaid cards, tells CardLine that 85% to 90% of U.S. Bank's gift cards are sold through relationships the...

VIRGIN MOBILE HOPES TO STASH AWAY CALLERS.(NetSpend Inc)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... The cell telephone service provider Virgin Mobile USA seeks to link payment cards to purchasing calling time. Virgin Mobile is partnering with network-branded, prepaid debit card distributor NetSpend Inc. to produce a new Virgin Mobile debit...

BRIEFS.(Transaction Network Services)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... ECommLink Inc. is processing transactions of the parent-controlled Allow Card Prepaid MasterCard, which is designed to teach children financial accountability.... Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. appointed Danny Westheimer as regional vice...

MASTERCARD LOSES $310 MILLION IN QUARTER AS IT BUILDS FOUNDATION ...
August 4, 2006... MasterCard Inc. today reported a net loss of $310 million in the second quarter primarily due to a donation of 13.5 million of its shares valued at $395 million to the MasterCard Foundation. MasterCard reported net income of $120.2 million in...

...WHILE DEBIT PUMPS UP THE VOLUME.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... MasterCard Inc. reported today purchase volume worldwide of $351 billion in the second quarter, up 17.5% from the same period a year ago. Gross dollar volume, including both cash and purchase volume, rose 16.4% to $485 billion in the quarter....

CONTACTLESS COULD THREATEN PIN DEBIT GROWTH.(electronic funds transfer networks)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... PIN-debit networks may struggle to grow as new payment forms, such as contactless credit and debit cards, take hold, and consumers read news reports of fraud with PIN-debit cards, according to a Mercator Advisory Group Inc. report on the future...

WRIGHT EXPRESS SEES REVENUES, AND FUEL COSTS, RISE.
August 4, 2006... Wright Express Corp., the payment processor and credit card issuer for the U.S. commercial and government fleet industry, today reported second-quarter revenues were $76.2 million, up 33% compared with $57.3 million for the same three-month...

DISCOVER TO USE VIVOTECH READERS FOR CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS.(contactless programs from MasterCard and Visa)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Discover Network today said it has certified at least two contactless payment terminals made by San Jose, Calif.-based Vivotech Inc. Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover is working toward a rollout of contactless payments though it hasn't announced...

STUDY LOOKS TO PAIR RISK-AVERSE WITH MARKETING GUNSLINGERS.(develop PaymentDynamics 2006 Preferred Payments study)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Can the freewheeling marketing guys team with the button-down risk managers? Credit card issuers have met with mixed results when they attempted to bring these divisions together to build databases of customer information. "We find the risk...

PSCU LAUNCHES RELOADABLE PREPAID DEBIT CARD.(credit union service organization)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... PSCU Financial Services, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based credit union service organization, is offering a reloadable prepaid debit card to its more than 500 credit union members. The cards are being offered to retain existing cardholders and to...

BRIEFS.(Qsent)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... TransUnion will acquire Qsent, a provider of customer identity authentication using telephone account information. Both firms are privately held.... Gemalto N.V. will move its U.S. headquarters to Washington, D.C., from Arlington, Va. some...

DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH FOR VISA USA.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Visa reported today second-quarter sales volume of $349.2 billion, an increase of 15.7% over the same period a year ago. Sales and cash volume combined totaled $441.7 billion, up nearly 15% from second quarter 2005. Visa cards were used for 6.2...

GIFT CARD ISSUERS WIN NEW HAMPSHIRE COURT CASE.(federal regulation of the issuing banks)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... A federal court ruling in New Hampshire appears to exempt gift cards issued by federally regulated banks from state restrictions on fees and expiration dates, even if the cards are sold through shopping malls or other third parties. U.S....

AMEX ACQUISITION EFFORT SHIFTS TO THE NET.
August 4, 2006... The Internet has become an important channel for American Express Co. to acquire new customers, many of whom spend more than consumers who apply for a card by direct mail, says Jud Linville, president of the Consumer Card Services Group....

COMPUCREDIT RESULTS AND CARDWORKS DEAL STALLED.
August 4, 2006... CompuCredit Corp. reported late yesterday earnings of $28.3 million on revenues of $179.3 million during the second quarter this year, compared with $66.5 million in earnings on revenues of $225 million during the same period of 2005. Last...

DEBIT GETS AN A FOR BACK-TO-SCHOOL PAYMENTS.(parents plan to use credit or debit cards to purchase back-to-school items)
August 4, 2006... According to a recent MasterCard Worldwide survey, 75% of parents plan to use credit or debit cards to purchase back-to-school items this year, up from 53% reported in the 2005 survey. The big jump comes for debit, with a little more than 58%...

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY EARNINGS UP 22%.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Debt buyer Portfolio Recovery Associates reported second-quarter net income of $11.1 million, or 69 cents a share, a rise of nearly 22% from the $9.1 million, or 56 cents a share, reported in the second quarter last year. Revenues for the...

HEARTLAND INCOME UP 70%.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Princeton, N.J.-based processor Heartland Payment Systems reported today its second-quarter net income rose nearly 70% to $7.4 million compared to $4.4 million in the same period a year ago. The profit comes on revenues of $278.1 million in...

BRIEFS.(Encore Capital Group)(Brief article)
August 4, 2006... Citadel Investment Group, a Chicago-based hedge fund, in July bought 5.3% of the common shares of Encore Capital Group, a debt buyer that is exploring either going private or a sale.... U.S. Bank is the campus card partner for Austin Peay...

US BANK DROPS MONEY TRANSFER CARDS.(U.S. Bancorp. discontinues its Secure Money Transfer service)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... U.S. Bancorp is phasing out its card-based Secure Money Transfer remittance service between the United States and Mexico. "We're deactivating it because demand is not there to support it," says Steve SaLoutos, U.S. Bank senior vice president....

HYPERCOM REPORTS REVENUE RISE.
August 11, 2006... Payment-terminal maker Hypercom Corp. today reported revenues of $66.1 million for the second quarter, up 10% from $60.2 million during the same period last year. Hypercom reported net income for the quarter of $6.2 million. That compares with...

GIFT CARD ADDS PLENTY OF SUGAR TO STARBUCKS RESULTS.(sales and earnings)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Starbucks Corp. reported Wednesday that its prepaid card accounted for 12% of revenues for the U.S. and Canada in its fiscal third quarter ending on July 2. The Seattle-based coffee merchant said consumers loaded $101 million on 7 million new...

DOLLAR TREE MAY BE LATEST DATABASE THEFT VICTIM.(Dollar Tree Stores Inc.'s customers losses money from their accounts)(Unite States Secret Service conducts identity theft investigations)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... The U.S. Secret Service confirms it is investigating cases of unauthorized ATM withdrawals from bank accounts of customers of Dollar Tree discount stores in Northern California and Oregon. News reports in the region say customers who shopped at...

COLLECTIONS RISE 12% IN ENCORE'S 2ND QUARTER.(Encore Capital Group Inc.'s sales and earnings)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Encore Capital Group Inc. reported yesterday second-quarter gross collections totaled $79.2 million, up nearly 13% from $70.4 million collected in the same period of 2005. Encore is a San Diego-based manager of distressed consumer debt....

FIRST DATA'S ISO MOVES ON GLOBAL'S RADAR.(First Data Corp., Global Payments Inc.)(business competition)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Global Payments Inc. is watching First Data Corp. as it becomes more aggressive in marketing its services to independent sales organizations (ISOs), Paul R. Garcia, Global's chairman, president and CEO, told analysts last week. Global processes...

MASTERCARD PICKS 11 TO REACH HUNDREDS.(MasterCard International Inc. choses college students to teach other students financial management)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Eleven college students will use what they learn on Capitol Hill to teach other students financial management skills in a program sponsored by MasterCard Worldwide. The 11 interns were chosen from those currently serving on Capitol Hill. Plans...

BRIEFS.(Visa USA Inc. certifies S1 Corp.'s Postilion for Retail product)(MasterCard Worldwide and Yahoo! Music Unlimited launches joint promotion campaign)(TRM Corp.'s sales and revenues)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... S1 Corp.'s Postilion for Retail product received Cardholder Information Security Payment Application Best Practices certification from Visa USA and Visa Europe.... MasterCard Worldwide cardholders that purchase a one-year subscription to...

TNS BUYOUT KAPUT, STOCK PLUNGES.
August 11, 2006... TNS Inc. drew the wrath of Wall Street today, reporting a net loss for the second quarter and that it had put on hold its efforts to sell the company. Investors sent TNS stock down 24% in midday trading to $13.00 from Friday's close of $17.16....

MASTERCARD DEBIT TOTALS MAY NOT BE ALL MASTERCARD.
August 11, 2006... Starting with its release last week of second-quarter earnings, MasterCard no longer is limiting to signature-based purchases reported volume for debit MasterCard transactions in its operational data tables. Now, PIN-debit purchases initiated...

MANAGEMENT COLLECTORS SEE SALARY DECLINE.(collection and credit managers' average salaries research)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Collection salaries are up from 2.1% to 6.5% in August compared with salaries in March 2005, according to an analysis of data published by the Web site Salary.com. But two collection job categories, collection and credit manager and consumer...

HOLOGRAM FIRM LAUNCHES NEW HOLOMAG.
August 11, 2006... American Bank Note Holographics Inc. reported last week that it has modified the make-up of the HoloMag product that generated an electro-static discharge that caused point-of-sale terminals in dry regions to reboot. The HoloMag Generation 2...

MORGAN BEAUMONT EXPANDS LOAN, CHOOSES NEW PARTNER.(i2c Inc.)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Morgan Beaumont, a Bradenton, Fla.-based prepaid card processor and operator of the SIRE Network, has increased a loan it had in place. The new financing is for up to an additional $3 million above its current $1.1 million loan. About $2...

REVENUES RISE FOR CASINO ATM FIRM.
August 11, 2006... Global Cash Access Holdings Inc., a Las Vegas-based casino ATM operator, reported last week its second-quarter revenue totaled $133.6 million, a nearly18.8% increase over $112.5 million in the same quarter a year ago. Global Cash Access says...

PAYMENT IQ COULD BE SMART CARD TOOL FOR MERCHANTS.(service from processor Payment Alliance International )(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... A new service may help merchants lower their interchange costs by tracking and analyzing the fees they pay for each card transaction. Even better, the service is free. The Payment IQ service from processor Payment Alliance International allows...

BRIEFS.(Image Payments Network)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Spending on Visa USA Business cards rose 32% to $103.5 billion for the four quarters ending June 30.... Oberthur Card Systems will provide cards and card personalization of prepaid cards for RBS Lynk.... PNC Financial Services Group Inc. is...

REVOLVING CREDIT STRONG AS CONSUMERS SHIFT FROM HOME EQUITY LOANS.(consumer credit)(Brief article)(Statistical data)
August 11, 2006... Revolving credit outstanding grew $820.7 billion in June for a 9.8% annual pace, according to the Federal Reserve's monthly report on consumer credit. The growth was off from the blistering 11% rate in seen May but more than double the 4.0%...

ASSET ACCEPTANCE EARNINGS FALL 24%.(Asset Acceptance Capital Corp.)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. , a Warren, Mich., company that buys charged-off credit card debt, today reported second quarter net income of $12.4 million, or 33 cents per share, down nearly 24% from $16.3 million or 44 cents per share in the...

RATINGS SERVICES MAY FACE SEC OVERSIGHT.(credit rating agencies regulation)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... The credit agencies that monitor and judge the financial well being of the card industry's asset backed securities (ABS) are facing new federal oversight, following separate measures passed by the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of...

CHASE IN LINE FOR N.Y.'S UNEMPLOYMENT CARDS.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. signs contract with New York Department of Labor)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... JPMorgan Chase & Co. may issue debit cards that will allow 680,000 New York residents to collect their unemployment benefits if the state converts to electronic payments. Chase announced an agreement with the New York State Department of Labor...

DISCOVER FINDS CUSTOMERS PREFER THE PHONE.(Discover Card's online cardholder-service survey)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Discover Card yesterday released the results of its first-ever online cardholder-service survey. Discover polled 947 men and 1053 women, and the issuer found that cardholders prefer resolving issues on the telephone rather than online....

SIX BIGS JOIN TO PUSH PAYMENTS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.(BankServ, Chase Paymentech Solutions, CIT Group, Internet Commerce Corp., Pay By Touch, Microsoft Corp.)
August 11, 2006... Several leading payment and finance firms last month joined to announce plans to create a software infrastructure for desktop PC payments for small businesses. The partners in the venture are: BankServ, a technology provider to electronic...

RATE HALT SHOULD HELP ISSUERS.(Federal Reserve decision)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... The Federal Reserve's decision yesterday to put a halt to interest rate increases should help credit card issuers, though nothing is certain in today's economic climate, according to several experts. The Fed announced yesterday it would leave...

PREPAID UNIT SLOWS EFUNDS' RESULTS.
August 11, 2006... EFunds Corp. reported today net income declined nearly 25% to $9.7 million from $12.9 million a year ago. Net revenues were $132.4 million in the quarter, up 14% from $116.3 million a year ago. The U.S. Payments group had revenues of $68.1...

FLAT PROFITS FOR LIPMAN AS IT AWAITS VERIFONE BUYOUT.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Payment terminal manufacturer Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd. yesterday reported second-quarter net income of $7.5 million compared with $7.4 million for the same three-month period last year. Second-quarter revenues were $62.8 million, up...

DIEBOLD INQUIRY GOES FORMAL.
August 11, 2006... An informal inquiry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has turned into a formal investigation of Diebold Inc. Diebold, in an SEC filing on Tuesday, stated the SEC has launched a formal investigation of the ATM maker, although...

MASTERCARD TO TEST HEALTH CARD ENHANCEMENT.(use the card to purchase prescriptions medicines)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... MasterCard Worldwide announced today an enhancement designed to make it more convenient to use MasterCard-branded debit cards with Flexible Spending Accounts and other medical reimbursement plans. The enhancement is designed to eliminate the...

CONSUMER DEBT BUYERS' EARNINGS UP, AND DOWN.(Financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Two purchasers of consumer debt, including credit card charge-offs, reported earnings today. Waco, Texas-based FirstCity Financial's second-quarter net earnings of $1.3 million declined nearly 54% from the $2.7 million earned in the same period...

BARCLAYS WEAVES DEAL WITH JO-ANN AS LOSSES MOUNT.(Barclays Bank of Delaware, Jo-Ann Stores Inc.)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Barclays Bank Delaware has launched a Jo-Ann Stores MasterCard linked to the retailer's Preferred Customer program. Cardholders earn five points for every $1 spent at Jo-Ann stores and one point for each $1 spent elsewhere. A cardholder...

BRIEFS.(Hypercom Corp. buybacks its shares)(National Association of Credit Management's monthly extended credit index)(Rewards Network appoints Roya Behnia )(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Hypercom Corp. has spent $178,732 to buy 21,734 of its shares this year under a $20 million share repurchase program announced last November.... Rewards Network named Roya Behnia senior vice president, general counsel, secretary, and chief...

LOSSES DROP, PROFITS POP FOR CARDS IN 2ND QUARTER.(credit cards sales)(Brief article)(Statistical data)
August 11, 2006... Losses were low and returns high for credit cards in June and in the second quarter, according to the Moody's Investors Service Credit Card Credit Indices report released Wednesday. The chargeoff rate was 3.68% in June, down more than 37% from...

TARGET'S CARDS BEEF UP REVENUES.
August 11, 2006... Target Corp. reported today net revenues from its credit card operations totaled $388 million in the second quarter, up nearly 20% from $323 million in the second quarter of 2005. Cards generated about 3% of the $13.3 billion in revenues the...

SETTLE THE LAWSUIT? SURE JUDGE, WHATEVER.
August 11, 2006... At a routine status conference Tuesday, the two sides in the merchant antitrust lawsuit over interchange discussed the costs and logistics of plaintiffs providing the millions of pages of documents related to the current case. That includes 8...

REGULATORS SAY CREDIT BUREAUS ARE ON THE JOB.(Federal Trade Commission)(Credit Reporting Act)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... A new report from the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve maintains that consumer complaints to credit bureaus about the accuracy of their credit reports are generally being handled properly. The report, which the two agencies are...

GOLDEN RULE, EXANTE TEAM TO OFFER HSA DEBIT CARDS.(bill-paying services)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Exante Financial Services, a division of UnitedHealth Group, and United Healthcare's Golden Rule Insurance Co. on July 1 began offering Golden Rule's health savings account customers debit cards to access their funds, the companies announced...

RESTAURANTEUR SAYS FTC HAS GIFT CARD CHARGES WRONG.
August 11, 2006... Darden Restaurants Inc. is defending its gift card program against charges from the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC last month claimed the restaurant company was violating federal law by imposing so-called dormancy fees of $1.50 per month...

PHONE COULD REPLACE QUARTERS AT PARKING METERS.(Verrus Mobile Technologies Inc)(motorists to pay for parking using a cell phone linked to a credit card account)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Payment Processing Inc. this week announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Verrus Mobile Technologies Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company that allows motorists to pay for parking using a cell phone linked to a...

INVESTORS SELL OFF ECHO.(financial report)(Financial report)(Brief article)
August 11, 2006... Transaction processor Electronic Clearing House Inc. (ECHO) today reported third-quarter net income of $1.01 million, up, 133% from $433,000 during the same period a year ago. Quarter-to-quarter revenues were up 38%, to $19.7 million from $14.3...

CREDIT CARD CHARGEOFFS DECLINE SLIGHTLY, SAYS S&P.
August 18, 2006... Chargeoffs on securitized pools of card receivables decreased 10 basis points in June from the previous month to 3.5% and remained at historic lows, according to Standard & Poor's U.S. Credit Card Quality Index released this week. A basis point...

BANKRUPTCY FILINGS COULD REMAIN LOW UNTIL 2007.
August 18, 2006... The rate of consumer bankruptcy filings remains unpredictable nearly a year after a federal law changing filing rules was enacted, according to William A. Black, senior vice president, Moody's Investors Service. The law shifted more bankruptcy...

IS TRANSIT A $1 BILLION BIZ FOR INDUSTRY?(transit cards market forecast)(Brief article)
August 18, 2006... Mass transportation equals mass opportunity for electronic payments in the U.S, but the payments industry has failed to mine the business, according to an article in the July issue of Navigator, the newsletter from payments consultant First...

COINSTAR REPORTS INCOME DROP, THOUGH REVENUE JUMPS.(Brief article)
August 18, 2006... Coinstar Inc., best known for the big green coin-counting machines in grocery and drug stores, says its second-quarter net income fell about 23% to $4.1 million from $5.3 million in the second quarter of 2005. This comes despite an almost 19%...

TEPID Q2 FOR POSTILION.
August 18, 2006... The Postilion division of S1 Corp. reported this week an operating loss of $58,000 in the second quarter compared to profits of $390,000 a year ago. S1 attributed the loss to stock-based compensation and facilities restructuring. Revenues were...

PREPAID CARD ASSOCIATION ELECTS BOARD.(Brief article)
August 18, 2006... The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote "open-loop" prepaid cards carrying major payment brands, has elected a board of directors. The 15-member board includes Jim Accordino, president,...

CORRECTION.(Correction notice)
August 18, 2006... CardLine's item today on Target Corp. reported earnings before income taxes, not earnings before income taxes and interest income. CardLine regrets the error. (c) 2006 CardLine and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved....