Analytics

A penny per transaction may be enough to cover issuers' costs of preventing credit and debit fraud now, but that math could change if fraud incidents spike.

An employment background screening firm that provides consumer reports to companies nationwide will pay $2.6 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Banks continued to ease lending standards for larger firms in the past three months but small businesses are having a hard time accessing credit, according to the Federal Reserve.

Experian/Moody's Analytics Small Business Credit Index edged up by less than one point in the second quarter, the third consecutive quarterly improvement after falling over much of 2011.

A free video series explaining financial statements and how to analyze them is available from The Kaplan Group through a link on the company's Web site.

Across the industry, the formation of new credit problems has fallen to pre-recession levels. At some banks, however, assets have continued to sour at a troubling pace, according to second-quarter reports.

Long after the 2004 unveiling of the Payment Card Industry data security standard, many merchants remain unaware of it and know little about the threat data thieves pose, says Bill Farmer, CEO of Mako Networks.

Household purchases, which account for 70% of the economy, were unchanged last month after a 0.1% decline in May, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday.

A legal settlement announced Monday bars Accretive Health Inc., a Chicago-based medical revenue company, from doing business in Minnesota for six years after the state's Attorney General Lori Swanson accused the firm of intrusive efforts to collect money from patients in several hospitals.

Borrowers who owe more than their properties are worth continue to struggle to pay off debts incurred during the real estate bubble as buildings’ values have plummeted as much as 37% from 2007 peaks.

Facebook is becoming the first big technology provider to reward hackers who uncover vulnerabilities on its own corporate network. The company has created added allure by distributing the payments on Visa-branded debit cards that look like Amex's invitation-only Centurion cards.

When data security vendor Trustwave introduced its newest software, the mission was fairly clear — help merchants keep abreast of Payment Card Industry data security requirements.

Fitch Ratings expects personal bankruptcy filings will decline by 11% this year, citing data indicating filings were well below initial expectations in the first half of the year.

Mobile wallet rivals will need to put their differences aside and work together to get the technology off the ground, a recent paper says.

The Education Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) want Congress to make it easier for people to discharge a portion of student debt by filing for bankruptcy protection.

Bank of America began offering EMV chip technology for many of its consumer credit cards. It already offers chip-based cards to corporate and commercial customers in the U.S. and Europe.

Last year, Citi began processing check and automated clearing house transactions in order from the lowest dollar amount to the highest, a move that minimizes the potential for overdrafts. Today, it wants to make sure consumers — and perhaps regulators — haven't forgotten.

More cities may be losing their willingness to pay debt obligations, according to Moody’s Investors Service, citing the recent bankruptcies of both Stockton and San Bernardino in California as the latest examples.

Security and compliance are still daunting issues for merchants. Phoenix Managed Networks hopes to ease this pain by offering its network security product to "hundreds of thousands" of merchants through a new partnership with Sysnet Global Solutions.

Developing a mobile wallet for consumers is one thing. Getting those consumers interested and educated about how the wallet works and why they should use phones for payments is an entirely different matter.