H. Lowe

University of British Columbia students can pay their tuition by having their bank accounts debited through a Web site set up by the Interac Association, Canada's debit network.

Cardtronics Inc. in June reached an agreement to purchase all of 7-Eleven Inc.'s U.S. ATM operations for $135 million in cash. The deal makes Cardtronics the world's largest nonbank owner of ATMs, the company says.

Capital One Financial Corp. is issuing a new debit card that has the potential to dramatically challenge Visa USA's control of the traditional debit card industry. The McLean, Va.-based card issuer began issuing a MasterCard Worldwide-branded debit card in the first quarter that can access any issuers' checking accounts.

Credit card issuers typically prefer that customers pay off their card debt over time. The longer it takes cardholders to pay off their balances, they more interest revenue issuers can collect from them.

Football is a contact sport, but a growing number of National Football League stadiums' concession stands are going contactless as they seek to get fans back into their seats faster.

August usually is a quiet month for business. Executives go on vacation, turning off their cell phones and unplugging their laptops before heading off to some beach to bake in the sun. They leave messages on their office voicemail, saying they won't check them until after Labor Day.

Increased cardholder awareness of data-security breaches is prompting more consumers to embrace single-use credit card numbers for online shopping, proponents say. However, while the proponents are quick to note the increased interest, they are equally elusive in backing their claims with hard data.

Credit cards eventually will attract more revolvers after essentially being shut out the past five to six years as cardholders have used low-interest, tax-deductible home-equity loans to pay off their credit card bills.

There's an old saying that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. So is paying bills. But the process of accepting payments is becoming less expensive for major billers thanks to prearranged automated clearinghouse debits from customer checking accounts and to accounts receivables conversion, or ARC.

The World Cup, which ends July 9, is more than a game to MasterCard International. The card association made that point when it sued the Federation Internationale de Football Association in April for awarding Visa International sponsorship of future World Cup soccer tournaments.

John Philip Coghlan, Visa USA's president and CEO, recently urged the payment card industry to work more closely together in the fight against data-security breaches. The breaches, he said, affect cardholder trust, and if not stopped, they will destroy the faith cardholders have in the payment system.

Kenneth Lewis contends he simply was throwing out for discussion the idea of Bank of America launching its own card-processing network to compete with Visa and MasterCard. But Lewis, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's chairman and CEO, did not just discuss it with his staff behind closed doors.

Last year, a large number of retailers hung for-sale signs on their credit card portfolios. They were not disappointed by the response.

Four months into 2005, Discover appeared headed to the orphanage. Morgan Stanley, Discover's parent company, announced in April last year that it was spinning off Discover Financial Services, the Riverwoods, Ill.-based issuer of Discover.

American Express Co. ended 2005 by signing card-issuing partnerships with Visa and MasterCard issuers while at the same time transforming itself into a pure-play card issuer.

The RMS Titanic and PIN-debit cards have something in common. The Titanic was billed as an unsinkable ship, but it sank. And some in the card industry did not believe PIN debit cards could face a significant breach because of their inherent two-factor authentication. That, too, has been proven wrong.

The bankcard industry's ongoing consolidation is turning out to be bad news for the country's two largest third-party card processors. The bigger issuers become, it appears, the better off some believe they would be processing their own transactions.

Credit card issuers are relying more on cardholder fees, particularly late fees, as a revenue source to make up for the volatility in interest rate income. This trend, however, is whipping up the ire of consumer groups, and even some industry consultants worry about the adverse effect the charges eventually could have on cardholders.

It's hard to make rich people stand in line. They usually find a way to march right in, and if they can't, they have someone stand in line for them.

Three United Kingdom banks recently bought credit card issuers in the United States, eliciting warm memories among some Baby Boomer bankers of an earlier British invasion.