Kate Fitzgerald

When online shoppers are looking for alternatives to credit and debit cards, Mopay hopes they will consider adding charges to their Internet service provider's bill.

How wide should credit card lenders open the gates to borrowers after slamming them shut during the recession when losses soared? It depends on their analytics.

First National Bank of Omaha next year will launch three cobranded credit card programs, Steve Eulie, the president of First National's First BankCard credit card division, said.

The explosion of mobile applications, especially those involving banking and payments, is almost certain to lead to ingenious new hacker attacks on consumer data next year.

About 80 million mobile phones are expected to ship with built-in near-field communication technology that can be used to transmit payment information between devices.

Visa may be preparing to debut its ties to Google's mobile wallet in London at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, sources say.

Litigation fears may impede industry support for shorter credit card term agreements, even though most issuers agree reducing the amount of text is a nice idea.

Rumors are that Google will launch its Google Wallet app in London this summer.

Young, tech-savvy adults may be the quickest to embrace new technology, but don't bet on them trusting social media sites or funky startups with their cash. Banks win out easily, at least for now.

U.S. credit card delinquency rates, riding at their lowest levels in 17 years, likely will decline further next year as consumers continue to make on-time payments and maintain relatively low account balances, according to a new forecast.

The trend of U.S. credit cardholders putting credit card payments ahead of mortgage payments that began in early 2008 shows no sign of abating in the immediate future even as the economy gradually improves, TransUnion analysts say.

The average U.S. consumer credit card chargeoff rate declined again in October as more consumers met their monthly payment due dates and the delinquency rate on late payments held steady, according to the latest data from Moody's Investors Service.

Lightweight phone-based merchant terminal being tested in New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago.

The hotel industry successfully introduced "resort fees." The airlines gradually added baggage-handling fees. Cell phone and cable TV marketers steadily increase fees for expanding services. But when banks tried to introduce a $5 monthly debit fee, consumers revolted.

Target's U.S. credit card segment churned out a $143 million third-quarter profit, up 10% from a year earlier. But it could be the unit's last such impressive quarter for a while, an executive warned on Wednesday.

Smart card shipments could rise 16.7% in 2012 to 7 billion units from 6 billion units this year, Eurosmart announced today. The rise is being fueled primarily by strong smart card growth in Latin America and China, the vendor trade group said at the Cartes & IDentification conference in Paris.

Wall Street analysts throw cold water on mobile payment initiatives.

Bank of America is the second major issuer to buck a recent trend by using a PIN when it offers U.S. commercial customers cards that incorporate the EMV chip-card standard that is prevalent in Europe.

Executives from Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven and McDonald's are raising concerns that the new debit-fee regulations they fought for are unlikely to boost their bottom lines.

Customers who use debit cards are still a more profitable group overall, even with the Durbin rule capping interchange rates. The challenge is finding a workable pricing formula.