Kate Fitzgerald

The bank wanted to be up front with consumers about its short-lived debit card fee, senior executive Laurie Readhead said. She acknowledged a lack of initial planning, saying B of A has "a lot to learn."

Citing higher purchase volumes for credit and debit cards in all regions, MasterCard Inc. earned net income of $717 million for the third quarter, up 38.4% from $518 million a year earlier.

A large number of card-fraud arrests in October prompted some to predict that chip-card technology could soon put an end to such crimes. Not so fast. Even in the best-case scenario, it would be several years before the technology could make a meaningful dent in skimming fraud in the U.S.

It's not just banks that are raising prices after changes to the rates that merchants pay to accept debit cards — on Thursday, Coinstar's Redbox DVD rental service said debit fees are driving its prices up by 20 cents a day. Other kiosk-based businesses may have to follow its example.

Visa Inc. next year plans to ramp up a series of incentives for merchants and acquirers, as the world's largest payments network braces for new regulations that are expected to cost it some debit transactions.

Reversing its longtime policy of accepting only American Express Co. cards and its own private-label card at its stores, Neiman Marcus Inc. said Thursday it will also start accepting cards backed by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.

To address what one might call a "flight risk," MasterCard Inc. plans to test contactless payments at 30,000 feet, enabling airlines to accept more secure plastic — and potentially mobile — payments aboard planes.

Citigroup Inc. will continue issuing private-label credit cards for Sears Holdings Corp. and its brands, including Kmart and Lands' End, the companies said on Tuesday.

Latest survey finds 47% of U.S. adults are interested in mobile payments.

Capital One Financial Corp. is looking for another private-label credit card portfolio to buy, as it absorbs the U.S. card business of HSBC Bank USA and the Kohl's Corp. store card portfolio, CEO Richard Fairbank said on Thursday.

British Airways' data security efforts would have never gotten off the ground if they were focused purely on complying with payment industry rules.

Bank of America Corp.'s plans to charge its customers for using debit cards will help boost the bank's credit card business, according to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Bank risk managers are expecting the worst unless the economy improves.

McDonalds faced a big task a few years ago in upgrading its payment systems and limiting the exposure of customer data. Here's how they did it, bringing systems up to the Payment Card Industry standard at the same time they brought in McCafe.

The vast majority of companies continue to fall short of complying with the Payment Card Industry data security standard during their initial audit, with only 21% getting a passing grade.

Though some have criticized whether the Payment Card Industry data security standard does enough to protect card data, in Europe the standard has become a catalyst for getting companies to take security seriously.

The U.S. average credit card charge-off rate declined in August, resuming the general downward trend of the past two years following a slight uptick in July, according to a new Moody's Investors Service report issued Sept. 23.

New regulations reducing debit card interchange fees are causing some banks to charge customers more for using debit cards, which could drive consumers to increase their use of credit cards, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Search giant now has both major card associations on board with its mobile payment application, as well as First Data and Citi.

Google Inc. may launch its much-hyped Google Wallet as early as this week, according to a number of reports.