Peter Lucas

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Imagine a retailer that issues credit cards being able to minimize delinquencies and bad debt by considering the various products its cardholders buy in its stores as part of their overall risk score. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds.

In the five months since the new federal bankruptcy law took effect, lenders and creditors have had something to smile about as filings initially fell as expected. But those smiles might soon turn to frowns as it becomes clearer that the new law will not have the desired effect of decreasing bankruptcy filings long-term.

The simplicity of a ready-made infrastructure is why cards that access health savings accounts today rely on the Visa and MasterCard acceptance networks. But proprietary HSA networks may be in the offing.

Health savings accounts hold immense promise for the card companies to grab a major slice of the health care pie and significantly increase debit volume. But there are risks.

Private-label issuers are using CRM, testing kiosks and offering rewards to build consumer purchasing power.

The top priority in 2004 for both Diners Club International and the JCB USA division of JCB International Credit Co. Ltd. was the expansion of their respective merchant bases. The companies however, took different approaches to reach their goals.

While PIN-debit acceptance could be an attractive low-cost payment option for airlines, consumers are hesitant to provide PINs to pay for tickets, and airlines are not providing the option, even though ATM-like airport ticketing kiosks are proliferating, a recent study by Edgar, Dunn & Co. reveals.

Determined to make their Web sites more appealing to consumers, banks are eliminating user fees and are looking for ways to enrich the features on their sites. About 80% of the top-50 banks now offer online bill payment free to at least a portion of their customers, and 38% of those banks offer it free to all their customers.

Having successfully built an online channel to deliver marketing materials to cardholders, issuers are looking to leverage the Internet to boost recovery rates and make collections budgets go farther.

Some 170 million consumers use cell phones, and many households now use them exclusively. But collectors face stringent restrictions if they want to contact delinquent cardholders on their cell phones.

There is no getting around that government regulation brings with it another layer of operating costs. Whether it involves the implementation of a new technology, reporting system or accounting procedure, regulatory compliance often does not come cheap.

Interchange has always been a sore spot with gas station owners. Way back in the 1980s, it was common to see owners offer a discount of a few cents per gallon to customers paying with cash or a proprietary card to prevent credit card interchange from eating into their profits.

A growing number of states have either enacted laws limiting fees for gift cards or are considering them, potentially eroding issuers' business case for the popular cards.

Like most small-business owners, managers of independent sales organizations need capital to expand their enterprises. But for many small ISOs, cash flow is being crimped by stiff competition, which is eroding margins on

Back in the 1980s and well into the '90s independent sales organizations sold or leased at a premium hundreds of thousands of payment card terminals to small and mid-sized

PIN-based debit transactions over the Internet have been a dream for years, yet making them a reality has proved difficult. Does the latest entry in the race have what it takes to win?

Logic would dictate that with the supply of freshly charged-off credit card accounts tightening, prices for new paper would be going up and prices for older accounts worked two or more times post charge-off would be falling. After all, buyers consider fresh paper much more attractive because it has not been worked as extensively.

Once considered a costly and limited payment option, wireless terminals are finally poised to make the transition from niche product to mainstream acceptance.