Law and regulation

First Financial Services, a Lonsdale, Minn.-based collection agency, and its owner must each pay the state $50,000 for violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the Minnesota Department of Commerce has ordered. Both also lost their licenses.

To promote the use of electronic payments systems in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria has set new limits on the amount of cash bank customers may withdraw at branches.

Credit card terms have not changed much in the past year, despite some concerns that issuers would hike interest rates and fees on new accounts to offset the effects of restrictions imposed last year under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, according to new data from The Pew Health Group.

The question of whether an exemption for banks with less than $10 billion in assets is sufficient protection from the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new rules for debit-interchange pricing loomed larger than ever during a May 12 Senate Banking Committee hearing during which a lawmaker grilled the nation’s top two banking regulators.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Senators this morning he is doubtful whether the Fed can develop a rule adequately protecting credit unions and small banks from the cuts in debit fees mandated for the biggest banks.

SAN DIEGO--The financial services industry, now at the height of an expensive national campaign to delay the so-called Durbin amendment, was urged Wednesday to do the opposite: contact elected officials at home to explain the local effects of the legislation.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is planning to amend its proposal to cap debit fees at a higher rate, setting a compromise in the heated controversy between merchants and banks and credit unions while at the same time threatening efforts by banks and credit unions to delay implementation of the rule.

Banks in the Pacific Island nation of Fiji should invest in educating their customers on the use of ATMs and payment card terminals, the Consumer Council suggests in a May 5 report.

The Ohio Attorney General's office has sued a Cleveland company that offered to help homeowners avoid foreclosure but failed to deliver on its promises of debt relief.

Visa Inc. plans revisit its incentive agreements with issuing banks after the Federal Reserve Board finalizes its capped rate for debit card interchange this summer, executives for the card brand told analysts May 5 during a conference call to discuss fiscal second-quarter earnings.

CHICAGO—Further delay in U.S. migration to EMV chip-and-PIN technology might be another unintended consequence if the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed 12-cent cap on debit card interchange is enforced, two analysts agreed during a panel discussion here May 4 at the Smart Card Alliance’s annual conference.

Debit card issuers’ pain could be a gain for some payments processors.

WASHINGTON — Although it's rare to have a financial services issue play much of a role in a local political campaign, the battle over the Durbin interchange amendment has become an unusually prominent part of the re-election race of Sen. Jon Tester.

West Virginia regulators obtained a court order Tuesday halting illegal loan collections in the state by two out-of-state companies.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, is pushing its debit-processing network to banks and credit unions as they await the outcome of pending caps on debit card interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve Board’s July deadline for capping debit interchange is just around the corner, but MasterCard Worldwide said it does not expect to feel its effects until at least next year.

A federal judge has approved a class-action settlement against an Indianapolis hospital and the method it used to collect overdue payments.

If 7,500 credit unions across the United States would get their members to contact their Congressional representatives, it would “help keep the pressure on” lawmakers and potentially halt implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act, Nat Rosenberg, senior vice president of U.S. Markets for MasterCard Worldwide, told attendees at the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations Annual Conference in Las Vegas last week.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.–Payment-industry experts who gathered in Miami Beach, Fla., April 27 to 29 to attend the 23rd Card Forum & Expo reflected for the first time in a few years an attitude that seemed genuinely ready to greet certain disruptive changes instead of brace against them.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.-If certain “conspiracy theories” have any merit, the Federal Reserve Board might be heeding signals from Capitol Hill as it takes more time to craft final debit-interchange rules, one payment-industry analyst suggested April 28 at the Card Forum & Expo in Miami Beach, Fla.