Law and regulation

Credit-union and bank groups plan to file a brief as early as March 7 asking a federal court to block implementation of the debit-interchange fee provisions of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.

WASHINGTON – Credit unions and banks are urging the Federal Reserve to exclude ATMs transactions from the new rules setting price caps on debit fees.

A Montana federal jury ordered collection law firm Johnson, Rodenburg & Lauinger to pay a disabled former janitor $311,000 in damages because it pursued his $3,000 credit card debt after the statute of limitations had expired.

The legal volleying in TCF Financial Corp.'s lawsuit to block the Durbin amendment continued Friday with the Wayzata, Minn., banking company filing documents in federal court to counter regulators' opposition.

Debit card networks could lose $1.7 billion in revenue from fees they charge banks stemming from the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed debit-interchange caps, according to an analyst.

Proposed and recently enacted state and federal regulations regarding debit and reloadable prepaid cards have put card programs used for disbursing unemployment, Social Security and other benefits in serious jeopardy, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive tells PaymentsSource.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office filed a lawsuit this week against Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, alleging the Chicago-based debt settlement company used lawyers as a front to illegally collect massive fees from consumers seeking help.

ATM independent sales organizations are worried about declining interchange rates, rising costs and pending legislation, but the majority are still looking to expand their businesses within the next year, the results of a recent survey suggest.

Attorney Sergei Lemberg is challenging the characterization of fair debt attorneys published last week in a Denver Post article with the headline "Consumers Dealing with Debt Collectors Become Stuck in a Vicious Cycle of Lawsuits."

WASHINGTON—An effort to delay proposed debit-interchange rules continued to build momentum March 2 as bankers and lawmakers called for a more effective exemption for small financial institutions.

As it looks to generate more revenue and to enable issuers of its cards to better analyze their customers’ transactions, MasterCard Worldwide is exploring ways to secure more volume for its processing switch from cards carrying the network’s brand, especially outside the U.S., Chris McWilton, MasterCard president of U.S. Markets, said during a March 1 presentation.

A director of a Buffalo, N.Y. collection agency has been sentenced to two years probation and fined $28,000 after he admitted selling personal information to fraudulent debt collectors.

WASHINGTON — Just a month ago, most analysts dismissed the banking industry's chances of persuading Congress to delay, alter or repeal a Dodd-Frank provision limiting interchange fees on debit cards.

The Asian Development Bank reportedly has asked Philippines President Benigno Aquino III to consider giving tax breaks to credit cardholders in the country to encourage more card use.

Authorities discovered nine card-skimming devices attached to local ATMs last week that caused thousands of dollars of fraud losses to area institutions, including $5,538 in fraudulent cash withdrawals from members’ accounts at Hughes Federal Credit Union.

The Federal Trade Commission asked a federal judge to shut down an operation that allegedly blasted consumers with millions of illegal spam text messages, including many messages that deceptively advertised a mortgage modification Web site called “Loanmod-gov.net.”

Banks are looking beyond consumers to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. to share the pain of lower interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rates are unlikely to go into effect this summer without some significant changes, the co-chief of a large independent service organization speculates.

WASHINGTON — A year after the credit card reform law was enacted, Elizabeth Warren, the administration's official in charge with setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the industry has improved its practices and warned against over regulation of the card market.

The Federal Reserve Board and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are asking a federal judge to dismiss TCF Financial Corp.'s lawsuit, which seeks to block implementation of the Durbin amendment.