Law and regulation

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are expected to press the case of credit unions and community banks asking for the Federal Reserve to ease off proposed price restrictions on debit interchange during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee next week.

A former Illinois attorney - disbarred in 2002 after being accused of embezzling from a debt collection service - was sentenced to three years in prison this week for impersonating a former legal colleague in court.

Warning lawmakers that the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rules likely would thwart national job growth, the American Bankers Association and 55 other state and community banking associations urged members of Congress in a Feb. 8 letter to “intervene immediately” to block the rule’s implementation.

Credit card issuers in South Korea have stopped charging customers cash-advance handling fees, a spokesperson for the Credit Finance Association of Korea confirms to PaymentsSource.

Visa Inc. will allow merchants to offer discounts or other incentives to steer customers to a particular form of payment, including to a specific network brand or to any card product such as a “nonreward” Visa credit card, under terms of its settlement of an antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the card brand announced last week.

Tobias Boyland, former owner of several Buffalo, N.Y. area collection agencies, is being sought by U.S. Marshals after he failed to surrender to start a 15-year prison sentence.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the financial-services watchdog agency Congress mandated last year as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, on Feb. 3 launched its website, laying the groundwork for soliciting consumer complaints about credit cards and other financial-services products.

MasterCard Worldwide CEO Ajay Banga expressed concern about the effects of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed debit-interchange rules, but he also sketched out various scenarios in which MasterCard may benefit during an analyst conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

Banks in China face tougher scrutiny of credit card issuance under new China Banking Regulatory Commission regulations to curb misuse in the card market.

An increasing number of consumers are being hounded by debt collectors for unsubstantiated debt, according to a new report issued today by Consumers Union and the East Bay Community Law Center.

Unlike some of their peers, Wells Fargo & Co., U.S. Bancorp and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. don't have to devote a hearty portion of their investor presentations these days to discussing mortgage repurchase requests.

Several groups are continuing to push for a pan-European EMV smart card to compete with cards sponsored by Visa Europe and MasterCard Worldwide. But whether a new card scheme actually will emerge remains as murky as when the efforts first were launched several years ago.

Visa Canada insists the Canadian Competition Bureau’s legal challenge to eliminate the company’s consumer-protection policies has no merit and would be harmful to consumers.

Federal Bank Ltd. on Jan. 26 became India’s first debit card issuer to stop charging its customers who use other banks’ ATMs, regardless of how many times they do so, a spokesperson for the Kochi-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

An estimated 426 different collection agencies and creditors were sued under consumer statutes in the first half of January, up from 392 in the second half of December but down from 510 in the fist half of December, according to data from U.S. district courts.

The treasurer of Australia reportedly has launched a probe into the fees ATM providers are charging at machines deployed in the Australian outback.

Contrary to what debit card issuers claim, merchants do not want a “free ride” on debit card interchange, contends a prominent convenience-store owner who has spent years lobbying for changes in payment card interchange-rate policies.

WEST DOVER, VT.–Their silence on the Federal Reserve Board’s proposal to regulate debit card interchange rates could be counterproductive for independent sales organizations and merchant acquirers, Holli Targan, president of the Electronic Transactions Association, told attendees here at the Northeast Acquirers Association conference.

The Consumer Law Group, a multi-state law firm that specializes in debt management and debt settlement, is suing the Florida Attorney General's office, claiming it does not have the authority to investigate its business practices because "the practice of law does not constitute 'trade or commerce' as defined by the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act [FDUTPA]."

Washington state regulators, citing consumer protection law violations, have ordered payday lending giant Checkmate to drop its new gift card program.