Fintech

Some merchants are already crying foul over a proposed $6 billion swipe-fee settlement, threatening the payments industry's attempts to move past long-pending litigation.

WASHINGTON – Two lawmakers introduced legislation last week that would allow about 130 privately insured credit unions to join the Federal Home Loan Bank system, which is currently restricted to federally insured credit unions and banks and to insurance companies.

MIAMI – Two south Florida credit unions, City County CU and Power Financial CU, and several banks, are teaming with United Ways of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach to provide a lifeline to the underserved.

ABBEVILLE, S.C. – Greater Abbeville FCU is offering members in financial straits a “Fresh Start Account” aimed at consumers who have been turned away at other lenders.

LOMPOC, Calif. – Coast Hills FCU is notifying members of an apparent debit card fraud at a local restaurant, Orcutt Burger.

WASHINGTON – Costs for the historic settlement of antitrust charges against Visa, MasterCard and several big banks will ultimately be passed on to owners and beneficiaries of the two card networks, with hundreds of millions of dollars of the $7.2 billion settlement being paid by credit unions.

NEW YORK – Visa, Mastercard and banks issuing their credit cards have agreed to pay up to $7.25 billion and allow merchants to encourage customers to use cheaper forms of payment, according to settlement papers filed on Friday in a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court.

Merchants and card issuers weighing the cost of investing in Near Field Communication technology have a lot riding on the success or failure of the Isis mobile-payments test set to launch soon.

A lower reduction in the allowance for loan losses compared with the same period last year helped to drive down the second-quarter profit for the Card Services and Auto (Card) unit at JPMorgan Chase & Co., the issuer reported July 13.

Student ID cards that double as debit or prepaid cards are a growth area for U.S. banks and other financial companies. And competition is heating up.