Merchant

If a merchant plans to use advanced data encryption as a credit card data security measure, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council now has some guidelines for how best to go about it.

Fraudsters are increasingly using alternative payment methods to make bogus transactions, in many cases moving away from debit cards and checks, merchants report.

Building on its growing momentum in contactless payments, Bank of Montreal is rolling out the Mobile PayPass Tag, a Near Field Communication-enabled sticker that consumers can attach to their mobile phones to make contactless payments in Canada, the bank announced Sept. 13.

Consumers filed an estimated 400 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act lawsuits in the Aug. 16-31 period, down from 441 filed in the first half of August, according to data from U.S. district courts.

The online payment provider eLayaway Inc. said on Monday that it would join the Secure Vault Payments network and offer the service to its customers in the fourth quarter.

Terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. has taken a key step toward bringing its recently acquired Hypercom Corp. hardware operations abroad under one roof by making its product information available to Hypercom distributors in Western Europe, the company said Sept. 12.

With membership expanding from 11 companies to 16 companies in the last 60 days, the North American Merchant Cash Advance Association is becoming the voice of the emerging industry, its leader says.

LVNV Funding LLC, a Greenville, S.C.-based debt buyer, has settled a lawsuit in Maryland's federal court that involved the firm's license status in the state. The company agreed to erase an estimated $10 million in consumer debt for some 3,500 plaintiffs.

Fifth Third Bancorp is leveraging its existing relationships with colleges and universities to enter the campus card program market.

A new bulletin from Visa indicates that it is increasingly concerned about point of sale terminals being adapted to steal card data over Bluetooth connections.