Merchant

U.S. consumers' average credit scores slipped one point in the past year, and credit card debt fell by 8% to $7,404 during the same period, according to data released by Credit Karma on Wednesday.

More than half of corporations plan to increase spending this year on payment-security compliance, while the task of educating employees on the proper methods for handling cardholder data remains a pesky challenge, new survey data released Jan. 12 suggest.

Payment-services company Merchant Link LLC and point-of-sale terminal maker Pax Technology Ltd. have signed agreements to use Voltage Security Inc.’s advanced SecureData encryption service, the security technology company announced in separate news releases Jan. 11.

An online version of US Dataworks Inc.’s Clearingworks payment service is now available to businesses looking to automate many of the nonelectronic payments they receive, the Houston-based company announced Jan. 11.

A limited numbers of Bangkok commuters this spring will begin testing the use of a single, contactless smart card to access the city’s two train networks, an official at the Bangkok Mass Transit System Co. Ltd. tells PaymentsSource.

U.S. consumers filed an estimated 13,901 lawsuits against collection agencies and creditors last year, including 10,914 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) cases.

Bigger merchants are breaking free of the confines of the cash register with mobile technology originally designed for mom-and-pop stores.

Ingenico S.A. and Merchant Link, a Silver Spring, Md.-based provider of payment gateway and data-security services, announced Jan. 10 an agreement to jointly offer On Guard with Merchant Link’s TransactionVault tokenization technology.

American Express Co. has appointed Toby Eduardo Redshaw executive vice president and chief information officer, replacing Stephen Squeri, who was promoted. Redshaw previously was global chief information officer for Aviva PLC.

DBA International has named Jan P. Stieger as its executive director, the debt-buying industry association's board of directors announced Monday. She was previously executive director at the California Association of Collectors (CAC).