Merchant

Merchant cash-advance company AmeriMerchant LLC says the hundreds of merchant-services sales offices working with transaction processor First Data Corp. will have an easier time selling AmeriMerchant’s services through an agreement announced Dec. 14.

Consumers again are spending with their credit cards to purchase discounted goods early in the holiday season, suggests First Data Corp.’s November SpendTrend payment card transaction analysis of all store sales activity that First Data processes.

Payment Processing Technologies LLC has launched ISO Registration In A Box. The Warsaw, Ind.-based ISO, also known as PayProTec, says it designed the service to make it easier for independent sales offices to grow their businesses.

The allure of double-digit payment card transaction volume growth and recent deregulation have prompted Elavon Inc. and Credicard, a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., to form a merchant acquiring joint venture in Brazil, Elavon announced last week.

Assurance Investment Partners Inc. has added merchant-processing services to the list of offerings to its clients with its investment in Veritas Merchant Services LLC, a Louisville, Ky.-based ISO, Assurance announced last week.

Vivotech, Monitise To Deliver NFC Mobile Payments In The U.S.

U.S. foreclosure filings in November totaled 262,339, a 21% decrease from the previous month and a 14% decrease from November 2009.

EMC Corp. has launched a consulting service designed to help prepare merchants to manage their payment-security needs, the Hopkington, Mass.-based security-technology company announced Dec. 15.

A consortium of non-profit consumer credit counseling agencies filed a joint complaint letter with the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, calling for the agency to take "immediate investigative and enforcement action against debt settlement companies that have brazenly evaded" the FTC's recently amended Telemarketing Sales Rules.

Voltage Security Inc. said that the online payment provider ClickandBuy International Ltd. would use its system to protect payment data.