Merchant

In today’s marketplace, where members of the merchant-acquiring community are using every resource available to improve their professional standing and to find new business, many are turning to such social-networking websites as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to get in front of their respective audiences.

Many payments-industry executives are considering taking new jobs for the opportunity to gain professional growth, according to new survey results from TopGrading Solutions Inc.

Cooperative Rural Development Bank Ltd. has expanded the payment card acceptance it set up for the Tanzania National Parks in late 2008, the bank announced Nov. 3.

A federal court entered a judgment of more than $3.6 million against a payment processor and its subsidiary that allegedly debited consumers’ bank accounts illegally on behalf of deceptive telemarketers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday.

Hypercom Corp. made its case Nov. 2 that it can succeed as an independent company.

The Federal Reserve Board’s still-unwritten debit-interchange rules and new restrictions on network-exclusivity agreements could help First Data Corp.’s business, executives at the transaction processor predicted Nov. 4.

Effective Jan. 1, merchants and payments companies must ensure their systems comply with versions 2.0 of the Payment Card Industry and Payment Application data-security standards the PCI Security Standards Council released Oct. 28.

In today’s marketplace, where members of the merchant-acquiring community are using every resource available to improve their professional standing and to find new business, many are turning to such social-networking websites as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to get in front of their respective audiences.

Unicredit America Inc., an Erie, Pa.-based collection agency, collected money from unsuspecting consumers by pretending to hold hearings in a room decorated to look like a courtroom, according to a lawsuit filed Friday against the company in Pennsylvania.

AscendOne Corp., a Columbia, Md.-based debt management business, will pay $4.5 million to settle charges that the company misled consumers about its for-profit status.