Merchant

The rate of auto payments 60 days or more past due dropped to 0.53% of outstanding auto loans in the second quarter, from 0.73% a year ago, according to TransUnion.

American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. (AHMS), a Coppell, Texas-based mortgage servicer, faces charges by Texas investigators of using unlawful and aggressive collection tactics and improperly misleading homeowners, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office announced Monday.

France-based payment-service provider Aros Worldline plans to acquire India-based payment-services provider Venture Infotek Pvt. Ltd. for US$100 million. The acquisition would represent India’s largest-ever deal in the payments space, reports local newspaper Economic Times.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has dismissed a shareholder class-action lawsuit filed against some members of VeriFone Systems Inc.’s board of directors in 2007, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based terminal maker.

Intuit Inc. is enhancing its GoPayment mobile credit and debit card acceptance service with a card reader designed to attach to Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Independent sales organizations contribute about 35% of Global Payments Inc.’s annual revenue, but the revenue they generate has a lower profit margin for the Atlanta-based payments processor than that of some of its other business, suggests a recent analyst report.

Gemalto NV’s Secure Transactions unit, which includes banking cards, generated 207.4 million euros (US$253 million) in revenue during the first half of this year, up 1.4% from 204.6 million euros during the same period in 2009, the France-based smart card vendor announced Aug. 26. The unit’s profit from operations totaled 5.6 million euros, down 24.3% from 7.4 million euros.

Hypercom Corp. said Wednesday that it is bringing to the United States a version of its end-to-end encryption software that is currently available in Asia.

Mobile-marketing firm Mocapay Inc. this month announced a strategic partnership with ISO eNational Payments with the goal of helping merchants deliver customized coupons and other promotions to consumers via mobile handsets.

Now that they can do so without violating contracts, merchants are expected to more aggressively steer customers toward less-expensive payment methods in the coming months.