Merchant

Many in the collection business have fallen on bad times. For some, it’s the first time they’ve been in this position, and they’re looking to lenders for collaborative solutions to help manage their debt.

Newtek Business Services Inc., a small-business services company, once again is a preferred vendor to the more than 200 car dealers belonging to the General Motors Minority Dealers Association, New York-based Newtek announced this week.

The Federal Trade Commission Friday announced it is mailing more than $4 million to consumers identified as victims of an illegal credit card billing scam operated by J.K. Publications, raising the total to more than $16 million since an initial mailing last June.

Pricing is a top consideration for independent sales organizations when choosing processor and acquiring-bank partners, and many ISOs are not satisfied with their current relationships, according to a recent report from Aite Group LLC.

Acculynk Inc., which enables merchants to accept PIN-debit purchases online, is broadening its offerings to include online card processing and is making its products available for resale through independent sales organizations, the company announced Wednesday.

Hoping to extend its reach to mobile merchants, USA ePay, a payment gateway, this week launched a portable card-acceptance machine that connects to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch products.

Adyen Inc., a Netherlands-based online payment gateway company, is expanding into the United States, the company announced April 5.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. last week named Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC as one of its preferred merchant processors for users of its mobile phone card reader.

Despite feeling the effects of a down economy, ISOs continue to propel much of Global Payments Inc.’s revenue growth, executives from the payment processor said last week during the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings conference call with analysts.

The Federal Trade Commission charged a payday loan operation with illegally trying to garnish borrowers’ wages and using other illegal collection practices. The FTC seeks to stop these practices and require the operators to surrender improperly collected money so it can be used for consumer refunds.