Merchant

The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will conduct an in-depth review of debt collection practices of payday lenders when it takes on responsibilities for regulating consumer credit markets on April 1.

Visa has hired Ramon Martin, who was previously with American Express, for the newly created job of global head of merchant sales and solutions. Visa also announced that Elizabeth Buse, who heads its global solutions group, plans to retire March 31 after 16 years at the company.

Total foreclosure filings were reported on 112,498 U.S. properties in February, a 10 percent drop from January and down 27 percent from February 2013, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif., data firm. The total is the lowest monthly figure since December 2006.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission jointly filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, arguing that a federal district court wrongly dismissed a consumer’s class action complaint against collection agency Northland Group Inc.

The Federal Trade Commission settled a complaint against a Massachusetts-based home security company that illegally called millions of consumers on the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry to pitch home security systems.

Allstate has elected Siddharth Mehta, former CEO at TransUnion, to its board of directors.

Liberty Pawnshop & Gold LLC in Fredericksburg, Va., charged with making 54 vehicle title loans between August 2011 and February 2013 without having a valid license, reached a settlement Tuesday with the Virginia attorney general's office.

In 30 states and the District of Columbia, attorneys general are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to adopt new debt collection rules that will "better protect consumers and military service members."

A Louisiana town approved hiring collection agency American Municipal Service to pursue an estimated $750,000 in debts including unpaid court costs and utility bills. Some of the debt is up to 15 years old.

Contactless card payments are building a fan base in the United Kingdom, where their use has spiked in the past year, but the product is still a long way from replacing magnetic-stripe cards.