Technology

Groupon is the latest of many companies to provide merchants with a card reader that clips to smartphones. But the daily-deals company is not simply selling a me-too device — it is planting the seeds of a bigger payments strategy.

Apple may be waiting to bring mobile payments to the masses, but MasterCard is forging ahead. The card network announced this week a software toolkit to help turn any Near Field Communication enabled Android or Blackberry smartphone into a mobile wallet.

A group of state attorneys general is investigating how major banks process and sell delinquent credit card accounts.

Demand for consumer credit increased as the overall risk inherent in the credit-using population fell, according to TransUnion.

In the world of plastic cards, if a consumer loses one card, every card linked to that account must be canceled. That isn't the case with mobile wallets.

Square announced today that it has closed the Series D financing round that included Starbucks, among other investors.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 193,508 properties in August, a jump of 1% from July but down 15% from August 2011, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Apple has — yet again — left payments out when it designed its newest iPhone, despite numerous indications that it explored using Near Field Communication technology to create a mobile wallet. Apple had many good reasons to choose the course it did.

The PCI Council is likely to benefit from the heightened awareness around ATM security, particularly MasterCard's push for EMV chip-card acceptance at ATMs, as it seeks feedback on its ATM Security guidelines.

International Merchant Solutions has signed a multiyear deal with Phoenix Managed Networks for PhoeniXSentry, a cloud-based network management service and built-in firewall router.