Technology

During a downturn, consumers are much more likely to use–and to repay–general-purpose credit cards than retail cards, and pretty much every major retail issuer tried to bail out of the business at some point over the last few years.

Wells Fargo & Co. likely is about to experience a flood of customer complaints as it starts to experiment with debit card fees to offset revenue losses it expects from the Federal Reserve Board’s interchange-rate cut, observes one analyst.

It made headlines in Europe, but this week’s announcement that three major telecommunication companies in Germany have joined forces to bypass supporting banks in handling Mpass mobile-payment transactions is a concept not likely to quickly take hold in other countries, one industry observer says.

Eager to exploit new growth opportunities in a sluggish economy, certain payments-industry technology suppliers already are positioning themselves to capitalize on opportunities Visa Inc.’s U.S. EMV chip card initiative may trigger as participants upgrade systems and equipment, observers say.

The recent turmoil in the financial markets has not yet altered banks’ immediate technology spending plans, Jack Henry & Associates Inc.’s top executive says.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office reported Tuesday that an agreement is in place with a finance company to clear $3.5 million in debt for nearly one thousand soldiers.

Despite recent upheaval in the financial markets, Jack Henry & Associates Inc. on Aug. 17 reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates and reiterated the payment-technology vendor’s confidence in banks’ spending appetite.

VantageScore Solutions LLC, a joint venture of the three credit rating agencies, has prevailed against Fair Isaac Corp. in a lawsuit that alleged antitrust, trademark infringement and false advertising.

After marching downward for more than a year, the average charge-off rate for U.S. consumer credit cards may show an increase for July because two issuers have reported one-time spikes in card-account defaults, a Moody’s Investors Service analyst tells PaymentsSource.

Kennesaw State University has entered into a partnership with mobile money start-up TreasureCom Financial Holdings Inc. to develop and market banking applications for mobile phones. The school, which is located north of Atlanta, also partnered has with Microsoft Corp. to establish the lab where the mobile applications are developed.