Technology

American Express Co. cardholders that attend the South by Southwest Interactive music festival in Austin, Texas, later this week will be able to secure merchant discounts with their cards through Foursquare Labs Inc., the location-based mobile system that rewards consumers for using its service. Media reports say the two companies are piloting the system with 60 merchants at the festival and are offering a “spend $5, save $5” promotion.

PHOENIX–Credit and debit card fraud leads all other types of fraud at most U.S. banks and credit unions, but most institutions are fighting illegal account access with constrained budgets and relatively small teams averaging one to five workers, regardless of institution size, new survey data from ISMG Corp.’s BankInfoSecurity.com suggest.

Many consumers still are not familiar with the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act and believe it has not had any effect on them, new research suggests.

“No dogs, no bare feet … no community bank debit cards”?

Aptys Solutions has enhanced the automated clearinghouse functionality of its PayLogics processing platform by adding its Active Archive service, the company reported March 7.

Merchants whose customers buy multiple prepaid cards contained within one pack would be able to save time by activating the cards all at once, and not individually, under a patent the U.S Patent and Trademark Office recently issued to First Data Corp., the Atlanta-based payment processor announced March 7.

Credit-union and bank groups plan to file a brief as early as March 7 asking a federal court to block implementation of the debit-interchange fee provisions of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.

The number of personal bankruptcy filings rose 11% to 102,686 in February compared to a month earlier, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute and the National Bankruptcy Research Center, but so far the rise has slowed from 2010.

Secure Vault Payments, NACHA’s alternative payment system that enables consumers to make online purchases directly from their bank accounts, may gain new prominence from a test it is running with a sizeable client.

Debit card networks could lose $1.7 billion in revenue from fees they charge banks stemming from the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed debit-interchange caps, according to an analyst.