Technology

Barclays PLC

MasterCard Europe has "temporarily repealed" its interchange rates that European regulators say violate antitrust rules, the card company said Thursday. The action applies to cross-border interchange merchant acquirers pay card issuers when customers use cards carrying the MasterCard or Maestro debit brands. On 19 Dec. 2007, the European Commission ordered MasterCard to lower the rates within six months or face daily fines amounting to 3.5% of global revenues. On 1 March, MasterCard filed an appeal with the European Court of First Instance. The card organization is continuing that appeal, though MasterCard does not expect a judgment until "the second half of 2010," a MasterCard spokesperson tells CardLine Global. The interchange rates average 1% of the sale for MasterCard-branded cards and 0.5% for Maestro-branded cards, the spokesperson says. "MasterCard believes its cross-border interchange system has kept the cost of payment cards low for cardholders," Javier Perez, MasterCard Europe president, says in a statement. In March, the European Commission said it was investigating the interchange rates applied to Visa card transactions in Europe and the card organization's rule that merchants must accept all Visa-branded cards regardless of the issuer or type of transaction. Visa said it expects to reach a "negotiated settlement" with regulators (CardLine Global, 3 April).

The doom and gloom data arrive in higgledy-piggledy fashion on a daily basis, and it can be difficult for lenders – particularly in the housing market – and their credit risk managers to wrap their heads around all of it.

A Kansas City, Mo., law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit against a health care company, alleging that it used an in-house collection department to contact patients about their medical bills, but misrepresented itself as a third party unrelated to the company, in violation of two sections of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

First Data Corp. has extended an agreement to provide merchant processing services for customers of Webster Financial Corp. of Waterbury, Conn.

CompuCredit Corp., the Atlanta-based subprime credit card issuer that was sued yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission and faces charges by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, issued a pointed response to the allegations by the federal agencies.

With health insurance moving toward greater patient cost sharing, a study by private foundation Commonwealth Fund finds a sharp increase in the number of underinsured people, a group that, logically, also has greater problems with their medical bills.

White Plains, N.Y.-based Debt Resolve Inc., which hosts an online bidding system to resolve debts, has received proof of funds from Harmonie International LLC, and granted Harmonie an extension to June 20 to fulfill its commitment to invest $7 million in the company.

Softening of consumer lending demand has persisted over the past eight weeks and delinquencies on consumer loans has increased in some areas, according to the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve Board's summary of economic activity reports from all 12 central bank districts, which was released Wednesday.

Australian receivables manager Collection House Ltd. has executed a new forward flow agreement with a major Australian bank. The agreement, which covers the acquisition of credit card debts, runs for 12 months and has an estimated face value of AUD $50 million (U.S. $47.4 million).