Technology

Anticipating that Discover Financial Services will report very little change in charge-offs and delinquency rates for its credit card loan book during May, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher Brendler on Wednesday suggested that the economic stimulus checks will have a scant impact on cardholder payments.

Expressing dissatisfaction with their outsourced collection service vendors, a town in Pennsylvania and another in West Virginia recently moved to fire their agencies.

The New York State Assembly this week approved a package of four bills that are intended to protect state residents from abusive debt collection practices. Each of the bills was sponsored by member Audrey Pheffer, who began studying the industry's practices and consumer complaints two years ago.

Cam Commerce Solutions Inc., a Fountain Valley, Calif., provider of payment processing systems for small and midsize merchants, said Tuesday that it has agreed to sell itself to Great Hill Partners LLC, a Boston private-equity company.

MIAMI — Despite a slowdown in the growth of international remittance volumes that began last year, Wells Fargo & Co. said its remittance business achieved triple-digit growth in the 12 months through May, reflecting what it sees as an ongoing shift to banks from nonbank providers.

Fiserv Inc. is working to offer its walk-in bill-payment service in branches of banks that are trying to reach the underbanked, a large and potentially lucrative market.

Stockholm-based Investor AB has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Oslo-based international debt collection firm Lindorff Group AB and entered into a partnership agreement with the previous majority shareholder, Altor Equity Partners.

Payforit, a mobile-ticketing service developed by several Europe-based mobile operators including Orange and Vadafone, is now a ticketing option for consumers who want to attend a concert at the London nightclub Scala on 15 Aug. United Kingdom-based mobile-content providers Dialogue Communications and AEI Mobile launched the service for the concert, according to a joint statement. Payforit enables consumers to use their mobile phones to buy goods and services that cost up to £10 (US$19.69 or 12.51 euros), the statement says. Users can make one-time payments or subscribe to the service. To purchase a ticket to the event, customers send a text message to receive a link to the club's mobile Web site. Customers then use the Payforit system to buy their tickets, which are sent by text message. Each ticket costs £10, according to the statement. "Mobile ticketing is a no-brainer for event-organizers, a good proportion of which are already using [text messaging] as the preferred marketing channel for events and functions," Del Dias, AEI Mobile managing director, says in a statement. Dialogue Communications did not respond to CardLine Global requests for comment.

Moody's: Dichotomy in Card Delinquency Trends May be Due to Tough Collection Environment

Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Rise