Cards

Consumer use of payment cards is very much in flux, and contradictory trends are making it hard for issuers to react.

Hispanic customers of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have long been able to pay bills or transfer money online — but only in English.

Consumers are increasingly using payment cards at vending machines, and the owners of the devices are reaping the benefits through higher ticket sales and increased transaction volume.

Fraud is eating 1.5% of the revenue from airline tickets sold online as merchants struggle to block criminals without making the purchase process too cumbersome for consumers.

Square has shut out independent sales organizations as distributors of its mobile card reader. Now one ISO has gone on the offensive by offering its own.

Facebook is moving away from its Credits virtual currency to a more robust payment system that supports real money. At the same time, new survey data show that consumers are interested in bringing their banking business to the social network.

Giftango International will manage and deliver all of Park Group PLC’s e-gift cards and other digital prepaid products to more than 6,000 of Park’s corporate customers under an agreement announced June 20.

The bigger they are, the harder they are to find on LocalGiftCards.com, a website set up to sell small merchants' gift cards exclusively.

DOWNEY, Calif. – Financial Partners CU has launched its own reloadable debit card program for MasterCard.

Discover Financial Services may be having more success than its peers in getting consumers to revolve balances from month to month — which is where more profits lie.

Each day, the payments industry receives signals that consumers are happier using a contactless card system to pay transit fares than they are using the cards in stores.

Turning a phone into a credit card reader is no longer anything special. Square, facing increasing competition from bigger rivals, is adding features to its small plastic card reader to make it a more fleshed-out product for merchants.

A Denver-based start-up that began by offering Facebook credits as rewards is adding a proprietary prepaid card to create another redemption option and to help expand the program's marketing potential.

Not to be outdone by other card brands or mobile network operators, MasterCard Worldwide and PrePay Solutions plan to launch a Mobile PayPass prepaid account for smartphones in a few months.

For international travelers, a new pact between a Citigroup Hong Kong unit and Planet Payment Inc. should take the mystery out of currency exchange rates on a purchase-by-purchase basis.

Consider it the beginning of the Next Generation for Card Express Inc. — literally. Launched in 1995 by Alan Safahi as a prepaid card provider supporting corporate cards, CardEx soon plans to venture into the consumer market. And Safahi's son, Sean, will lead the initiative as the firm's new CEO.

SAN FRANCISCO–The prepaid card industry has a reputation problem–even within its own ranks.

The use of two-way video for customer service opens up myriad possibilities for branches. Banks potentially could use the technology to reduce branch overhead, to bring service to remote areas, or to provide extra service inside busy branches.

Standalone contactless payment cards may be headed for extinction in the U.S. The tap-and-pay card technology that began to emerge in the U.S. in 2005 never caught fire, as relatively few merchants adapted their payment terminals to accommodate it.

FONU2 Inc. is gearing up to launch a prepaid debit card consumers worldwide may use to pay for local services and goods using a Facebook application on their computers or mobile phones when the company rolls out its online buying-and-selling website.