Cards

First Commonwealth Financial Corp., of Indiana, Pa., thought it had done a pretty good job.

Thieves know: there's money in credit cards. Credit card numbers are still the hottest items stolen in data breaches, far surpassing debit card numbers and Social Security numbers, according to data from Javelin Strategy & Research.

Merchants have never before had so many options for accepting cards, but a stubborn core that deals only in cash may never change its ways.

Prepaid cardholders are certain to enjoy more federal protection soon. But it remains open to debate how much those protections should resemble those for conventional bank accounts.

Buffalo Wild Wings is all about overwhelming its patrons with options — it has over a dozen wing sauces to choose from, and it is testing a system that adds more variety to how people order and pay.

The prominent daily-deals provider Groupon is reportedly branching into payments with a device that competes with Square Inc.

Elavon, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, is taking a different approach to mobile card acceptance by using a wireless card reader that is as big as the phone it pairs with.

Consumers are being more cautious in their use of credit cards — accounts are growing, and overall their balances are down 28% from their peak in January 2009, according to a new report from Equifax.

Merchant acquirer banks using ACI Worldwide Inc. processing software will get some fresh help in managing merchant accounts and handling payment settlements.

Kmart plans to attract a bigger portion of the underbanked crowd by beefing up its walk-in bill-payment and prepaid debit card offerings.

PayPal is done taking baby steps.

Payments innovations frequently seem to come about from situations where people worry they might not have enough cash on hand for a tip. Years ago, taxis added card readers in part to address this issue, and today, parking valets are experimenting with something similar.

Vantiv is offering Ingenico's new point of sale products in an effort to prepare the industry for the EMV chip-card standard and Near Field Communication technology.

BELEVUE, Neb. – SAC FCU said this morning it has repurchased its Visa cards portfolio from Bank of America, joining the growing list of credit unions reentering the cards market, after exiting a few years ago.

BillMyParents is working with Extole to promote the SpendSmart card for teens. BillMyParents' card provides parents with real-time notices of teens' purchases and allows parents to shut off the card's ability to transact.

MasterCard today made the first move to begin talking with rivals and customers about how exactly the U.S. will adopt the EMV chip-card standard.

Credit unions must adjust soon to the impact of mobile payments, which can disrupt their revenue from traditional payment systems like credit and debit cards.

Green Dot said Monday that it has signed a new multi-year distribution deal with Dollar Tree and extended its contracts with other partners.

The Indian Railways is proposing the introduction of a universal smart card ticketing system it contends would make it easier for rail passengers to secure tickets and pay for rides.

After a lull in ATM expansion in India, public-sector banks now are planning a concentrated and collaborative push to deploy nearly 60,000 machines across the country over the next two years.