Credit

Consumers continue to take their credit card borrowing more seriously. The ratio of credit cardholders 90 or more days past due on their payments continues to drop even as issuers are extending credit to higher-risk customers, according to TransUnion.

Total System Services is taking a different approach to sales by forming a joint venture with Central Payment Co.

Credit card asset-backed securities likely will remain stable for the foreseeable future because card charge-offs and delinquencies are at historic lows, consumer bankruptcies keep falling and consumer balance sheets are getting healthier, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

Alliance Data will continue providing private-label credit cards to Stage Stores and will collaborate to develop and launch a simplified loyalty program under a new long-term contract with the retailer.

VeriFone is supplying retailer Beall's with customer-facing point-of-sale devices that feature color displays and the capacity to adapt to changes in payments.

Sites like Groupon have captured consumers' attention and loyalty in a way that credit card issuers often dream of. A few savvy payments companies have found ways to benefit from the daily-deals fad.

Mexican bank Banamex this week launched the initial phase of the first major countrywide contactless-payment rollout that includes the issuance of 100,000 contactless credit and debit MasterCards and the deployment of several thousand terminals to 1,900 merchants in Mexico City.

As we transact, we give life to the inner "rock star" or "accountant" in us, says Brett King, chief executive of mobile finance start-up Movenbank.

JPMorgan Chase will contribute about $1.2 billion to settle a price-fixing case brought by retailers over credit-card swipe fees.

Visa, and MasterCard have until Oct. 19 to formally request approval of a more than $6 billion settlement to a lawsuit over interchange fees, according to a filing unsealed in Brooklyn, New York, federal court.

Trying to figure out Apple's intentions with mobile payments based on the technology giant's patent approvals is akin to assembling Ikea furniture without instructions. Some parts clearly fit, others not so much.

Transaction processor Vantiv plans to offer its new Mobile Accept card reader to help brick-and-mortar merchants handle payments outside their stores — without paying more than they do for in-store payments.

American Express will offer its reloadable prepaid cards on Walgreens shelves by the end of the week.

Google has changed the rules about how issuers get into its mobile wallet, and American Express is the first to vocally and vehemently oppose Google's new setup. The outcome of this dispute could decide who controls transaction data in mobile payments.

Alliance Data's Retail Services business will create and manage private-label, cobrand and commercial credit card programs for True Value under a long-term agreement the companies announced today.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will operate as the first full franchise in China to issue and acquire Diners Club cards under an agreement announced today.

The use of mobile applications to help consumers pay for parking is growing, with three companies recently announcing expansions and new technology.

Fleet card provider FleetCor Technologies reported double-digit second-quarter increases in revenue and profit, and it expects recent acquisitions to propel further growth throughout the rest of the year.

VeriFone shares fell the most in more than two months after Starbucks, the largest coffee-shop chain, said it will use Square’s rival payment system in 7,000 stores.

Starbucks' $25 million investment in Square says a lot about the mobile payment provider's appeal to larger merchants — but the coffee chain's decision to leave out some of Square's technology also speaks volumes.