Credit

Three Chinese men in Grand Rapids, Mich., last week each were sentenced to 102 months behind bars for skimming credit cards at area Meijer stores and stealing $285,000 from credit-union members and bank customers.

Toronto-Dominion’s U.S. bank is slowly carving out a wider wedge of the tumultuous market for retailers’ credit cards.

Starbucks Corp. plans to ride the U.S. success of its in-store mobile-payment method by introducing the application to customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Jan. 5, the Seattle-based company announced Nov. 24.

Consumer use of credit cards online is making a comeback, new research suggests.

Air New Zealand has launched a smart prepaid card that supports MasterCard PayPass contactless functionality, the airline announced Nov. 22.

Consumer credit card originations rose 32% during the first eight months of this year, though the amount of total new credit issued still lags behind pre-recession levels by a full 45%, recently released data show.

Microsoft Corp. insists the online service associated with the Xbox 360 video-game console did not experience a security breach despite some United Kingdom consumers who say they fell victim to a phishing scam tied to the system.

Consumers who travel overseas may present the best opportunity for U.S. card issuers to roll out EMV chip cards and remain competitive in that market, according to Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

Indian credit cardholders in September spent 76.9 billion rupees (US$1.5 billion or 1.1 billion euros), up 31.7% from 58.4 billion rupees during the same month last year, according to new data from the Reserve Bank of India.

Discover Financial Services continues to grow merchant acceptance of its various card brands internationally.

South Korea’s antitrust watchdog reportedly has launched a probe into whether banks and card networks manipulated the service fees they charge their customers, local newspaper the Korea Herald reported Nov. 20.

Retail shoppers who download a Shopkick Inc. mobile application on their smartphones to earn rewards points, or “kicks,” by walking into a store now may earn extra points by paying for purchases with a Visa-branded credit or debit card, Visa announced Nov. 21.

At least one merchant-funded rewards provider agrees the market is large enough to support two or three key players.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is rolling out its third chip card, which also marks the first U.S.-issued airline card to use EMV technology, the company announced Nov. 21.

First Data Corp. has completed the merger of its transportation payment services with Transportation Clearing House LLC, creating a joint venture the companies hope will become a leading card provider in the transportation industry, the card processor announced Nov. 17.

Average consumer credit card debt in October fell 11%, to $6,600, from a year earlier but rose 1% from the previous month, according to Credit Karma’s latest U.S. Credit Score Climate report.

Consumers sued a total of 498 different collection agencies and creditors between Oct. 16 and 31, down 17% from 597 during the first half of the month, according to data from U.S. district courts.

Isis has had a big week, as 45 partners of the GSM Association mobile operator trade group agreed to support the joint venture’s preferred payments model: Near Field Communication that uses SIM cards used in many mobile phones.

As major U.S. cities with complex transportation systems explore converting to an electronic fare-collection structure that would accept open-loop contactless cards, mobile payments are becoming a factor in future planning.

Citigroup Inc.’s private-label retail card unit is on the rebound, and despite the widespread contention that at one point Citi was looking for a buyer for its $40 billion-plus private-label cards operation, the company now says the unit was never officially up for sale.