Credit

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.

Like a pop star who sells more records posthumously, the Google Checkout payment service may prove most beneficial to Google after it is phased out.

BMI Bank B.S.C. last week rolled out a service that enables its credit cardholders to pay their card bills at the issuer’s ATMs, the Bahrain-based bank announced Nov. 10.

Visa Europe plans to develop more loyalty programs for card issuers and merchants through its investment in data-analytics firm Beyond Analysis, the company announced Nov. 15.

In a policy shift, third party payment provider Lakala E-Billing Technology & Service Co. has begun charging cardholders when they use its service to pay their monthly card repayments, the Beijing-based company said last week.

The U.S. is in a balance-sheet slowdown: overleveraged households are tightening their belts and holding back on consumption, thereby choking off the economy's main engine.

Target Corp.’s U.S. credit card segment churned out a $143 million third-quarter profit, up 10% from $130 million a year earlier. But it could be the unit’s last such profitable quarter for a while, an executive for the retailer warned analysts Nov. 16.

New technology tools are emerging in the market that merchant acquirers can offer or merchants themselves can adopt to comply with Payment Card Industry data-security standards.

Chip-based fuel cards soon may replace magnetic stripe versions oil companies issue for use at European gas station stores and fuel pumps.

Consumers’ outstanding credit card debt rose incrementally during the third quarter, while the proportion of consumers falling behind on their monthly card-account payments rose for the first time in nearly two years, according to a report TransUnion LLC released Nov. 15.

Rampant data breaches have taught consumers that it is not always wise to store payment data with a third party, but soon such behavior may become the safer way to transact.

Some credit card issuers may be tempted to loosen underwriting standards this holiday season as credit card loss rates hover at record low levels. But such policy shifts could have more far-reaching implications on issuers’ bottom lines than just a few years ago, one analyst warns.