Credit

The Chicago area’s regional transportation systems have until 2015 to develop a universal transit fare system commuters could use across three different schemes under legislation signed into law last week.

Merchants will have a difficult time reaping all the benefits they stand to gain from a pending antitrust settlement between the two largest U.S. credit card networks and the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Call it a need for “consolidation education” among at least one in every four credit cardholders in the United Kingdom who carry balances but who are unaware of other loan products to consolidate their card debt.

Merchants will have a difficult time reaping all the benefits they stand to gain from a pending settlement between the two largest U.S. credit card networks and the Department of Justice, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

As potential buyers kick the tires of a few big credit card portfolios on the block, the issuers’ private-label card operations for the first time in years could be an advantage, instead of a drag, thanks to changes in the economy and in industry regulations, observers say.

U.S. consumer revolving credit in May saw its biggest jump in nearly three years, interrupting a steady decline in consumer credit card balances that began in mid-2008, according to Federal Reserve data released July 8.

Payments consumers make to health care providers will soar by more than 40% over the next three years, creating a glut of opportunities for direct-billing service vendors, according to a new Aite Group report.

Wikileaks supporters briefly regained access to Visa Inc.’s payment gateway in a series of rapid midweek developments, but by July 8 the gateway closed again, observers say.

The college crowd isn't as hip with credit card issuers these days.

PayPal revolutionized how consumers pay for goods online. It's not about to be usurped by the mobile payments movement.

Serverside Group Ltd. said July 7 its patent for card customization, which it claims is being infringed upon by dozens of U.S. credit unions and banks, was maintained in an oral hearing by the European Patent Office.

In an analysis of email-based fraud released in late June, network giant Cisco quantified what newspaper headlines over the past year have made clear: cyberfraud has shifted from mass, generalized attacks to very specific spearphishing hits that harness stolen user information to dupe unwitting consumers (such as bank customers and credit and debit cardholders) into divulging account information.

In an effort to further cool down an overheating credit card market, South Korea’s financial regulator has announced new limits for card companies’ operations.

TransUnion plans sell up to $325 million in stock in an initial public offering. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, the Chicago-based company said it plans to use the proceeds to reduce “a substantial amount of indebtedness” and for general corporate purposes.

In an unintended consequence of the newly revised federal rules on cybersecurity, banks are likely to fare much worse in lawsuits over fraud losses.

In a move aimed at significantly expanding its card-brands’ acceptance in Europe, Discover Financial Services has forged a processing and merchant-acquiring agreement with First Data Corp. for international operations, a Discover executive tells PaymentsSource.

As a growing number of United Kingdom-based merchants adopt contactless payment technology as part of a broad regional effort leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games, specific retailers are seeing the technology’s benefits.

Wikileaks and Iceland-based data-hosting service DataCell ehf. say they will file a complaint on July 7 with the European Commission against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide if the payment companies continue to block their payment-processing.

Consumer credit card growth, which has been on the decline for about three years, could be showing signs of life again, according to data Equifax Inc. released July 1.

Western Union Co. has struck a deal that will make it a competitor, but also a potential partner, for banks trying to capture a bigger chunk of the business payments market.