Credit

Investors are listening closely to reports of a possible initial public offering of stock later this year by Vantiv LLC, one of the nation’s largest card processors.

Consumer credit card debt fell by 10% during the first half of the year and by 17% from a year earlier, totaling $6,472 in June, according to data Credit Karma released July 13. The average credit score has remained steady at 667, down just two points from 665 in June 2010.

Ratcheting up the competition for wealthy, low-risk customers in India, HDFC Bank Ltd. on July 12 launched an ultra-premium credit card designed for the super rich.

Issuers seeing the first signs of growth in consumer credit card borrowing in nearly three years might be hoping the long drought is over, but it is too soon to celebrate, analysts say.

Signaling plans to stick with its strategy of diversifying beyond its core general-purpose credit card operations, Capital One Financial Corp. on July 13 said its second-quarter purchase volume rose and its charge-off rate fell, partly as a result of its acquisition of the Kohl’s Corp. private-label credit card operation.

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.