Credit

WESTON, Fla.–Certain details surrounding new Internal Revenue Service rules requiring payment processors and acquirers to track merchants’ transactions and report them to the IRS remain unclear, but help is on the way.

The average charge-off rate on U.S. consumer credit cards inched upward in February, ending a streak of five consecutive months of declines. But the uptick is the result of “seasonal patterns” and is unlikely to affect the general trend of improving card-portfolio health, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

A start-up person-to-person payments network is teaming with a daily-deals service to tie the use of coupons to a customer’s prepaid card.

Diners at Field of Greens and VooDoo BBQ & Grill may receive discount coupons and eventually may pay for purchases through Mobibucks Corp.’s mobile marketing and payment service under a deal Mobibucks announced with the two restaurants March 21.

First Data Corp. is rolling out a mobile-coupon program for merchants called mVoucher that uses 2-D barcodes and text messages, the Atlanta-based processor announced March 22 at the International CTIA Wireless convention in Orlando.

FreeScore LLC now offers an iPhone app that consumers can use to receive their credit scores and calculate mortgage rates.

The Federal Trade Commission said March 21 it has issued its 33rd annual report to Congress describing the agency’s law enforcement and other efforts to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive and abusive debt collection practices.

T8 Webware said March 21 it is offering new mobile capabilities for its card personalization software over Apple’s iPad.

In offering to market third-party software to its customers, Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC is going beyond what many payment companies do when they open their platform to developers.

The banking lobby is pushing to delay caps on debit interchange fees, but JPMorgan Chase & Co. is sending the message that it has already accepted defeat.

Qiwi Ltd., Russia’s largest payment-service operator, is denying last week’s reports in local media that hackers easily could access its payment terminals to steal money from customer accounts.

Vivotech Inc. has launched a new software suite called Vivonfc to manage payment systems that use Near Field Communication chips, the company announced March 21.

PSCU Financial Services announced this afternoon the hiring of Michael Kelly, an executive with Fiserv’s payments network, as its president and CEO.

WASHINGTON – With the toughest campaign of his career on tap, Montana Senator Jon Tester collected tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from credit unions, banks and other interests before the Senate Banking Committee, just days before Tester lent his name as co-sponsor of a bill to delay the controversial rule cutting debit fees.

Visa Inc. plans to unveil an improved fraud detection system Monday for CyberSource Corp. customers that it says will cast a wider net than its earlier technology.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to end debit rewards for at least some existing customers in July, according to a letter the issuer is sending to customers that cites the Durbin amendment as its reason.

Card issuers in New Zealand have come under immense backlash from both the general public and government officials after cardholders in the earthquake-stricken Christchurch area reportedly received bills with card penalty late fees.

A severe security breach at EMC Corp.'s RSA Security may threaten the thousands of banks that use its technology.

When considering whether to switch which payment card they prefer to use, consumers tend to seek out higher discounts on purchases, new research suggests.

Bank Negara Malaysia has introduced rules designed to further tighten control over household debt in the country, a spokesperson for the Kuala Lumpur-based central bank tells PaymentsSource.