Credit

Commuter-benefits provider TransitCenter Inc. has begun participating in the six-month contactless-payment trial MasterCard Worldwide is leading along with three New York-area transit agencies.

U.S. consumers’ average credit card debt fell during the first eight months of this year, while the average credit score also inched down from the start of the year, according to new data Credit Karma released Sept. 13.

Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based Co-op Financial Services will add credit card processing to its debit card transaction processing business line.

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide have experienced mixed results in the U.S. issuance of debit cards carrying their logos. But both brands have seen the issuance of credit cards with their brand marks tumble as issuers cut their exposures to financial risk.

The analytics provider CoreLogic Inc. has two new products it says will help online lenders more accurately assess the risk associated with nontraditional credit applicants.

A new venture capital firm focused on funding technology companies catering to the growing underbanked population has made its first investment, in GoalSpring Financial Inc., a San Francisco startup marketing an online debt management program.

The number of consumers swiping their credit cards dropped dramatically last year, according to a Javelin Strategy and Research report released this month.

Person-to-person payment systems are taking off, but person-to-person payments are not.

Card issuers within the past two years dramatically reduced consumers’ borrowing capacity to reduce the risk of losses during the recession, but new data suggest the bulk of the credit-line cuts came from closing inactive card accounts, not slashing active borrowers’ credit lines, Moody’s Investors Service notes in a Sept. 9 report.

Consumers have mixed feelings on differential pricing for cash and card purchases, and their views similarly are mixed on whether merchants might reduce product prices if caps are set on interchange rates, new research suggests.

Larger financial institutions are beginning to engage in broader product and service agreements, and that is opening the door to more outsourcing opportunities, the chief financial officer at Fidelity National Information Services Inc. said Sept. 7 during the Citi Global Technology Conference.

Tourism is rebounding, as Visa card spending by international visitors to the U.S. was up considerably during the first half of the year, according to Visa Inc.’s Tourism Outlook for the United States.

Bank of Montreal and Sobeys Inc. announced a partnership Sept. 9 to offer cobranded MasterCard credit cards to Sobeys’ customers in Canada with rewards-earning options, including airline miles for one of two cards.

Japan's first internet bank, SBI Net Bank Ltd., on Sept. 6 launched an online funds-transfer service in partnership with with Tokyo-based Telecom Credit.

The electronic-billing technology company Transactis Inc. has acquired OfferIQ, a mobile coupon service provider for banks and merchants, the companies said Thursday.

Payment cards are becoming more versatile.

Issuers are tightening their credit criteria, according to Fair Isaac Corp.

A Netherlands-based group consisting of banks and mobile operators has agreed to form a joint-venture company to support Near Field Communication mobile payments at the point of sale in 2012.

Card-not-present fraud in the United Kingdom is on track to decline 9% this year compared with last year as merchants and consumers adopt more strategies to thwart fraud, Retail Decisions PLC, a London-based payment fraud prevention firm, announced Sept. 6.

ANZ Banking Group has launched an application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone that enables customers to transfer funds to other mobile-phone uses in Australia, an official for the Melbourne-based bank tells PaymentsSource.