Credit

The credit outlook at the top six card issuers is getting brighter, with both chargeoffs and delinquencies falling again in July.

In a legal action that could have wide-ranging ramifications for credit unions, banks and retailers, a local firm on Friday filed suit in federal court in Texas claiming America First CU, Wescom CU, Zions Bank, Capital One and major retailers are infringing on its patent for creating online customized branded merchandise.

Hoping to capitalize on consumers’ general frustration with poor customer service, Discover Financial Services today launches a new TV advertising campaign touting its fast response, promising to provide cardholders with live customer assistance within 60 seconds of their call.

Vivotech Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based contactless technology company, is adding encryption services from Voltage Security Inc. to transactions made with Vivotech’s Vivopay products.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission on Aug. 11 issued new credit card industry regulations providing cardholders with certain protections.

Hong Kong's government was urged Friday to investigate after six banks were found to have sold the personal data of customers to insurance companies, reports Dow Jones.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. announced Friday that its Brazilian joint venture with Banco Bradesco SA has entered a 10-year deal to provide processing and other services for the banking company.

Americans’ monthly spending on credit cards is on the rise again, according to

U.S. consumers are carrying fewer credit cards than they were three years ago, while New Yorkers tote more plastic in their wallets than residents of any other state, according to new data Experian PLC released this month.

The Internal Revenue Service on Aug. 13 released its rules for how acquirers and processors should report their merchants’ credit, debit and gift card transactions to the agency beginning next year.

A point-of-sale breach disclosed this week at an Austin, Texas, restaurant only affects that restaurant, says Heartland Payment Systems Inc., the restaurant’s payment processor.

Hoping to build on its solid foundation in Europe and Latin America, SafetyPay Inc. this month announced plans to test its online payment platform in the U.S. through a retail pilot program.

USA Technologies Inc. recently announced that the number of vending machines equipped with its wireless ePort Connect Service technology enabling credit and debit card acceptance has increased 58% within the past year and is on track to hit 100,000 by yearend.

Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, last month officially abandoned plans to develop its Sberkart payment card program into a national payment system that would compete with Visa and MasterCard.

The Bank of China Hong Kong Limited and China UnionPay have begun offering a Shenzhen-Hong Kong cross-border automatic payment service through a BOC credit card, the bank recently announced.

NICE, France – A Russian national authorities believe may be one of the biggest sellers of stolen credit card data over the Internet was arrested here on a U.S. warrant last week and is waiting to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges.

A security vendor is trying to sell transaction monitoring services directly to consumers, a technology that until now has been offered primarily to banks.

The newest updates to the PCI Data Security Standard and the Payment Application Data Security Standard consist mostly of clarifications and additional guidance, says Bob Russo, general manager of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council that oversees the standards.

Newspaper publishers are recognizing consumers are using less cash and are making a move toward accepting plastic at vending machines.

BNP Paribas Le Caire, a Cairo-based subsidiary of the Paris-based bank, has launched the first contactless credit card in Egypt, the BNP Paribas Platinum MasterCard.