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Discover Financial Services said its Discover Student Loans unit is celebrating its third anniversary by reducing its lowest interest rate to 3.75%.

The $3 billion price Advent International Corp. and Bain Capital LLC will pay for an 80% stake in RBS WorldPay, the payment-processing arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC, may point to an imbalance in value between privately held and publicly held payment processors, suggests David J. Koning, a senior research analyst at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co.

Despite reductions in fees and commissions stemming from the effects of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, executives at Barclays PLC remain positive about the future performance of it Barclaycard US subsidiary and other units.

India’s UTI Mutual Fund is partnering with mobile-payments provider mChek Pvt. Ltd. to launch UTI Mobile, a service that enables investors to initiate payment instructions for investing in mutual funds from a mobile phone, a spokesperson for the Mumbai-based asset management company tells PaymentsSource.

Life Insurance Corp. of India Ltd. policyholders soon will be able to use their mobile phones to pay their insurance premiums, a spokesperson for the government-owned insurer tells PaymentsSource.

The mobile banking and payments company ClairMail Inc. said it had strong revenue growth in the second quarter.

PayPal Inc. has updated its mobile payment application for Android phones.

Online Resources Corp.'s newest chief executive said the online banking and bill-pay vendor will become a more focused company under his leadership.

U.S. credit card borrowers shed $4.5 billion in debt in June, continuing the pattern of reducing overall outstanding receivables that began in the fall of 2008, according to a Federal Reserve G.19 report on consumer credit released Aug. 6.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC on Aug. 6 agreed to sell a majority stake in its lucrative processing business, RBS WorldPay, to two private equity firms for more than $3 billion.

Arizona state government officials are stepping up efforts to thwart criminals from skimming consumers’ credit and debit card information at gasoline stations in response to a recent uptick of such incidents.

Serverside Group Ltd.’s receipt this week of a European patent for its digital technology used to print customized payment cards on demand will protect its market but also may create competition as other companies develop and enhance similar technology, some observers say.

SocialWise Inc. is launching a marketing campaign for its BillMyParents online payment system through social network sites in early August that could reach 4.6 million followers of Twitter, Facebook and Myspace, Jim Collas, Socialwise president and CEO, tells PaymentsSource.

ILoveVelvet, a New York-based payment-technology company, says its new Velvet Suite products can enable merchants to use Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad devices as retail point-of-sale terminals.

ACH Federal will provide Web-based and customized automated clearinghouse processing services for Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Beach Business Bank, the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based electronic payments provider announced on Aug. 3.

Improved consumer and issuer confidence in India is helping revive the nation’s credit card market. Debit card use, however, continues to grow at a much faster pace, new data from India’s central bank show.

HSBC Finance Corp. has promoted Patrick “Pat” Burke to CEO of the company’s U.S. consumer finance division. Burke also serves as senior vide president and CEO of HSBC’s credit card and retail business. He succeeds Niall Booker, who was recently promoted to CEO of HSBC North America Holdings Inc.

USAA Federal Savings Bank is shifting mobile banking into high gear by offering auto loans through customers' phones.

Consumers Credit Union in Waukegan, Ill., has joined the list of financial services companies using Fiserv Inc.'s Acumen account processing software.

Shortages of key components cost Hypercom Corp. $6 million in second-quarter product revenue, despite strong demand for the company’s point-of-sale products and services, says Philippe Tartavull, Hypercom CEO and president, during an Aug. 4 conference call to discuss earnings with analysts.