Credit

To highlight consumers’ ability use credit and debit cards to conduct tax payments, MasterCard Worldwide is touting acceptance of its products at a tax-payment Web site.

First Data Corp. has authorized Hypercom Corp. to manage the processor’s remote key-injection processes as an encrypting service organization, according to the companies. Tasq Technology Inc., a Rocklin, Calif.-based point-of-sale-equipment distributor and a subsidiary of Atlanta-based First Data, also will make available Hypercom’s remote key-injection system, known a HyperSafe.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. is looking to double its credit cardholder base by the end of March 2011, an official from the Kuala Lumpur-based financial institution tells PaymentsSource.

New MasterCard Worldwide tiered-interchange rates that affect domestic ATM cash withdrawals will seriously cripple and possibly destroy the nation’s ATM independent sales organizations, charge executives and board members who represent many of the companies.

MasterCard Inc. has what it needs to thrive, but its next chief executive says he still has to put the pieces together.

Visa Inc. earlier this month announced five more merchants have joined its SavingsEdge program, which offering savings to Visa small-business credit and debit cardholders, bringing to 12 the total number of merchants participating.

Newtek Business Services Inc., a small-business services company, once again is a preferred vendor to the more than 200 car dealers belonging to the General Motors Minority Dealers Association, New York-based Newtek announced this week.

SK Telecom Co. Ltd. has launched a Near Field Communication mobile-payment service called T Smart Pay in cooperation with Hana SK Card, the company announced recently.

MasterCard Worldwide will need the deep international expertise of incoming CEO Ajay Banga in order to hold its own against chief rival Visa Inc. in an increasingly competitive global-payments marketplace, analysts say.

MasterCard Inc. is trying to get into cardholders' heads with its new online shopping portal.

If knowledge is power, lenders are becoming more powerful.

Consumers' confidence in the economy fell in March after two consecutive months of gains, according to data from Discover Financial Services.

MasterCard Worldwide, an official partner of the Rugby World Cup 2011 taking place next September in New Zealand, is reaffirming its support of the sport with new research that suggests rugby is growing in popularity and bringing in commerce. In particular, the 2010 RBS Six Nations Championship, which concluded on March 20, produced 465.43 million euros (US$621.2 million) in all forms of payment for the six competing nations, including France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy, according to the research.

In a sign that the efforts of the Secure Remote Payment Council are gaining notice in the industry, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has joined the organization as a general member and as a member of its board of directors.

Acculynk Inc., which enables merchants to accept PIN-debit purchases online, is broadening its offerings to include online card processing and is making its products available for resale through independent sales organizations, the company announced Wednesday.

Consumer credit scores generally remained stable throughout the first quarter, according to a new report from Credit Karma Inc., a San Francisco-based company whose Web site tracks credit scores.

Hoping to extend its reach to mobile merchants, USA ePay, a payment gateway, this week launched a portable card-acceptance machine that connects to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch products.

Filipino citizens can now make government payments online using payment cards and mobile-phone wallets under an administrative order the country’s Department of Finance passed with the Department of Trade and Industry, an official from the financial agency tells PaymentsSource.

Adyen Inc., a Netherlands-based online payment gateway company, is expanding into the United States, the company announced April 5.

PayPal Inc.'s mobile payment application has been downloaded more than a million times since it was released three weeks ago on Apple Inc.'s App Store.