Credit

China Unionpay and Japanese credit company Mitsubishi UFJ Shinpan Card Co. have jointly launched a “gold” credit card in Japan, China's largest card issuer announced on March 17.

Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam has begun offering a personal finance service for accountholders who directly deposit their payroll funds. Under the Credit Card Care Program, the bank will consolidate card accounts for customers who have several credit cards.

One of the new credit card law's lesser-known provisions is funneling distressed borrowers to credit counselors, an industry once tarred as predatory. In an ironic twist, that outcome pleases consumer advocates more than it does some bankers.

Both novice and seasoned sales agents for independent sales organizations can have difficulty understanding exactly where they earn their revenue because not every ISO defines and pays residuals in the same way, note observers.

Barclays Group PLC this week rolled out Barclaycard Freedom, a broad-based, merchant-funded rewards program for the United Kingdom-based issuer’s 8 million Barclaycard credit card customers. Through the initiative, the cardholders can earn rewards for purchases at participating retail outlets throughout the UK.

The weak economy, decreased transaction volumes and margin compression in the payments industry are increasing the importance of up-front revenue streams for independent sales organizations and their sales agents instead of revenue purely from residuals, industry insiders say.

The new “rights” for United Kingdom credit cardholders the UK Card Association announced earlier this week demonstrate that the payments industry can make changes and provide a smart and competitive service to consumers, HSBC Holdings PLC contends. The association made the announcement in collaboration with the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (see story).

With consumer demand weak for credit cards and fewer competitors in the private student loan market, Discover Financial Services is making a bid to become a big lender on campuses.

Australia’s central bank is likely to continue regulating payment card interchange fees indefinitely, at least one analyst predicts.

EBay Inc.'s PayPal Inc. says it has partnered with China UnionPay Co., China's biggest card issuer, enabling Chinese consumers to shop online with international retailers using their China UnionPay bank cards.

Ingenico SA, a France-based point-of-sale terminal maker, foresees a return to growth this year after posting declining revenue and profit results for 2009 compared with 2008.

Thieves stole an undisclosed number of PIN pads from Hancock Fabrics Inc. stores, replacing them with counterfeit terminals that illegally captured customer card data. Store officials disclosed the thefts from an undisclosed number of its 264 stores in 37 states earlier this month. Executives believe the thefts occurred in August and September last year.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC later this year will roll out an advanced payment-data encryption technology platform for its merchant clients developed in conjunction with Voltage Security Inc., the processor said on Thursday.

Verifi Inc., a provider of risk-management services for card-not-present merchants, this week announced a partnership with ThreatMetrix Inc. designed to help block online fraud.

Indian consumers in January initiated 20.3 million credit card transactions, down 6.9% from 21.8 million during the same month the previous year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India. Credit card sales volume, however, increased by 5%, to 54.3 billion rupees (US$1.2 billion or 869.3 million euros) from 51.7 billion rupees.

Citigroup Inc. is learning many consumers today do not share its enthusiasm for mobile payments.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' office has banned three lawyers from collecting debts in the state after accusing them of using unfair tactics.

After reporting a charge-off rate for its fiscal first quarter that was below what it expected, Discover Financial Services now expects charge-offs to start to decline this quarter, coming in at between 8% and 8.5%, Discover Chairman and CEO David Nelms told analysts during a conference call yesterday to discuss earnings. The first quarter charge-off rate was 8.51%, up from 6.68% a year earlier and up from 8.43% during the third quarter.

American Express Co. has launched a card-marketing campaign in several major U.S. cities and in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. The company’s goal is to shift the perception that it is a traditional T&E card provider to one whose cards also are accepted at everyday merchants, such as fast-food and drug stores.

Chase Paymentech LLC this week announced plans to extend its offer of fraud-detection services for card-not-present transactions to all of its merchant customers later this year. The Dallas-based processor will integrate Kount Inc.’s fraud-detection services so merchants of all sizes may use them without requiring a separate contract with Boise, Idaho-based Kount.