Credit

DBS Bank has inked a deal with U.S.-based online-payments provider PayPal Inc. in which the bank’s customers will be able to use PayPal to make online purchases, Singapore’s largest bank announced March 17.

USA Technologies Inc. said Thursday that more than 71,000 vending machines and other self-serve systems are now linked to its payments network.

Discover Financial Services is reporting a net loss of $104 million for the fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 28.; the company reported net income of $120 million for the same period a year ago that included approximately $297 million in after-tax income from antitrust settlements with Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide. Included in the past quarter’s earnings was a pre-tax addition to loan-loss reserves of $305 million ($185 million after tax), bringing Discover’s after-tax reserve to approximately $297 million.

American Express Co.'s CEO, Kenneth I. Chenault, reportedly received total compensation of $17.4 million in 2009 as the company grappled with fragile credit markets and the quality of its card loans, and repaid federal aid.

PayPal Inc.'s new iPhone application is more than a payment system — the company is also trying to make it easier for people to use the app as a cash replacement.

The merchant-acquiring deal Discover Financial Services struck this week with Global Payments Inc. to expand acceptance for its Discover and Diners Club cards in Europe and Asia caps a string of similar deals the company has inked over the past year. But it likely will not be Discover’s last such international acquiring deal, Gerard Wagner, Discover vice president of global acceptance, tells PaymentsSource.

First Data Corp. plans to use technology embedded into a digital memory card as the next step in evolving the payment processor’s contactless-payment technology.

In collaboration with the United Kingdom Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the UK Card Association recently announced new “rights” for UK credit cardholders. The changes will take effect by yearend and become part of The Lending Code, a specific rule of the UK government’s Lending Standards Board related to credit card and other loans.

In Japan, Toyama Chihou Tetsudou Inc. on March 14 began issuing a contactless card called Ecomyca that transit riders may use to access all Toyama tram and rail lines. Mutual interoperability also simultaneously began between Ecomyca and Passca, another contactless card issued in 2006 by competitor Toyama Light Rail Co. Ltd., Toyama Chihou Tetsudou says.

Credit card delinquency rates fell again in February, providing further support to the view that loan losses in the sector either have maxed out or will do so soon.

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood's office charged that a Texas couple bilked a Mississippi family out of $13,000 by claiming to be a debt settlement company.

Regulators of Australia's credit card payment system say it is not clear whether more competition or direct regulation would help cut fees, according to a Bloomberg News report.

After eroding amid ballooning job losses, the credit profiles of customer rosters at major card lenders generally have recovered and in some instances have become stronger than at the beginning of the recession as issuers cull the ranks of their customers.

Revolving consumer debt, mostly comprising credit card loans, fell $110 billion, or 12.7%, from an all-time peak in September 2008, to $866 billion in December 2009, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Federal Reserve.

Capital One Financial Corp. today reported lower-than-expected charge-off and delinquency rates on its U.S. credit cards for February, prompting at least one securities firm to suggest credit card charge-offs as a whole may begin to decline during the second quarter.

More than 300 T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants plan to use a payment card security method that masks sensitive transaction data with a numerical token, says Merchant Link, the company providing the TransactionVault service.

International expansion will not benefit every company, and merchant-service providers that want to expand outside the United States should carefully evaluate their business models to determine whether such a strategy is feasible, some observers note.

MasterCard Worldwide today launched an ATM-finder application for Blackberry smartphones, nearly a year after the card brand rolled out the same free downloadable, customizable application for the Apple iPhone.

Capital One Financial Corp. on March 15 introduced a travel card is says offers its richest and most flexible rewards yet, although customers must pay an annual fee to earn maximum rewards.

Visa Inc. soon plans to introduce an online shopping platform providing consumers with one location to manage and store their e-commerce activity. The product, called Rightcliq, will enable consumers to shop online using stored card information, the card brand says.