Credit

Target Corp. has begun delivering coupons to customers' mobile phones.

Card-not-present fraud in the United Kingdom declined by an estimated 15% last year, to 278 million British pounds (US$416 million or 304 million euros) from 328 pounds (US$490 million or 359 million euros) the previous year, reports Retail Decisions PLC.

China Mobile plans to purchase a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank for 39.8 billion yuan (US$5.7 billion or 4.2 billion euros) as part of its plans to develop a mobile-payment system in the country, China Mobile announced on March 10.

One of the world’s largest trials of Near Field Communication payments, which Citigroup Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide launched last year in India, provided a glimpse into the challenges of incorporating merchant-sponsored product discounts and coupons within mobile payments.

Tack a $35 overdraft fee on to a $5 debit purchase at Starbucks enough times, and the cost really starts to add up — and not just for the unsuspecting caffeine addict stuck with the tab.

U.S. consumer credit card debt inched higher again for data released in February, but the average credit score remained the same as the previous month at 669, according to a March 10 report from Credit Karma Inc., a San Francisco-based company whose Web site tracks credit scores.

The South Korean Fair Trade Commission is urging card companies in that country to allow their cardholders to earn reward points on purchases made overseas, according to a statement issued by the antitrust group.

WorldNet, an Ireland-based online payment gateway, says its virtual payment-terminal application released this week for Apple Inc.’s iPhone is the company’s first, and it plans to add chip-and-PIN capability to the software in later versions.

Allied Banking Corp. has signed an agreement with card company China UnionPay to launch a credit card, the Philippines-based bank announced recently. The bank plans to promote the UnionPay-branded card to the roughly 1 million Filipinos who travel to the Chinese mainland every year.

Regent Asset Management Solutions, a Denver collection agency, said Monday that it plans to hire 1,200 people in the next five years after expanding to a new call center in Overland Park, Kan.

Merchant Warehouse Inc. says its mobile payment-acceptance software for smartphones now works with devices using Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile and Google Inc.’s Android operating systems. The additional phones extend MerchantWare Mobile’s potential coverage to approximately 90% of the smartphones sold in the United States, according to the Boston-based independent sales organization.

Cirro Energy this week announced the launch of a credit card-acceptance initiative designed for small and midsize businesses in Texas. Under the initiative, the subsidiary of Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources Inc. is enabling the companies to pay their electric bills using cards carrying the Visa or MasterCard brands.

The Financial Services Commission of Korea is conducting an investigation of certain universities domestically that do not accept credit cards for the payment of tuition fees, local media are reporting.

ABN Amro Bank NV has cut the spending limits for some of its credit card customers to a tenth of the previous limits, reports local newspaper The Times of India, which also says the bank has raised the minimum monthly payment amount to 7% of the outstanding balance from 5% previously.

Barclays Bank of Kenya has launched a Visa-branded credit card called Beba sasa na Barclaycard that enables cardholders to pay off their card debt in equal monthly installments over 12, 24 or 36 months instead of through lump sums or minimum monthly payments, an official from the Nairobi-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

The settlement order imposes a $226,794 judgment that will be suspended once the defendants pay $20,000. The full judgment will be due immediately if it is found that the defendants misrepresented their financial condition.

Credit Bureau Collection Services, a Columbus, Ohio collection agency, will pay a civil fine of $1.1 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal law by inaccurately reporting credit information and pushing consumers to pay debts they often did not owe, FTC officials said today.

CRE Secure Payments LLC last week announced a partnership with PayPal Inc. in which CRE Secure will offer its HTML Clone as PayPal’s preferred Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard compliance service for merchants using PayPal’s Payments Pro and PayFlow Pro payment tools.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is continuing to revamp its credit card program by resurrecting a rich, and now rare, cash-back reward — with a new, seasonal twist.

Blackboard Inc., a technology company that caters to education facilities, last week announced the availability of a university identification card that uses contactless technology to enable payments and building access.