Credit

United San Antonio Community Federal Credit Union has seen its cardholder base grow by 58%, to 3,250 from 2,049, and card balances have increased 89%, to $12.3 million from $6.5 million, since the credit union began in-branch marketing with TNB Card Services Inc. at its six branches in 2007.

Some bus passengers in the Vietnamese capital of Ho Chi Minh City soon will be able to pay their fares using a contactless smart card as part of test of the technology, an official from the city’s transport authority tells PaymentsSource.

Indian Overseas Bank has launched its first mobile ATM as part of its drive to expand access to the institution’s services, an official from the Chennai, India-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Household balance sheets may be in shambles, and lenders badly wounded by the banking crisis, but, compared with some previous downturns, the recent contraction in consumer credit appears to have been middling so far.

Visa Inc.'s profits jumped by a third in its fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, and use of the company's debit and credit cards picked up in the U.S.

Western Union Co., the world's biggest money-transfer business, has reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell, and it forecast little or no revenue growth for 2010.

Consumers are continuing to place a higher priority on making their credit card payments than their mortgage payments, affirming a trend that began with the recession, according to a new data TransUnion released this week.

Card readers that attach to mobile phones suddenly have become a hot industry topic, and HomeATM ePayment Solutions is about to throw its own device into the mix, PaymentsSource has learned.

American Payment Systems increased compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard among its roughly 1,200 merchant clients to 48% currently from roughly 10% Oct. 1 with a phone-call campaign, according to the Omaha, Neb.-based independent sales organization.

WASHINGTON — Calling proposals that would require lenders to retain a portion of the loans they securitize "imprecise" and "indirect," Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said Tuesday that policymakers should focus on tougher underwriting standards.

Capital One Financial Corp.'s credit card business is "showing the greatest profitability because of lower provisioning," Chief Financial Officer Gary Perlin said during a webcast Tuesday of the Morgan Stanley financial services conference, reports Dow Jones.

Gemalto NV said Tuesday that it would provide chip cards to BNP Paribas SA in France and Belgium, expanding an existing relationship.

U.S. Bancorp's merchant acquiring operations are getting into Mexico on the ground floor.

Watch for healthier credit and debit sales volumes when Visa Inc. tomorrow reports its most recent quarterly data, with MasterCard to follow on Thursday, one analyst says.

Some payments organizations want the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to clarify aspects of a law that takes effect next January requiring acquirers to report merchant credit and debit card transactions to the IRS, and they want penalty fees mitigated in the early stages of enforcement, according to comments submitted to the government agencies.

JetPay LLC, a Carrollton, Texas-based payment processor, says it has won a trademark-infringement issue involving its Web site address, www.jetpay.com.

I&M Bank has become the first financial institution in Kenya to enable merchants to accept Visa cards for the purchase goods and services online, an official from the Nairobi-based banks tells PaymentsSource.

Not all marketing tactics merchant-service providers use are equally effective at piquing merchants’ interest, some observers note. Independent sales organizations often go through multiple marketing techniques to determine which ones are less effective.

Smart Communications Inc. has signed a mobile-payments deal with Central Negros Electric Cooperative Inc., the Philippines-based company announced on Jan. 31.

Visa Inc. is making a big Olympic advertising push at the Grand Central Terminal in New York. The company today announced the launch of a month-long campaign at the train station featuring three-dimensional video and static images in the station’s subway corridor using its “Go World” theme focusing on Olympic achievement.