Credit

Total System Services Inc. plans to use mobile phones to gain a larger foothold in micropayments, Ashim Banerjee, the U.S.-based transaction processor’s chief information officer for TSYS Acquiring Solutions, tells PaymentsSource.

The Federal Reserve Board finalized a rule on Tuesday that is designed to protect consumers from credit card fees and interest rates that jump suddenly.

At least 22 million adults in the United Kingdom, or 53% of the country’s 41.4 million regular Internet users, banked online in 2009, according to Financial Fraud Action UK, a trade group for the payments industry. Last year represented the first time the percentage of UK online-banking users exceeded 50% of regular Internet users, the trade group said Tuesday.

Inside Contactless is working with another France-based contactless-technology firm to develop kiosks and electronic wallets that use Near Field Communication, an Inside spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.

Financial regulators in Brunei have set restrictions on how small the amounts credit card issuers can set for monthly repayment of credit card debts, according to a directive from the country’s Ministry of Finance. Cardholder incomes also now will determine credit card spending limits, the directive states.

Financial regulators in New Zealand are keeping a close watch on surcharges that some retailers have started to impose for credit card transactions.

U.S. card issuers continually modify their rewards programs to meet consumer demands in hopes of recruiting or retaining customers. In one of the more unusual moves, American Express Co. this week announced that participants in its Membership Rewards program may use their points to pay taxes.

MasterCard Worldwide today announced the availability of a merchant data service called MasterCard Advisors Merchant Solutions.

Total online transactions and spending volume in the U.S. rose again during the recent holiday shopping season compared with a year earlier, while the average transaction amount fell for the second consecutive year, according to new data Chase Paymentech released Jan. 12.

The results of a pilot Discover Financial Services recently completed of its Zip contactless-payment sticker suggest consumers are eager to use contactless stickers for routine payments as a bridge before Near Field Communication-equipped mobile handsets are available on a mass scale, Discover says.

Beaverton, Ore.-based First Tech Credit Union is warning its members of a new malicious banking application it discovered that apparently is designed to steal online banking account details on Google's new Android cellphones.

U.S. Bancorp's merchant acquiring unit, Elavon, has started a hosted payment gateway it calls Fusebox.

U.S. revolving credit, 98% of which is credit card debt, fell to $874 billion in November from a revised total of $887.7 billion in October, the largest dollar-value drop since records began in 1968, according to a Federal Reserve G.19 report on consumer credit released Friday.

Gemalto has increased its capital investment to become the majority shareholder in mobile-payments firm Netsize, the company announced Tuesday. Amstercam-based Gemalto has an option to buy the company at a later date, but it did not disclose terms of the transaction.

The fee structure of eBay Inc.’s Bill Me Later instant credit service might violate a consumer-protection law in California, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP alleges. The Seattle-based law firm last week said it filed a lawsuit against the San Jose, Calif.-based company on behalf of consumers and is seeking class-action status.

Mophie, a Paw Paw, Mich.-based provider of technology accessory products such as smartphone batteries, last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas unveiled details regarding its payment card reader for Apple Inc.’s iPhone (see story) , according OhGizmo.com, a technology blog.

Two point-of-sale terminal makers on Jan. 11 announced product updates. Ingenico S.A. says its new iSC350 payment terminal can display full-motion video on its consumer-facing screen with stereo sound.

Taiwan had 30.7 million credit cards in circulation as of Nov. 30, down 10.2% from 34.2 million at the same point last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Commission of Taiwan. Of those cards, 18.8 million were active, down 4.1% from 19.6 million, the commission says. Revolving balances as of Nov. 30 stood at NT$210 billion (US$6.5 billion or 4.5 billion euros), down 18.7% from NT$258.2 billion a year earlier.

Many credit card customers say extra features such as zero liability for fraudulent charges, emergency card replacement, free identity-theft management tools, and reimbursement for stolen or damaged items are important.

Warning that the weak U.S. economy will continue to drag down consumer spending this year, Wells Fargo & Co. issued a blanket downgrade of the transaction processing segment.