Economy

Credit cardholders made at least $72 billion more in payments on their credit card accounts than they spent on purchases using their cards between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, underscoring the dramatic effect the recession had on consumer behavior, a new study from TransUnion suggests.

Visa Inc. is overhauling its pricing to spur merchants to route transactions its way and defend a dominant share of the U.S. debit card market, a position endangered by new regulations.

Merchant cash advances, essentially loans that businesses pay back from future card receipts, have survived market saturation, an image crisis and an economic meltdown.

Despite a weak national economy and uncertainty over the debt ceiling, business apparently is booming for independent sales organizations.

Merchant cash advances, essentially loans that businesses pay back from future card receipts, have survived market saturation, an image crisis and an economic meltdown.

Global Payment Inc.’s joint venture in Spain delivered better-than-expected results and helped increase fiscal fourth-quarter revenues 22.3% over the same period last year, the merchant processor’s top executive told analysts during a conference call to discuss the quarter’s earnings.

Cardtronics Inc.’s wholly owned subsidiary Cardtronics USA Inc. has completed its acquisition of EDC ATM Subsidiary LLC and Efmark Deployment I Inc., the ATM independent sales organization announced July 26.

The smartphone market is maturing rapidly, but financial institutions risk getting left behind because a growing number of users consider the channel unsafe for financial transactions.

Suvidha Starnet Pvt. Ltd. will invest more than 5 billion rupees (US$113 million or 80 million euros) to expand the operations of its Beam mobile-wallet service, a sign of the growing confidence in India’s mobile-payments market.

Two-year-old mobile payment startup Dwolla has gone from zero to $1 million per day in transactions.

Strong revenue performance in North America helped boost Global Payments Inc.’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue by 22.3%, to $519.8 million from $425.1 million during the same period last year, the Atlanta-based merchant processor announced July 21.

The CEO of eBay Inc. has thrown some cold water on the industry’s heated discussion of Near Field Communication, suggesting instead that large merchants will resist the unproven technology.

Mobile payments could become as easy as a flick of the wrist as the industry builds the necessary capabilities into wristbands, watches and other accessories not hidden away in wallets or activated through software.

Card-security specialists are bullish regarding mobile Near Field Communication payments adoption in the U.S., a movement that could enable ISOs and agents to sell services to restaurants and to businesses that make deliveries or perform services at consumers’ homes.

An ATM services provider sums up the situation this way: “Don’t be discouraged. There is still ample opportunity within the ATM industry.”

ISOs that want to use social media to get closer to customers might do well to observe the way American Express Co. is addressing its legion of 2 million friends on Facebook.

The biggest trend in merchant acquiring this year is a concentration on developing and selling mobile card acceptance to micromerchants, a new report suggests.

Ingenico SA has struck a deal with a point-of-sale equipment distributor that will help it expand availability of its products in the United States, the French payment-terminal maker announced July 19.

A new patients’ wristband that taps into bank accounts should serve as a reminder to ISOs and agents that they work on the acquiring side of the payments business, not just the card business.

Cashiers now may activate entire packs of cards at once instead of swiping each card individually, courtesy of a service First Data Corp. announced July 11. The technology may offer sales opportunities to ISOs and agents as it moves from large national chains to local retailers, the vendor says.