Law and regulation

Triggering what may be a potential setback for private-label credit card issuers, the Federal Reserve Board on March 18 finalized a rule clarifying elements of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act that requires issuers to consider only credit card applicants’ individual, not household, incomes.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger's office announced an agreement Thursday that shuts down Eugene, Ore.-based law firm McGavic & Finney PC, which was the subject of dozens of complaints about its collection practices. In addition to closing down the firm, the settlement requires founding partner Derrick E. McGavic to pay $70,000 and surrender his license to practice law.

Representatives for the Philippines credit card industry are expressing worry over a bill that would cap card interest rates.

Consumers doubt they will benefit from lower debit fees, according to a recent survey, even as the Federal Reserve is poised to direct lower interchange charged merchants by credit unions and banks.

The National Payments Corp. of India has informed banks that it will charge remitting institutions 0.1 rupees (0.002 U.S. cents or 0.0015 euros) for every mobile transaction that flows through the interbank funds-transfer service it launched last year, the company announced March 14.

WASHINGTON – Credit union and bank lobbyists hope to convince senators who voted overwhelmingly for last year’s Durbin amendment on debit interchange and may have buyer’s remorse to change their vote and approve a proposed delay.

WASHINGTON—The banking industry saw the first tangible signs of progress March 15 in its fight to overturn the Durbin amendment, as House and Senate lawmakers officially introduced bills that would delay implementation of a plan to restrict interchange fees on debit cards.

Payments-industry representatives rushed to throw support behind legislation introduced March 15 in the U.S. Senate that would delay implementation of new Federal Reserve Board rules that would cap debit interchange beginning this summer.

Certain card issuers grappling with the fallout of new and pending regulations are beginning to recognize that a dramatically different approach to designing payment products may be needed to cope with even more potential regulatory changes ahead.

WASHINGTON – Senator Jon Tester will introduce a bill later today that would delay implementation of the controversial rule on debit interchange for as long as two years while NCUA and bank regulators study its impact on credit unions and community banks, with a similar bill to be introduced later in the House.

A leading consumer group filed a brief in federal court calling for the judge to reject the pleas by credit union and bank groups to block implementation of the Durbin amendment on debit fees, saying consumers will benefit from regulation of the $20 billion-a-year market.

Navigating the regulatory landscape is tough. Legislation can be trendy, quietly beginning in one state then suddenly making its way into statehouses across the country as the media picks up on the public sentiments that first fueled the legislation.

TCF Financial Corp.'s William Cooper is rethinking his long-held belief that economies of scale don't matter in banking.

Consumers sued an estimated 386 different collection agencies and creditors in the Feb. 16-28 period, down from 444 in the first half of the month. The drop, in part, can be attributed to the short month and fewer days in the typical "second half" reviewed by WebRecon, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based research firm that compiles the data from the courts.

WASHINGTON – Senator Dick Durbin insisted yesterday he will fight every effort to delay the pending implementation of his initiative to lower interchange fees paid to credit unions and banks.

WASHINGTON — In a rare show of unity, the leading bank and credit union industry groups filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief on Friday to support TCF Financial Corp.'s lawsuit against implementation of a rule that would limit interchange fees on debit cards.

WASHINGTON — Bankers and other financial executives continued their full-court press to delay pending restrictions on debit interchange fees, even as lawmakers prepared to move forward on plans to delay the new requirements.

The ongoing fight between Square Inc. and rival VeriFone Systems Inc. around payment security highlights the lack of common technical standards for mobile acceptance devices.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Public Interest Group, the leading consumer lobby in Congress, called on the Fed to maintain course and reduce fees on debit transactions while opening the cards market to greater competition.

PHOENIX–Consumer preferences for paying by credit or debit card typically are too deeply entrenched for merchants and banks to succeed easily in steering customers to one or the other option for financial reasons, one banking industry analyst contends.