Payments

The credit card industry is inching closer to settling yet another challenge to its controversial interchange system, though the ultimate price banks and networks will have to pay to appease merchants is not yet clear.

Recoveries against bad loans have become a major source of cash for credit card issuers, and hence an increasingly important factor in the industry’s return to pre-recession loss rates.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Coopera, the consulting arm of the Iowa CU League, said eight credit unions have signed on to begin offering the Coopera Card, a reloadable Visa prepaid card built specifically for the Hispanic community.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Pentagon FCU said beginning Feb. 1, all members who use the PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card will earn three points per $1 spent on all their dining purchases, tripling the current rewards.

Last year JPMorgan Chase & Co took New York resident Shady Gergis to court over a few thousand dollars in allegedly unpaid credit card debt.

LAKE BLUFF, Ill.-A debit card fee led to Bank Transfer Day. Now a big jump in bank overdraft pricing could add to the wave of bank customers moving over to credit unions, according to one analyst.

In what could be worrying news for card issuers in Australia, new survey data suggest about 32% of the country’s households last year fell behind financially, which affected their credit card use.

LAKE BLUFF, Ill.-The average number of overdrafts per household fell dramatically in 2011.

A strong holiday shopping season appears to have led some Americans to delay extra debt payments in December, but despite an end-of-year slowdown all 50 states ended the year with less credit card debt than when the year began, according to a recent report issued by CreditKarma.com.

Credit card issuers quietly are testing a variety of new fees to help make up for other fee income wiped out last year when the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act went into effect, one analyst contends.

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – Kinecta FCU is offering members the ability to design their credit cards using a gallery of colorful images or their own photos.

BURTON, Mich.-Five more credit unions have agreed to settle pending civil suits alleging they violated the Electronic Funds Transfer Act's fee disclosure provisions.

An alternative payments company that lets users make electronic payments in cash is planning to quickly expand its user base and merchant clients with the addition of a mobile channel.

Releases of allowances for bad credit card loans continued to plump banks' bottom lines in recent earnings reports, but loss rates look set to bounce off record lows in the first quarter.

City Bank is upgrading its mobile-banking capabilities to compete with larger banks, always a concern for smaller institutions. At the same time, the $1.9 billion-asset bank, which serves a region surrounding Lubbock, Texas, also is experimenting with security applications for mobile devices that shield non-mobile channels.

DALLAS – A New York man has filed a new string of ATM disclosure suits, just as credit unions appear to be getting their hands around another broad swath of suits brought by two Michigan retirees.

LAKE MARY, Fla. – Orange County Public Schools says it has earned about $100,000 in dividends from a three-year-old debit card “MyCFE4Schools” affinity program it has with Central Florida Educators CU.

The world of card acceptance on BlackBerry smartphones has just become more complete.

With Visa debit card spending for online purchases reaching new heights in Europe and the United Kingdom, the timing appears right for consumers to tie those cards to mobile payments.

A startup is attempting to create a mobile-payment system that focuses on digital receipts and rewards. And it leaves payments out of the process.