Payments

Consumers’ outstanding credit card debt increased during the third quarter, while the proportion of consumers falling behind on their monthly card-account payments rose for the first time in nearly two years, according to a report TransUnion LLC released Tuesday.

This story has been updated from its original version.

M-via Inc. has rolled out a service called Boom designed to provide immigrants with a low-cost, safe alternative to high-fee funds-transfer services, the mobile-payment network provider announced Nov. 15.

Vendors’ smart card shipments could reach 7 billion next year, up 16.7% from 6 billion this year, fueled primarily by strong smart card growth in Latin America and China, vendor trade group Eurosmart announced Nov. 15 at the Cartes & IDentification conference in Paris.

The Central Bank of Nigeria reportedly is in talks with the Nigerian Postal Services to use of the bank’s branches as outposts to promote mobile payments.

Some credit card issuers may be tempted to loosen underwriting standards this holiday season as credit card loss rates hover at record low levels. But such policy shifts could have more far-reaching implications on issuers’ bottom lines than just a few years ago, one analyst warns.

The Reserve Bank of India has authorized the transferring of funds from ATMs to mobile phones as part of an expansion of the country’s Interbank Mobile Payment Service, India’s central bank announced Nov. 9.

More consumers are accessing their credit card accounts online, but only a small percentage are using mobile applications to do so, new research suggests.

With questions about mobile-wallet use at the point of sale centering on technology, security, payment accounts and software applications, banks should focus on pushing Near Field Communication development to ensure they play a vital role in the future of mobile payments, a new study suggests.

The average consumer credit card charge-off rate among the top U.S. card issuers is nearing a historic low but should begin creeping upward next year, new data Fitch Ratings Inc. released Nov. 9 suggest.

Alternative-payments providers such as PayPal Inc., ProPay Inc., Square Inc. and SparkBase Inc. may be better-positioned than traditional payment card networks to cause the marketplace disruption needed to make mobile payments more mainstream, an Aite Group analyst suggests in a new report.

PayPal Inc. plans to provide a mobile payments system that would enable Chinese game developers on the Android mobile platform to tap new international markets including North America and Europe, the company recently announced.

The burgeoning growth of mobile payments could become the tipping point for proposed national legislation that would force merchants to charge state sales taxes for the first time on many goods and services sold through online channels, a national tax expert tells PaymentsSource.

U.S. consumer interest in using mobile phones to make purchases and in receiving incentives and coupons to shop at retailers has doubled since last year, new research suggests.

After analyzing the mobile-banking offerings of the top 25 retail banks by deposits, Javelin Strategy & Research has declared that JPMorgan Chase & Co. has the best, followed closely by Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp.

HSBC Holdings PLC sought to assure the markets Nov. 9 that modest troubles collecting from borrowers last quarter have not disrupted the pending sale of its U.S. credit cards to Capital One Financial Corp.

A group of U.S. senators on Wednesday introduced legislation that would allow states to cap credit card interest rates, which they say are riding at “extortion” rates for some consumers.

PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia FCU yesterday said it signed with U.S. Bancorp’s Elan Financial Services for credit union-branded Visa credit cards with reward options for consumers and businesses.

Continuing a trend that started last summer, Dwolla Corp. has added two more credit unions that will offer customers easier access to Dwolla mobile-payment accounts through their online-banking programs, the mobile-pay startup announced Nov. 8.

Mobile Money Network has landed a major retailer to participate in the initial phase of a mobile-payment software application launch that will enable United Kingdom consumers to purchase products for home delivery from any location by typing a product code into their phones, the London-based mobile commerce company announced Nov. 4.