Payments

Steve Geringer is offering a second time at bat for mobile payment technology that struck out: sound innovation that didn't match business realities.

Fewer than half of all cardholders have a private-label credit card, but those who do are more likely to routinely carry a balance on their various cards than are consumers who rely only on general-purpose cards, new data from Auriemma Consulting Group suggest.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio – Diebold FCU said it is offering a new service provided by its corporate sponsor, Diebold Inc., aimed at preventing unauthorized use of debit and ATM cards.

Sovereign Bank is taking its credit card operations in house.

United Kingdom consumers are becoming more comfortable using contactless payments as banks such as Barclays PLC push the technology. But users of contactless payment want to see more retailer acceptance of the technology, new survey data suggest.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Sonoma County Grange CU has signed a card processing deal with Vantiv, formerly Fifth Third Processing Solutions.

More than half of U.S. consumers use at least two credit or debit cards each month for online purchases, and many are wary of the potential for fraud associated with online banking, a study security-software vendor AVG Technologies USA Inc. released Sept. 1 suggests.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – St. Mary’s Bank has signed with CO-OP Financial Services for debit card program management and payment processing services.

Adaptive Payments is entering an already crowded mobile-payment acceptance market with a device that enables merchants to accept PIN-debit transactions on smartphones using a method similar to the company’s e-commerce operation.

Germany’s largest rail system soon will finish a three-year mobile-payments test at its stations and officially offer all passengers the ability to pay for tickets using mobile phones.

In a move exemplifying efforts to move more cash and check payments to credit and debit cards, a national social network of babysitters and parents called SitterPals.com has signed up to use Square Inc.’s service to accept credit card payments for their services, the company announced Aug. 31.

Fiserv has re-branded its Mobile Money and the BankAnywhere mobile-banking products it gained when it acquired Mobile Commerce Ltd. re-naming all the programs Mobiliti.

TREVOSE, Penn. – TruMark Financial CU has launched “Customize My Card,” a card customization service powered by the technology of Serverside Group.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue FCU launched a new way for the community to show school spirit for their favorite high school with custom, student-designed debit cards for four area high schools.

In announcing during the past week a deal to provide terminals capable of accepting mobile payments at hypermarkets in the Czech Republic and the acquisition of a terminal-servicing company in Italy, Ingenico SA flexed its muscles in the wake of the recent acquisition by VeriFone Systems Inc. of most of Hypercom Corp.’s non-U.S. assets, an industry analyst says.

U.S. Bancorp, one of the first financial institutions to offer mobile fraud alerts to credit card customers three years ago, has expanded its alert program to ATM and debit card holders.

The wireless carriers involved in mobile-payments venture Isis reportedly plan to invest more than $100 million into the project.

The average U.S. bankcard charge-off rate dropped sharply in June, registering the second-largest monthly decline since the Bankruptcy Reform Act took effect in 2005, according to the latest data from Fitch Ratings Inc.

Alternative payments provider Dwolla Corp. is adding to its software a feature that locates fellow Dwolla users who are nearby.

UniRush LLC is following the lead of other prepaid card providers and has released a free smartphone application cardholders may use to check their balances and review transaction and funds-transfer histories.