Payments

ELYRIA, Ohio-When it comes to credit cards, serving a single SEG is a marketing advantage over banks and even community chartered CUs, attests one single-sponsor shop that has the highest credit card penetration among CUs in the country.

NEW YORK-Delinquencies on credit cards have improved and are now at their lowest point since the financial crash of 2008, according to Moodys Investors Services.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-Leveraging the CU's affinity with its membership is one of the most effective ways to drive credit card penetration.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Credit card rewards are ramping up, with some financials making the move at the expense of debit rewards while others simply seek ways to boost lending as the economy recovers. At the same time, many CUs that have sold their card portfolios are now looking to reenter the business.

Combining targeted online marketing with social media, Discover Financial Services will begin paying a $50 bounty during the first week of May for each referral who becomes a cardholder, according to a company executive.

Endeca Technologies Inc. said its Endeca Mobile Commerce system is being used by Sallie Mae's Upromise for mobile rewards.

PayPal Inc. has acquired mobile payments startup Fig Card Corp., the company announced on its blog April 28.

LAS VEGAS – If 7,500 credit unions across the United States would get their members to contact their Congressional representatives, it would “help keep the pressure on” lawmakers and potentially halt implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act.

LAS VEGAS – Nevada Federal Credit Union CEO Brad Beal delivered more than 8,700 member signatures to Harry Reid Thursday afternoon urging a delay in implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act.

Capital Access Network Inc.'s (CAN) Data Services Division reports that the nation’s "Main Street" brick-and-mortar retailers and service providers experienced a 3.09% decline in same store credit and signature debit card sales in Q1 2011 as compared to Q1 2010.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.-Poor service from a credit card service independent sales organization helped convince James McKelvey to co-found Square Inc., the exec told attendees on April 27 at the 23rd annual Card Forum and Expo co-sponsored by PaymentsSource and the American Banker in Miami Beach, Fla.

WASHINGTON — For consumers, convenience and rewards are the most commonly discussed benefits of near field communication for mobile payments. There is also a substantial security benefit, though banks are reluctant to let consumers know.

The opportunity to capitalize on the explosive growth in payments as the industry steadily moves to electronic and mobile platforms is attracting many new players and business models, but the winners ultimately will be those who can leverage payments on a massive scale, according to Citigroup Inc.’s top enterprise executive.

Visa Inc. has invested an undisclosed amount of money in Square Inc., the start-up company that lets merchants accept card payments through a small square-shaped device that plugs into smartphones.

Existing payments-industry giants are at risk of becoming obsolete if they do not begin experimenting soon with new payments technologies and finding innovative partnerships to meet the changing marketplace demands, according to Dan Schulman, group president for enterprise growth at American Express Co.

The average charge-off rate on U.S. consumer credit cards fell in March, resuming its general trend of improvement after a slight uptick in February, and account-delinquencies also declined, according to new data Moody’s Investors Service released April 25.

DEL RIO, Texas – Border FCU has signed with Fifth Third Processing Services for ATM and debit card transaction processing, ATM driving, card production and network gateway access.

American Express Co. is hitting the streets in Eugene, Ore., to promote Serve, its digital wallet for those consumers who are turned off by the elite branding of its main product line.

Square Inc. is making its smartphone magnetic stripe card reader available through Apple Inc.’s stores and website, but the move has left one observer unimpressed.

Many banks' mobile strategies have hinged on getting smartphone applications to market as fast as possible, but now the early adopters are moving on to the next step — making sure those apps live up to consumers' expectations.