Payments

CANTON, Ohio-First Ohio Community FCU is focused on credit cards this year to drive lending, and its 3.99% APR Visa balance transfer promo has been a great start-setting a record for the annual campaign.

While many bankers expect Apple Inc. to help bring mobile payments into the mainstream by developing its own system for the iPhone, the consumer electronics giant could also have the same effect with its advertisements.

Zong Inc. said March 17 that its mobile carrier billing service is now available for video game consoles, interactive television services, mobile websites and other channels.

American Express Co. cardholders borrowed less on using their cards in February compared with the two previous months, AmEx reported this week in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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 – 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.

WASHINGTON – Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee took presidential advisor Elizabeth Warren to task yesterday for her role in developing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying her duties amounted to an end-run around congressional confirmation of a director for the new agency.

Many small businesses that do not use mobile bill-payment services are unlikely to use them in the near future, new survey data suggest.

Federal Bank Ltd. has become the latest bank to join the interbank funds-transfer service the National Payments Corp. of India launched last year, a spokesperson for the Kochi-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

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.

Google Inc.’s interest in Near Field Communication technology might be more about advertising than establishing its own payments network, observes one analyst.

U.S. Bancorp will be adding a mobile remote deposit capture service to its mobile banking features, the Minneapolis-based institution announced March 14.

PIERRE, S.D. – 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.

Apple Inc. boasts that its iPhone “changes everything,” but against the expectations of many bankers, it may not be changing payments–at least, not this year.

The Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland Council has begun using AppNinjas Inc.’s Swipe Credit Card Terminal for iPhone to accept credit and debit cards from consumers buying members’ cookies, the organization announced March 9.

U.S. consumer credit card defaults declined again in January, reaching their lowest levels in more than two years as the economy gradually stabilized and more consumers were able to meet their payment obligations, according to new data from Fitch Ratings Inc. and Standard & Poor’s.

Yespay International Ltd. has released its application programming interface specifications that merchants may use to integrate Yespay’s mobile-based services into their point-of-sale systems, the London-based payment-services provider announced on March 11.

Apple Inc. may not be building a contactless payment capability into its next iPhone.

LAKE BLUFF, ILL. — The national median price of overdraft fees has peaked at $28, holding steady for the past seven months, according to a recent study from Moebs $ervices.

WASHINGTON — Congress and the Federal Reserve were subjected last week to a full-court press of support and opposition from all sides related to the Durbin Amendment's potential impact on interchange.