Payments

The Federal Reserve Board should use "common sense" when defining "reasonable and proportional" penalty fees under the new credit card law, Pew Charitable Trusts said this week. President Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act last year. The law is taking effect in three phases, the second of which will begin next week.

A ban on illegal cellular towers is causing problems for credit card transactions in the Indian capital city of New Delhi, local newspaper The Times of India reports. Several shops at high-end malls in the city reported credit card failures because of failed authorization calls caused by drops on cellular connectivity.

Monitise Americas LLC is planning to introduce a version of its Mobile Money application for phones that use Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-Card issuers and processors continue to race to comply with the numerous provisions of the soon-to-be-effective CARD Act, but already the specter of more legislation and/or new regulations is raising even more concerns.

CLEARWATER, Fla.-While some have speculated margin pressures on card portfolios will reduce or even eliminate rewards programs, several processors indicate they believe rewards will remain a driver of card usage.

DALLAS-To Mitch Raymond, SVP of products for TNB Card Services, there is little question rewards programs will continue for the foreseeable future because, "rewards cards are so prevalent in the marketplace they are almost expected by consumers." If one issuer does not offer a rewards card, he noted, people are going to get one from another.

DES MOINES, Iowa-Sara Petty, VP of strategic initiatives for The Members Group, said raising point plateaus is just one way to ensure rewards programs continue to create value for issuers. Because rewards are such good differentiators, she said most issuers are ramping up their rewards programs.

DES MOINES, Iowa-Coopera Consulting and TMG (The Members Group), both affiliates of the Iowa CU League, have partnered to provide Affinity CU prepaid reloadable cards to serve the Hispanic market in a pilot program.

SECAUCUS, N.J.-NYCE said it has signed an agreement with Select-a-Branch, giving participants in NYCE's SUM selective ATM surcharging program access to select terminals in SAB's growing network of surcharge-free ATMs.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.-INSIDE Contactless and Dynamic Card Solutions announced a partnership to facilitate the deployment of a new wave of contactless cards, mobile payment stickers and mobile payment peripheral devices.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-The "floor" has dropped from beneath credit card issuers with a surprise rules interpretation by the Federal Reserve, and now the race is on to meet a Feb. 22 deadline.

WASHINGTON-A recent survey commissioned by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and CUNA revealed that, while most consumers (61%) are aware there are new credit card protections, most (65%) don't know they take effect later this month and don't understand the specific protections Congress approved last year.

Under the new law, card issuers must:

A new regulation approved by the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea could slow domestic growth in mobile payments, an official from the regulator confirmed. Under the new policy, all transactions initiated with advanced handsets would be subject to the same security requirements that control online transactions initiated with personal computers.

A small mobile-phone Near Field Communication payment trial is under way in Slovenia designed to test consumer use of MasterCard and Maestro contactless payments, Inside Contactless announced today.

Target Corp. customers now may store gift card data electronically and make payments at the point of sale using their mobile phones.

Financial companies, discovering that people who bank by phone don't always bank online, are changing how they look at mobile services.

Electronic-payment services provider Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., known as NETS, has launched a mobile-payment option for its cashless-payment service iNETS, according to a company statement. The service will enable consumers in Singapore to pay bills, make purchases and book tickets using their mobile phones.

Texas consumers wrote fewer checks for purchases in 2009 compared with the previous year, reaching instead for their debit or credit cards, according to survey results released by Swacha, a not-for-profit regional payments association.

Indian Overseas Bank has launched its first mobile ATM as part of its drive to expand access to the institution’s services, an official from the Chennai, India-based bank tells PaymentsSource.