POS and Retail

WASHINGTON — Although Senate leaders have confirmed they will allow a floor vote soon on delaying interchange fee restrictions, the timing, outcome and vehicle for suspending the proposed cap are still anyone's guesses.

Dramatic reductions in credit card bad-debt and total expenses, plus gains in customer use of private-label cards within its stores driven by a 5% rewards discount launched in October, helped boost fiscal first quarter profitability within Target Corp.’s Credit Card segment.

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to hold a vote on a proposal to delay the cap on debit fees, even as the Senate leader says he is opposed to the delay.

Police in Oakland, Calif., shut down an alleged identity theft operation that involved potentially thousands of Bay Area victims, The Oakland Tribune reported Monday.

Hoping to capture a greater share of the burgeoning and highly competitive market involving young Hispanic consumers, Western Union Co. is partnering with leading Hispanic-content broadcaster Telemundo Communications Group LLC to promote two MasterCard-branded reloadable prepaid cards.

MasterCard Worldwide on May 16 launched a national marketing campaign to support enhanced features of its World Elite premium credit card as the card company continues to target the affluent consumer market, which tends to have high spend on credit cards and favors cards with travel and experiential rewards.

Consumers use debit cards more often than other payment options at the point of sale, but their use of cash is not far behind, suggesting that they continue to monitor spending to stay within their budgets, new research shows.

Consumers use debit cards more often than other payment options at the point of sale, but their use of cash is not far behind, suggesting that they continue to monitor spending to stay within their budgets, new research shows.

Credit unions and banks urged a federal appeals court in Sioux Falls, S.D., to act quickly to block the Federal Reserve’s implementation of debit card caps, which they insist will break thousands of credit unions or banks.

VeriFone Systems Inc.’s Paymedia add-on now enables gas stations to present advertising on their pumps’ screens, the terminal maker announced May 16.

Less than a month after introducing a 5% everyday discount on all private-label credit card purchases, Lowe’s Cos. on May 16 said the program is helping to shift certain sales from bankcards to its proprietary card.

Global shipments of handsets with Near Field Communication technology should increase to nearly 550 million units by 2015, helped by the decision earlier this month by three major U.S. wireless carriers to partner with leading credit card companies on a mobile-commerce initiative, according to new IHS iSuppli research.

Many small businesses in 2010 were hit particularly hard by fraud-related costs, suggesting financial institutions should do more to educate their small-business clients on fraud-prevention strategies, new research suggests.

Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade Ltd. will work with Saigon Fuel Joint Stock Co. to provide prepaid fuel payment card services, a spokesperson for the bank tells PaymentsSource.

Improved foreign-exchange rates and higher fuel prices helped improve the first quarter performance at fleet card provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc.

Seeing an opportunity from consumers who have unspent gift cards, ChargeSmart Inc. is working with gift card exchange firm Plastic Jungle Inc. to enable its customers to use value left in proprietary merchant gift card accounts to pay bills from its website, Tim Brinkman, the online consumer bill payment company’s CEO, tells PaymentsSource.

Credit card terms have not changed much in the past year, despite some concerns that issuers would hike interest rates and fees on new accounts to offset the effects of restrictions imposed last year under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, according to new data from The Pew Health Group.

SAN DIEGO–Mobile payments actually could increase the use of cards instead of replacing them with phones, an analyst said May 11 during a panel discussion on the future of merchant acquiring here at the Electronic Transactions Association’s Annual Meeting & Expo.

PIN-pad tampering at Michaels Stores Inc. occurred over a three-month period and so far has affected “fewer than 100” customers’ debit card accounts, but credit card data also may have been exposed, the retailer said May 13.

VeriFone Systems Inc. and Hypercom Corp. are considering the sale of Hypercom's U.S. point-of-sale terminal business to an "alternative buyer" in response to an antitrust lawsuit the U.S. Justice Department filed against the companies May 12.