The Minnesota Department of Commerce has expanded its criminal background check requirements for debt collectors, effective Aug. 1.

The Internal Revenue Service estimates that ID thieves who filed fraudulent tax returns pocketed more than $5 million last year and could steal up to $21 billion over the next five years, Treasury Department investigators reported last week.

A purported holder of a patent on mobile and ATM deposits filed suit against San Diego County CU last week, claiming the credit union's use of the technology is infringing on its patents.

Dean Seifert, SVP of product development and innovation at Vantiv, shared 10 important steps credit unions should consider to maintain, grow and protect their payments business.

Authentication technology provider Natural Security SAS is preparing a global launch of its secure payment card system based on contactless smart card and biometrics technology.

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco FCU and Geezeo will launch a new, free product for credit union members: a personal financial management tool called “The Big Picture” on August 21.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Directions CU has sighed with Andera to implement the company’s oFlows for account opening and lending.

Google added a virtual card option to its mobile wallet this month, and it's far from the first company to realize that virtual accounts can work where conventional cards just don't cut it.

Prepaid provider NetSpend is muscling in on rival Green Dot.

NetSpend said that direct-deposit enrollment, as well as its work with retail partners, helped lift its earnings in the second quarter. It is also raising its fully-year guidance.

Bloggers and tech reporters have been quick to give Visa a swift kick in the pants for the failure of a point-of-sale system at London's Wembley Stadium during Olympic soccer matches this week. But Visa says, and Wembley Stadium has acknowledged, that the breakdown at the stadium occurred on a system that Wembley owns and operates.

As competition heats up for mobile-wallet providers, the various underlying technologies are starting to show whether they have long-term viability.

Long after the 2004 unveiling of the Payment Card Industry data security standard, many merchants remain unaware of it and know little about the threat data thieves pose, says Bill Farmer, CEO of Mako Networks.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Lake Michigan CU said it has successfully launched Online Resources Corp.’s Architect Digital Banking solution, converting nearly 102,000 members to the new platform after a “smooth” implementation.

DEARBORN, Mich. – DFCU Financial has signed with Hyland Software to add the company’s OnBase enterprise content management system.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union has been selected as the winner of a $100,000 CU Extreme Network Makeover, sponsored by Horsetail Technologies and Credit Union Journal.

SCVNGR, the mobile-payments provider behind LevelUp, will use its latest venture-capital infusion to sign up national restaurant chains as it ramps up efforts to expand nationwide.

Higher One, the college-payment processor founded by three Yale students, is seeking a buyer and has contacted private-equity firms, said three people with knowledge of the discussions.

Virtual Piggy has added its online payment system for young shoppers to the osCommerce platform, an open-source e-commerce system.

PROVO, Utah – MoneyDesktop, the provider of the popular online personal financial management solution, announced this morning it has acquired MoneyReef, a Provo-based start-up provider of Reimburse, a mobile budgeting service.