As big companies lock horns to bring mobile wallets to the point of sale, smaller companies are focusing on a different opportunity — improving payments in mobile e-commerce.

Fitch Ratings expects personal bankruptcy filings will decline by 11% this year, citing data indicating filings were well below initial expectations in the first half of the year.

Count ATM equipment among the fast-changing technologies in today's payments landscape, as ATM vendors and banks contemplate newer devices that can provide a wider range of services.

Eight members of Congress have launched a sweeping investigation into data brokers - companies that collect, analyze and sell billions of details each year about consumers' online, offline and mobile activities for marketing and other purposes.

Western Union said growth in the Middle East and Asia allowed the company to overcome slowdowns in other countries. Prepaid revenue increased 6% in the second quarter over last year.

A new consumer debt report released Tuesday points to overall improvement but persistent areas of concern such as the number of accounts in collection and credit card spending. America's Debt Report from Bills.com is a review of data for the first half of the year.

Mobile wallet rivals will need to put their differences aside and work together to get the technology off the ground, a recent paper says.

The Education Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) want Congress to make it easier for people to discharge a portion of student debt by filing for bankruptcy protection.

Consumers now may exchange value from 131 merchant gift cards for a virtual currency under a partnership Plastic Jungle has struck with InComm's Zeevex.

U.S. Bancorp has begun offering corporate clients the ability to use virtual account numbers to handle travel expenses.

As smartphones with Near Field Communication become more common, the global market for NFC payments will grow to exceed $180 billion by 2017, a nearly eight-fold increase from $23 billion this year, a new report projects.

Bank of America began offering EMV chip technology for many of its consumer credit cards. It already offers chip-based cards to corporate and commercial customers in the U.S. and Europe.

Last year, Citi began processing check and automated clearing house transactions in order from the lowest dollar amount to the highest, a move that minimizes the potential for overdrafts. Today, it wants to make sure consumers — and perhaps regulators — haven't forgotten.

Isis is seeking independent sales organizations to promote mobile payments to merchants in a test of its mobile wallet this year in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas.

Russia's Neyva Bank has launched a virtual prepaid Visa card that is it issuing through its ATM network. And it completed the task in roughly two weeks.

LATHRUP VILLAGE, Mich. – Michigan First CU said Friday it signed with Corelation to implement the company’s core processing solution, the San Diego-based company’s biggest credit union win so far.

TUKWILA, Wash. – A Russian hacker was arrested last week on charges of attacking Amazon.com and Priceline.com websites and possessing credit card data for more than 28,000 accounts for Boeing Employees CU members.

More cities may be losing their willingness to pay debt obligations, according to Moody’s Investors Service, citing the recent bankruptcies of both Stockton and San Bernardino in California as the latest examples.

Discover Financial Services is launching additional perks to its flagship credit card under the Discover It tagline in a test involving about 10% of the U.S. market, including Chicago.

Many high-tech approaches to payments are short-lived. A lucky few get a second chance to disrupt the market.