Officials in New York on Thursday announced charges against seven members of an identity theft ring that stole more than 180 consumers' credit accounts at retailers including Sears, Kmart, Kohl's, Home Depot to receive more than $1 million in merchandise, store credits and gift cards.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer card and other debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments.

To the editor:

Three data-security and payment processors have linked technologies to create a cloud-based advanced encryption payment system designed to protect payment card data and provide storage away from Columbia Sportswear Co. point-of-sale terminals.

In emerging markets, mobile devices have become more than a default channel to deliver rudimentary services to unbanked consumers. Improvements in handset capabilities and the expansion of the mobile-money model demonstrate a mature, diverse market and one that attracted IBM to make major inroads with a number of banks across Africa in just the past couple of months.

A Canadian software provider is the first of many middleware companies that PayPal Inc. says will be key to bringing its online payment system to the physical point of sale.

Fresh questions about credit card issuers’ mobile-payments strategies are likely to surface starting later this week as major card-issuing banks release their 2011 fourth-quarter earnings, beginning with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Jan. 13.

Two community banks recently have implemented products, including mobile check capture and a rewards application, from Malauzai Software Inc.

Passengers on the Indian Railways, the world’s second-largest rail network, now may use their mobile phones to book their tickets through a new offering from the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp.

Verizon Wireless expects to increase customer throughput through an agreement to deploy Rover, AnywhereCommerce's device designed to alleviate the need for customers to wait in checkout lines.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer card and other debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments.

The use of barcode readers as a transaction and marketing tool¬–a mobile-commerce method popularized by early movers such as Starbucks Inc.¬–is getting a shot in the arm from a new American Express Co. partnership.

The number of companies caught in data breaches exposing consumers' credit, debit and bank account numbers is growing, but the best way to make amends to customers is not yet clear.

With mobile-payment options available for New York taxi, subway or train riders, it was only a matter of time before the city’s ferry boats offered a similar plan.

Visa Inc.’s certifications of various smartphones to support its payWave contactless payments helps to free up a major obstacle to development of a mobile-payment acceptance at the point of sale.

Intuit Inc. is taking GoPayment north to Canada as the company looks to move the mobile card reader and application to countries outside the U.S.

Though Facebook members generally reveal much about their private lives in what amounts to an open forum when posting information on the social media site, they are not as trusting when it comes to spending money on the site.

Intel Corp. is using an authentication system from SecureKey Technologies Inc. in its Ultrabook computers.

Acquirers may be wrong if they believe they can coerce small merchants into complying with security standards by charging them fees.

It appears it might take at least a few more painful payment-terminal tampering breaches like those Lucky Supermarkets and Michaels Stores Inc. experienced last year before U.S. merchants and card issuers take action to support EMV chip cards.