Paying for a farmer’s fruits or vegetables with a wooden token might seem like a throwback to Colonial America, but it works for lower-income individuals or families eligible for government food-subsidy programs–and for farmers setting up summer markets.

During a downturn, consumers are much more likely to use–and to repay–general-purpose credit cards than retail cards, and pretty much every major retail issuer tried to bail out of the business at some point over the last few years.

It made headlines in Europe, but this week’s announcement that three major telecommunication companies in Germany have joined forces to bypass supporting banks in handling Mpass mobile-payment transactions is a concept not likely to quickly take hold in other countries, one industry observer says.

Eager to exploit new growth opportunities in a sluggish economy, certain payments-industry technology suppliers already are positioning themselves to capitalize on opportunities Visa Inc.’s U.S. EMV chip card initiative may trigger as participants upgrade systems and equipment, observers say.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office reported Tuesday that an agreement is in place with a finance company to clear $3.5 million in debt for nearly one thousand soldiers.

A Texas resident filed a lawsuit against Lockhart, Morris & Montgomery Inc., a Texas-based collection agency, after he received several automated voicemail messages from an employee that did not disclose the messages were an attempt to collect a debt.

VantageScore Solutions LLC, a joint venture of the three credit rating agencies, has prevailed against Fair Isaac Corp. in a lawsuit that alleged antitrust, trademark infringement and false advertising.

RICHMOND, Va. – IMN said Call Federal Credit Union in Richmond, Va., has deployed its Member Adviser e-newsletter program.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Google’s Monday announcement that is plans to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings is expected to lead to a surge in its mobile payment plans, and to have fallout for the broader issue of adoption of mobile payments.

After marching downward for more than a year, the average charge-off rate for U.S. consumer credit cards may show an increase for July because two issuers have reported one-time spikes in card-account defaults, a Moody’s Investors Service analyst tells PaymentsSource.

Kennesaw State University has entered into a partnership with mobile money start-up TreasureCom Financial Holdings Inc. to develop and market banking applications for mobile phones. The school, which is located north of Atlanta, also partnered has with Microsoft Corp. to establish the lab where the mobile applications are developed.

Credit card delinquencies fell to their lowest point in 17 years in the second quarter as consumers remained cautious about taking on more debt and issuers continued their conservative approach to lending, TransUnion Corp. said Aug. 16.

Isis, the telecommunication consortium intent on offering a mobile-payment scheme, is building out a wider range of mobile-wallet capabilities to keep up with its aggressive rival, Google Inc.

Google Inc.’s Aug. 15 announcement of an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings strengthens Google’s position in mobile payments, one observer says.

U.S. consumers continue to show greater discipline in making on-time credit card payments compared with their mortgage payments as part of a phenomenon that began with the most recent recession, new Experian data show.

When Pago Mobile Inc. launched its mobile wallet with 53 merchants in Mountain View, Calif., last week, initial industry reaction focused on the smaller payments-application company venturing into turf more commonly associated with Google Inc. in northern California.

A developer of mobile applications, including children’s games for the iPhone and iPod touch, will pay $50,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the FTC’s COPPA Rule by illegally collecting and disclosing personal information from tens of thousands of children under age 13 without their parents’ prior consent. It is the FTC's first case involving mobile applications, known as apps.

With Google Inc.’s Aug. 15 announcement of an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings, the search giant potentially has turbocharged its mobile-payment plans.

Experian released findings Friday on the credit card and mortgage payment behaviors of consumers both nationally and in the top 30 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).

LAKE MARY, Fla.-The entire arena of emerging payments and online money movement is evolving so quickly that Sam Kilmer is concerned some CUs are paying more attention to keeping pace with competitors rather than preventing fraud via these new delivery channels.