DES MOINES, Iowa – Premier CU announced yesterday it will add online, mobile and social payments platform Dwolla to its existing member services.

It's a bit of news some might describe as too good to be true. A Javelin Strategy & Research survey of consumers found that the number of identity fraud victims fell 28% last year from about 11 million to eight million and total annual fraud decreased 34% from $56 billion to $37 billion.

Despite naming its product Virtual Wallet, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has decided that its Web-centric bank account should be firmly grounded in the real world.

Western Union Co. has introduced a mobile Web version of its foreign-exchange payment service that enables small and midsize businesses with international ties to conduct transactions using smartphones, the company announced March 2.

ONTARIO, Calif. – Financial Service Centers Cooperative and CU Wireless, a CUSO owned by MaPS CU, have launched a service offering mobile text banking capability to members of all credit unions affiliated with the shared branching network.

As it looks to generate more revenue and to enable issuers of its cards to better analyze their customers’ transactions, MasterCard Worldwide is exploring ways to secure more volume for its processing switch from cards carrying the network’s brand, especially outside the U.S., Chris McWilton, MasterCard president of U.S. Markets, said during a March 1 presentation.

With fewer credit cards in their wallets after the recession, U.S. consumers are tapping more of the total credit lines available on the cards they do have while racking up less overall debt than they were a year ago, according to data Experian released March 2.

Dwolla, a low-cost mobile-payments provider, has launched of what it is calling the first location-based payment technology, which will enable users to check in at various retailers and use their mobile phones to pay for purchases, the company. announced March 2.

DES MOINES – Dwolla, the low-cost mobile payments provider, announced today the launch of what it is calling the first location-based payment technology, which will allows user to check in at various retailers and use their mobile phones to pay for purchases. The payments start-up, financed by credit unions, says its Dwolla Spots allows users to walk into a store with an iPhone, pull up a map on the phone and click on a participating store's icon and make a payment for a purchase using the phone. The purchase is posted immediately on a computer located in the store. No cash, check or card swipe is needed, eliminating the merchant's cost for hardware, card readers or expensive credit card networks. The payments will cost consumers 25 cents per transaction. Dwolla Spots is exclusive to the Apple iOS and will be released later this month in the Apple App Store. Updates to the Android and Windows 7 versions will debut later this spring. Dwolla is partially financed by The Members Group, an affiliate of the Iowa CU League, and Veridien CU.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve are reviewing proposed amendments to the Risk-Based Pricing Rule requiring creditors, as of July 21, 2011, to disclose credit score information to consumers when a score is used in setting or adjusting credit terms.

Small-business owners complain that it's tougher to get loans from banks these days. But now, thanks to a new Small Business Administration program, some won't need banks at all. They will be able to get government-guaranteed loans directly from nonprofits that specialize in economic development.

Axis Bank Ltd. has begun offering a service that allows customers to make income-tax payments at its ATMs in India, becoming the country’s first private-sector bank to do so.

Following a recent report on Missouri's "top scams" by the state's Attorney General Chris Koster, the Missouri Collectors Association issued a statement to clarify that debt collection is a legitimate, legal activity governed by federal and Missouri law.

Signals are mounting that consumer credit card borrowing will begin to grow again this year after going into a decline at the start of the recession in fall 2008. But it will be at least a few more months until that trend is solid, according to economists at Moody’s Investors Service.

Fiserv Inc. announced three acquisitions this week, including its long-time partner for mobile banking.

Fifth Third Bancorp is enhancing its mobile-banking service using technology from ClairMail Inc. designed to improve customers’ ability to access and manage their accounts from smartphones, San Rafael, Calif.-based ClairMail announced Feb. 24.

BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- Fiserv said this morning it agreed to acquire M-Com, an Atlanta-based provider of mobile banking services for credit unions and banks. The two companies have been partners since 2008, developing and delivering a service called Mobile Money from Fiserv to financial institutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Fiserv also said it has agreed to acquire Credit Union On-Line, a Waltham, Mass., CUSO that that runs an outsourced version of an account-processing solution from Fiserv. The CUSO is co-owned by CEO Connie Boretti and RTN Federal CU and Medical Area FCU.

Visa Inc. has completed its acquisition of the online payments company Inc., the card brand announced March 1.

Tyfone Inc. is partnering with smartphone-accessory company Dexim Inc. to offer a sleeve that attaches to Apple Inc.’s iPhone to support contactless payments worldwide using Tyfone’s SideTap microSD chip technology, the companies announced Feb. 28.

Fiserv Inc. has purchased Mobile Commerce Ltd., a provider of mobile banking and payments technology, the Brookfield, Wis.-based banking-technology company announced March 1.