The Internal Revenue Service will stop notifying lenders when a filer's refund will be intercepted to pay for a government debt, according to a report in The Virginian-Pilot.

HSBC Finance Corp. has promoted Patrick “Pat” Burke to CEO of the company’s U.S. consumer finance division. Burke also serves as senior vide president and CEO of HSBC’s credit card and retail business. He succeeds Niall Booker, who was recently promoted to CEO of HSBC North America Holdings Inc.

USAA Federal Savings Bank is shifting mobile banking into high gear by offering auto loans through customers' phones.

SoundBite Communications Inc., a provider of on-demand, multi-channel proactive customer communications, announced it has been selected by two major European financial services providers to deliver proactive customer communications and is ramping two European reseller relationships.

Supported by CardSmith LLC, New England Conservatory this week launched an upgraded multiapplication campus card program that makes the campus virtually cashless, the Doylestown, Pa.-based campus card service provider announced on Aug. 2.

Turkish bank Akbank TAS is hoping to bring contactless mobile payments to its customers through a partnership agreement announced this week with Visa Europe.

Asta Funding Inc., a publicly owned debt buyer, reported net income of $3.1 million for its third quarter ended June 30 as compared to net income of $1.5 million for the year-ago period. Revenues for Q3 were $12.1 million as compared to $17.2 million in the year-ago period.

State Farm Bank is the latest financial services company to offer a remote deposit capture service to its mobile customers.

Plastyc Inc. has revamped its mobile banking website for prepaid card customers.

The Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore, commonly referred to as NETS, and telecommunication operator Nera Telecommunications Ltd. on Aug. 2 launched a contactless smart card payment system for one of Singapore’s private bus networks.

The Australian city of Melbourne on July 25 extended the use of the Myki smartcard transit system to include trams and buses, according to the Transport Ticketing Authority, which operates the contactless card program.

Owners Resource Group, a private equity firm in Austin, Texas, acquired Gila Corp., a large municipal and government debt collector through its Municipal Services Bureau arm, according to a press release.

Lockport, N.Y.-based Cornerstone Community Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union based in Western New York, has introduced a mobile banking service.

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Card Services For Credit Unions announced yesterday it has agreed to offer it credit union members a mobile banking option through MShift.

LOCKPORT, N.Y. – Cornerstone Community FCU, the largest credit union based in Western New York, has introduced a mobile banking service.

A mobile-payments effort seemingly designed to exclude banks may accomplish the exact opposite.

MasterCard Worldwide continues its realignment of top executives, most notably with last week’s announcement of the pending departure of emerging-payments head Josh Peirez and a new executive appointed to lead the card network’s franchise development.

Online-payment service provider PayPal Inc. plans to deploy a new and different approach to target consumers, merchants and developers in its quest to expand in Japan, the payments unit of online auction site eBay Inc. announced in late July.

Experian's latest monthly Business Benchmark Report shows that businesses of all sizes were relatively stable in the first half of 2010, with only slight variations in the average percentage of dollars delinquent and percentage of dollars severely delinquent.

AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile USA are attempting to create a system to bypass credit and debit cards and allow consumers to pay for purchases by smartphones, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.