Marc Songini reports for Computerworld about retailer comments about PCI-DSS at this week's annual ERIexchange retail event in Boston where they complained about having to " carry an unfair burden in securing credit card data."

HSBC Finance Corporation’s card and retail services business and CVS/pharmacy have announced they have entered into an agreement to offer a new CVS-branded Tempo Payment Network loyalty rewards payment card. Planned for a mid-2007 pilot launch at the retailer’s 141 Indianapolis-area stores, the CVS ExtraCare Plus card will provide CVS/pharmacy customers with a convenient and secure multipurpose rewards and payment solution that links the cardholder’s existing checking account to their existing ExtraCare account.   » Continue Reading

Earlier today, the US House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing on the subject of "Improving Credit Card Consumer Protection: Recent Industry and Regulatory Initiatives". To make it easy for you to review today's testimony from both the financial regulators as well as the industry participants, we've put together a zipped archive of all of today's testimony. It makes for great "airplane reading".

The Federal Reserve's latest G.19 report on Consumer Credit in the US reports that revolving credit outstanding declined at an annual rate 0f -0.5% during April to $887.2 billion.

Citibank has announced a new electronic deposit service for its commercial business clients, Citibank Remote Check Deposit, that allows them to deposit checks into their bank accounts without taking them to a branch or mailing in the items.   » Continue Reading

In a Chicago Fed Letter titled "Are Mobile Payments the Smart Cards of the Aughts?" (PDF), research specialist Katy Jacob compares the much anticipated but ultimately stalled smart card revolution of the 1990s with the current expansion of mobile payment platforms, and asks how mobile payments fit into the larger payment system.

In an article titled 'Rewards Cards Can Also Provide Problems", the AP's Eileen Alt Powell reports that, while rewards cards are growing in popularity, they're often complicated to understand, may be burdened with fees, and subject to issuers changing the rules at any time.

The PULSE EFT Association has launched its annual nationwide effort encouraging consumers to review and practice safety tips when using their ATM/debit cards. New to the network’s ATM/Debit Card Safety Awareness Month campaign this June is an increased focus on privacy and fraud protection.   » Continue Reading

Celent has published a new report titled "State of Remote Deposit Capture: Entering the Mainstream" saying that , among financial institutions, RDC adoption has been astonishing—even faster than the Internet banking gold rush. In just two years, nearly a third of all US banks have adopted RDC solutions. Over 2,900 financial institutions have implemented (or are implementing) RDC through March 2007, corresponding to some 112,000 scanners. Based on aggregate vendor activity, Celent expects over 4,000 institutions will have solutions deploying nearly 250,000 devices by year end 2007.

The US House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit is holding a hearing today on the subject of "Improving Credit Card Consumer Protection: Recent Industry and Regulatory Initiatives". The subcommittee will hear from card issuers, consumer groups, and regulators. Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) said the hearing "will examine recent industry and regulatory initiatives, including the Federal Reserve’s recent revision of Reg Z, to help identify ways to improve credit protections for consumers." Separately, Consumer Union issued a press release this morning titled "Bank of America's Education Campaign Can't Repair Harm From Excessive Fees" in which it said "Bank of America's new campaign to simplify its disclosures of bank and credit card fees fails to mitigate the burden of excessive penalties imposed on customers."

Financial Services Centers of America (FiSCA), a trade association representing more than 6,500 neighborhood financial service providers, has announced that more than 63,000 FiSCA customers have opened savings accounts through the NetSpend National Saving Program. This savings program offers an interest-bearing, federally-insured savings account linked to a NetSpend prepaid Visa/MasterCard debit card.   » Continue Reading

GE Money and Yahoo! Telemundo have announced the launch of ‘Soluciones Financieras’, an online financial education solution that features Spanish-language personal finance tools and information designed to empower Hispanics to succeed in their financial lives. According to the two companies, "U.S. Hispanics are projected to spend over $926 billion this year; however, research shows they have less understanding and experience managing personal financial matters compared to the average non-Hispanic consumer."   » Continue Reading

Here's the web site for Wal-Mart's MoneyCard, a Visa Prepaid debit card. The web site indicates the card is issued by GE Money Bank with card services being provided by Green Dot. Kathy Chu and Jayne O'Donnell write about the product in today's USA Today.

• MasterCard Announces Annual Meeting Results
• Improvement Direct Builds Loyalty and Repeat Sales with I4 Commerce’s Private Label Program
• American Express Offers Extra Savings on Best Available Hotel Rates This Summer with Purchase of $500 of Travelers Cheques
• SVPCO: Monthly Check Image Items Exceed 200 Million for First Time
• Welcome Real-Time Partners With AXA Private Equity
• Lucky ATM Customer Wins a Year's Worth of Free Gas
• China: HSBC, Citigroup set for debit card debut
• Alliance Data's Canadian Loyalty Business Signs Multi-Year Agreement With Leading Insurance Company
• Harvard Crimson: American Express CEO Addresses HBS Grads