Demos has published a new report titled "THE PLASTIC SAFETY NET - How Households are Coping in a Fragile Economy" by Tamara Draut and Jose Garcia.

From the abstract:

"While the economic recession continues to threaten the financial security of low- and middle-income households, its effects have been heightened by the reality that, even before the downturn, millions of households were experiencing difficulties meeting the most basic expenses. Now, as families experience declining home values and tightened credit markets, many are falling behind on their mortgage and credit card payments.

The following report shows how skyrocketing costs, dwindling savings, stagnant wages and medical debt have forced low and middle-income families to turn to plastic as the de-facto safety net.

The report is based on a survey conducted between April and August 2008-consisted of 1,205 phone interviews with low- and middle-income households whose incomes fell between 50 percent and 120 percent of local median income; such households comprise roughly half of all households in the country.

Citibank has announced it is expanding its mobile offering for US consumers to smartphones - including most BlackBerrys, Palm devices and iPhones. The bank says that "now, more Citibank customers can access and manage their bank accounts -- anytime and anywhere -- via their smartphone's mobile browser." READ MORE »

TSYS has announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (CUP Data), TSYS’ joint venture with China UnionPay (CUP), has signed five new long-term bankcard processing agreements, and won several major domestic and international awards during the last six months.

"The new agreements include credit card processing contracts with Yaodu Credit Cooperative; Shandong Provincial City Commercial Banks Alliance, an alliance of 14 city commercial banks; Yunan Rural Credit Union and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank. The new agreements also include a prepaid processing contract with KargoCard, a Malaysia-based retail marketing company that will be introducing innovative stored-value and reloadable gift card programs to retail brands and merchants in Asia." READ MORE »

The latest Western Union Payment Services Money Mindset Index defines US consumers’ current money mindset as “cautious optimism” - "as consumers are more effectively managing their spending and expecting the economy to improve. Despite this optimism, respondents have conflicting feelings about the importance of credit scores. Given the current credit lending restrictions, consumers need to become savvier to ensure their credit score does not adversely affect their financial goals." READ MORE »

GE Capital provided a business update on its financial results and outlook earlier today. A webcast replay along with the presentation slides are available online.

Wells Fargo has announced the nationwide availability of its newest online bill pay feature - allowing customers to make “just in time” online bill payments to merchants, such as utility, auto finance and mortgage companies. According to the bank, the new service helps customers avoid missing payments or making late payments. Wells Fargo has teamed up with Western Union to provide the new same-day service. READ MORE »

Javelin Strategy & Research has released a new report - Mobile Person-to-Person Payments: Mounting Telco Activity in a Mobile Channel Segment That Financial Institutions Can’t Afford to Lose - that finds that "financial institutions must act now to implement person-to-person mobile solutions before carriers capture the market."

Javelin says "that conditions are growing ripe for potential widespread consumer use of mobile devices to send payments between one another: smartphones are now used by 17 percent of consumers, mobile banking is used by many, and use of the internet for banking and shopping has been common for years. These are just some of the conditions that have created an increased likelihood that consumers will soon begin to use mobile person-to-person (P2P) transfers." READ MORE »

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