New research titled "Credit Cards 2.0: Smaller Balances and Tighter Margins" from TowerGroup predicts that "the ripple effect of the economic downturn will significantly impair balance growth for the credit card industry through 2010 and that modest growth will resume only in 2011. TowerGroup finds that the payment rate of US credit cardholders declined below 15% through the end of May 2009, a rate last seen in 2002, and attributes the decline mainly to increased unemployment rates." READ MORE »

Western Union and Fifth Third Bank have announced an agreement to offer the Western Union global money-transfer service at Fifth Third’s more than 1,300 banking center locations in 12 states. The Western Union global money-transfer service, a new service offering for Fifth Third accountholders and walk-in consumers, will be available in the next several months. READ MORE »

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