Financial Fraud Action UK, the voice of the industry in the UK for financial fraud matters, (previously known as APACS) has published the latest payment industry fraud losses for the first half of 2009, in conjunction with The UK Cards Association and the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company.

By fraud category, here are the results:

• Card not present - £134m (down 18% vs first half 2008)
• Counterfeit cards - £46.3m (down 48%)
• Lost or stolen cards - £25.1m (down 6%)
• Card ID theft - £23.9m (up 23%)
• Card lost in post - £3.5m (down 33%)
• Total - £232.8m (down 23%)

The fraud to turnover rate on debit and credit cards amounted to 0.1 per cent in the first half of the year – reflecting the fact that around a tenth of a penny is lost to fraud in every £1 spent on cards. READ MORE »

The US House Committee on Financial Services has scheduled a hearing this Thursday on two pieces of legislation: H.R. 2382, the Credit Card Interchange Fees Act of 2009 and H.R. 3639, the Expedited CARD Reform for Consumers Act of 2009. HR 2382 would prohibit interchange differentials between premium and non-premium payment cards, merchant display of prices, etc.

The Center for Responsible Lending has published a new study finding that US banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees last year, an increase of 35 percent from two years earlier. READ MORE »

MasterCard Worldwide has announced that independent gasoline-convenience store retailer Hess will accept MasterCard PayPass at more than 870 company-operated Hess and Hess Express locations along the eastern United States. In addition to traditional magnetic-stripe payment cards, Hess will accept MasterCard PayPass at check-out counters at these locations by early 2010. READ MORE »

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