Chase Card Services has announced that "effective June 1, all purchases made with the United MileagePlus® Explorer Card outside of the U.S. will no longer be subject to foreign transaction fees."

United MileagePlus Explorer cardmembers travel to a variety of destinations around the world,” said David Gold, general manager, Chase Card Services. “The MileagePlus Explorer Card offers a host of benefits designed to make traveling the globe much more enjoyable. With the enhancement of no foreign transaction fees, we can now provide cardmembers tangible savings when traveling outside the U.S.”

On Twitter:

Proud to be working with Google --> "Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants to Braintree" pandodaily.com/2013/05/20/goo…

— William Ready (@williamready) May 20, 2013

On the web:

• Square will challenge PayPal with its own peer-to-peer cash service - GigaOm - "We reached out to Square to get more details on the mysterious service, but the company isn’t revealing any more details for now."
• Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants into Braintree’s arms - PandoDaily - "For customers without their own way to process payments in-house, Google has partnered with Braintree, Shopify, and Freshbooks to offer discounted migration programs."
• Email Money to Friends With Square Cash (But Only if You Work For Twitter, Pinterest or Box) - AllThingsD - "Ultimately, this could be a faster way of getting more people to link up their checking accounts to Square’s service…"
• Bitcoin 2013 in review - CoinDesk - "The more than 1,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts who converged on San Jose were an impassioned bunch — some fired with the excitement of getting in on something big the ground floor…"
• ATM Cash-Outs: A Major Escalation - Portals and Rails - "This highly sophisticated and coordinated attack is a game changer for the security controls of all types of card management applications." Google I/O payment announcements: is a revolution with no insurgency possible? - TekFin (Yann Ranchere) - "The more interesting announcement was in my view Google Instant Buy…"
• How Amazon's Rising Headwaters Could Threaten Google - ReadWrite - "I’m convinced the day will come — sooner rather than later — when Amazon unleashes its data and announces itself as an advertising powerhouse."
• Google takes lessons from PayPal, Apple’s Passbook to drive mobile wallet adoption - Mobile Commerce Daily - "Google Wallet Objects is similar to Apple’s Passbook in that it enables developers to integrate their loyalty programs and offers into Google Wallet…"
• Apple retail revenues per visitor reach new record - Asymco - "In the US, on a sales per square foot basis, Apple retail continues to perform twice as well as Tiffany & Co…"
• NFC mobile payments – fixing the big issues - Mobile News - "The widespread introduction of NFC-based mobile payments could be delayed for years as retailers, operators and finance firms continue to disagree on how best to implement the system and the logistics of making payments."
• Mobile Payment Startup Payvia Buys Mogreet To Add Messaging-Based Marketing To Its Payment Platform - TechCrunch - "Payvia says that it has the largest direct carrier connected messaging and mobile payments platform in the U.S..."
• GrubHub to Merge With Seamless as Food Orders Go Mobile - Bloomberg - "Food-delivery sites and mobile applications are gaining in popularity as more people order their meals online..."
• Harnessing the Remittance Boom - "Adding up the cost of the transfer, travel, and time, remittances are far too expensive for people living in poverty."

On the wires:

• Intuit Realigns Organization to Accelerate Growth - "The new structure comes as the company increases its focus on two strategic outcomes: being the world’s small business operating system, and providing winning solutions to do the nations’ taxes in the U.S. and Canada."
• Tabbedout Now Offers Google Wallet as a Payment Option - "For a limited time, when a user pays with Google Wallet in the Tabbedout app, they'll get $7 off their next tab."
• Huntington Bank Introduces Commercial Card Featuring Payables Automation and Monthly Rebates
• NCR and LevelUp to Take Mobile Payments to More Restaurants - "NCR understands what it takes to help restaurants keep pace with technology, and by integrating LevelUp, we are helping them get the great tools they need to run their businesses better."
• PayAnywhere Launches Phase Two of Aggressive Retail Channel Rollout - "The partnership takes the PayAnywhere mobile point of sale (mPOS) solution beyond the big box retailers the company announced partnerships with in 2012…"
• CorFire™ and OLO Partner on Integrated Mobile Commerce Solution for Restaurants - "Instead of requiring separate mobile apps for mobile payment and mobile ordering, this integration will provide brands with a one-stop shop for all forms of mobile customer engagement through the industry’s proven, best-of-breed providers."

On the web:

• India: Oxigen ties up with NPCI to unveil instant remittance service OxiCash for unbanked people - TechCircle.in - "OxiCash is a mobile wallet service through which people can make money transfers to any bank and also receive funds using the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) platform of the NPCI…"
• Google Wallet chief leaves the company - VentureBeat - "Osama Bedier, the head of Google Wallet is out, according to several sources."
• Gay Bankers, Once Silent, Speak of Progress — and Hurdles - American Banker - "No one should be afraid to come to work every day as who they are, and no one should have to check who they are at the door…"
• PayPal’s John Lunn reveals how online retailers are using consumer data to beat high street stores - The Next Web - "…find out which startups are helping online retailers to maintain this market dominance, and what physical retailers should do next to fight back."
• Why mobile wallets alone will fail - Cyriac Roeding (shopkick CEO) - "The problem with mobile payments is that payment isn't a problem in the shopping world."
• Off The Schneid - AVC - "I've led a new venture investment for USV, which closed a few weeks ago and was announced last night. The company is Coinbase and my blog post announcing the investment is on the USV blog."
• Purchase, Deposit, and Bank from a Smartphone with Paidpiper - Programmable Web - "Paidpiper represents a new player to the field with a slightly different value proposition over some of its competitors."
• CardFlight Partners With Stripe And Launches SDK To Become The ‘Stripe Of Real-World Payments’ - TechCrunch - "Enter CardFlight, which is launching with an encrypted, Square-like card reader of its own, as well as an SDK and APIs that will allow developers to create apps and take “card-present” payments on their mobile apps."
• EMV Takes Center Stage on Day Two of THE Tech EVENT - Convenience Store News - "Several speakers stressed in today’s standing-room-only session that EMV is a set of guidelines, not standards."
• Prepaid Cards for Jobless Benefits - The Members Group - "…42 states in the U.S. now direct deposit monthly unemployment benefits to out-of-work consumers on reloadable prepaid cards…"
• Discover Card's Email Balance Alert is a Thing of Beauty - NetBanker - "The message is nicely laid out with plenty of white space and it's chock full of links to get more information."

On the wires:

• MasterCard to Power Nigerian Identity Card Program - "This program is the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind on the African continent."
• Wells Fargo Adds Bankers, Launches New Secured Credit Products to Help More Small Businesses - "Wells Fargo’s new Business Secured Credit Card also helps new businesses establish and rebuild business credit…"
• Tabbedout and Future POS Expand Partnership to Bring Unrivaled Merchant Marketing Solution to All Future Fusion Merchants - "This new partnership means that the Tabbedout merchant marketing solution, Periscope, is now available in the 4,000+ Future POS merchant locations that use the Future Fusion software in their restaurants, bars, and hotels…"
• Elavon Names Simon Haslam President and Chief Executive Officer - "Simon’s experience and passion for growth and innovation make him the best individual to lead Elavon as we continue to extend our global reach and the value we deliver to our customers."
• Barclays Uses Nuance Voice Biometrics to Identify Customers by the Sound of their Voice - "No longer will customers need to answer intrusive security questions in order to verify their identity. By simply speaking with an agent, a customer’s voice is verified using Nuance voice biometrics technology, making the authentication process quick, secure and transparent."

Last week we looked at PayPal's annual payment volume over the last 10 years and how it's grown. This week's chart is a mashup of the US unemployment rate (the thin blue line - as provided by monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) plotted on top of the revolving debt statistics (the red vertical bars - as provided monthly by the Federal Reserve).

US credit card issuers frequently talk about how credit card chargeoffs track the unemployment rate. I was curious as to how the absolute amount of revolving debt tracked unemployment. In this chart you can see revolving debt peaking a $1.2 trillion in 2008 before consumers began paying down revolving debt - and issuer's began charging off amounts from consumers who were defaulting on repayment.

Beginning in 2011, unemployment peaked and consumers began slowly adding to revolving debt again as employment began also improving.

Have you seen an interesting chart recently that opened your eyes to new insights? Please tell me about it! Email it to me: editor@paymentsnews.com

On the web:

• Other Drivers of Debit Consolidation - Tom Noyes - "The paradigms of debit and credit networks are ripe for disruption."
• Amazon Issued Patent To Make Mobile Purchases Anonymous - Storefront Backtalk
• Podcast: FIs Can Serve More Customers with Prepaid Cards - The Members Group Blog - "Konrad pointed out that although prepaid cards were once targeted to mostly underserved consumers, interest in them has now broadened to include customers with access to credit cards and other traditional banking products."
• Tracking your card purchases: Big data becoming big business - Taking Charge Blog - "Making money off of credit card users' purchase histories is an idea that's been floating around the business world for a while."
• Browser pays - Consult Hyperion's Tommorow's Transactions Blog - "...I remain convinced that there may be a way forward on this and perhaps the Mozilla API will stimulate more thought and perhaps make for a sea change in web economics."

On the wires:

• Dr. Gavin Michael Joins JPMorgan Chase As Head of Digital for Consumer and Community Banking - "Gavin has more than 20 years of experience across Retail Banking technology, including governance, organization, strategy, and innovation."

This morning Citigroup reported financial results for the first quarter 2013. Its card-related business in North America reported flat results for its combined Citi-branded and Citi retail services businesses.

"Citi-branded cards revenues declined 1% to $2.0 billion, reflecting lower average loan balances as Citi-branded cards loans declined 5% partially offset by an improvement in net interest spreads."

JP Morgan Chase has reported financial results for the first quarter 2013. For its card services business, Chase reported:

• Credit card average loans were $123.6 billion, down 3% from prior year and 1% from the prior quarter.
  
• Credit card sales volume was $94.7 billion, up 9% from the prior year and down 7% from the prior quarter; Card Services general purpose credit card sales volume growth has outperformed the industry since the first quarter of 2008.
  
• Card Services net revenue as a percentage of average loans was 12.83%, compared with 12.22% in the prior year and 12.82% in the prior quarter.
  
• Merchant processing volume was $175.8 billion, up 15% from the prior year and down 2% from the prior quarter; total transactions processed were 8.3 billion, up 22% from the prior year and 1% from the prior quarter.
  

Chase also noted that it is the "#1 credit card issuer in the U.S. based on outstandings" and the "#1 Global Visa issuer based on consumer and business credit card sales volume."

Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon commented: "We also saw strong performance in our credit card portfolio, with net charge-offs remaining near historic lows, another sign that consumers are healthier and more confident. As a result, we reduced the allowance for loan losses in Consumer & Community Banking in the first quarter by a total of $1.2 billion and are likely to see further releases."

TSYS has announced it has collaborated with Pitney Bowes to introduce the TSYS Whitespace Manager, a partner-managed TransPromo solution.

TransPromo is a targeted marketing tool that allows highly relevant promotional content to be embedded within transactional customer communications, such as monthly card statements. TSYS Whitespace Manager, the new partner-managed approach to TransPromo, will allow issuers to take advantage of new revenue streams, cost reductions and minimized complexity.

"With the protections of the Credit Card Act of 2009 in full effect, a nationally representative survey shows a slightly lower level of dissatisfaction among Americans with their credit cards than last year. However, credit cards remain one of the lowest-rated services Consumer Reports has ever analyzed; only 45% of respondents said they were completely or very satisfied with their cards."

According to a new J.D. Power and Associates report, "Overall customer satisfaction with credit cards has rebounded from a three-year low in 2009, but professed loyalty continues to slip as skepticism that card issuers are focused on customers' best interests remains."

"Despite massive efforts by the credit card industry during the past year to educate customers about credit card terms as a part of the CARD Act, customers' grasp of those terms continues to be elusive," said Michael Beird, director of banking services at J.D. Power and Associates.

In a white paper titled "A Just fee or Just a Fee? An Examination of Credit Card Late Fees", the Center for Responsible Lending takes a look at late fee pricing by US credit card issuers.

CRL research reveals that issuers do not price penalty fees for risk. When other factors were controlled for using multiple regressions, any positive relationship between losses and late fees disappeared. The results suggest that, rather than as a means to deter behavior, issuer practices reflect an underlying revenue and pricing philosophy; this philosophy along with issuer type (most notably whether an issuer is a credit union) drive any observed relationship between losses and penalty fee prices."

The Federal Reserve has announced that consumer credit card agreements from more than 300 credit card issuers are now online in a searchable database it has created. According to the Fed, "the agreements contain general credit terms and conditions along with pricing and fee information. The database will help consumers compare credit card agreements and find a card that best suits their personal finance needs." The database will be updated quarterly. READ MORE »

Capital One has launched Venture for Business, a premium rewards credit card offering small business owners double miles on every purchase, the opportunity to earn up to 15,000 bonus miles within the first three months and a flexible redemption process that eliminates the restrictions commonly found in rewards programs. According to Capital One, there are no limits on when, where or how double miles can be earned, no retailer specifications or spending categories, no separate rewards enrollment or re-enrollment requirements, and no limit on the number of miles cardholders can accumulate. READ MORE »

Bradesco and Banco do Brasil have announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding "regarding the launch of a Brazilian brand and integration of part of their credit cards operations." Specifically, they have entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the preparation of a business model, involving:

• The integration of part of their card operations;
• The launch of a Brazilian brand ("Elo") of credit, debit and pre-paid cards for account-holders and non-account-holders;
• The joint creation of new businesses for private label cards (cards offered to non-account-holder clients through partner merchants);
• The creation of a company to sell cards to certain determined groups of non-account-holder clients;
• The transfer of shareholdings retained by both institutions or their subsidiaries in CBSS S.A., for the subsequent creation of a company.

More details in this WSJ.com article and this Reuters story.

American Express has reported financial results for the first quarter 2010. Net income was $885 million, up 103 percent from $437 million a year ago. Worldwide average spending per proprietary basic cards-in-force of $3,012 increased 23% during the quarter or 20% on a constant currency basis. The average merchant discount rate was 2.55% in 1Q‘10 versus 2.51% in 4Q‘09 and 2.56% in 1Q‘09.

“Cardmember spending was up 16 percent, rebounding strongly from the recessionary lows of last year,” said Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer. “Credit metrics also continued the improvement that began in the second half of 2009.” READ MORE »

In a new report titled "Charting a new course for the credit card industry", Deloitte says that "in the wake of record industry losses, consumer bankruptcies and the recently announced voluntary Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada, the credit card industry has been transformed from one of the most profitable areas of lending to one of the least." Deloitte says that "two things are clear: issuer strategies need to change and, in many cases, consumers will benefit." READ MORE »

Target Corporation has announced that all new qualified credit card applicants will receive the Target Credit Card, a credit product accepted at all Target stores and Target.com. Effective April 29, 2010, Target will no longer issue the Target Visa Credit Card to new credit card applicants. Existing Target Visa Credit Card holders will not be affected. READ MORE »

Bank of America has reported financial results for the first quarter 2010.

In its Global Card Services unit, the bank reported "net income of $952 million as credit costs declined, reflecting continued improvement in the U.S. economy. Net revenue declined 9 percent to $6.8 billion due to lower net interest income from the decline in average loans and lower fee income resulting from the implementation of the CARD Act. Provision for credit losses decreased $4.7 billion to $3.5 billion from a year ago as lower delinquencies and lower expected losses from the improved economic outlook drove reserve reductions during the quarter."

Debit card purchase volume was $56.1 billion, up 10% over 1Q09. Credit card volume was $48.7 billion, up 1% over 1Q09.

JP Morgan Chase has reported financial results for the first quarter 2010. For its Card Services unit, Chase report a net loss of $303MM compared with a net loss of $547MM in 1Q09. The net charge-off rate (excluding the WaMu portfolio) increased to 10.54% in 1Q10 vs. 6.86% in 1Q09 and 8.64% in 4Q09 and nnd-of-period loan outstandings (excluding the WaMu portfolio) were $132.1 billion, down 12% YoY and 8% QoQ. Card sales volume (excluding the WaMu portfolio) was up 7% YoY to $66.9 billion.

Chase Paymentech merchant processing volume was $108 billion on 4.7 billion total transactions processed.

In an article titled "A Less-Noticed Challenge in the CARD Act", Maria Aspan writes for the American Banker about a provision included in CARD Act that recently took effect requiring credit card issuers to "refer cardholders to federally sanctioned counseling agencies." Aspan writes that "now that issuers have to comply, many are doing what they can to avoid creating the impression of favoritism."

The UK Cards Association, representing the credit card industry in the UK, has announced a joint commitment with the UK Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) as a result of its consultation “Review of the Regulation of Credit and Store Cards”. According to the association, "the credit card companies are committed to supporting developments which are demonstrably in customers’ interests – making sure that customers are in control of their own finances." READ MORE »

The Federal Reserve Board has proposed a rule amending Regulation Z (Truth in Lending) to "protect credit card users from unreasonable late payment and other penalty fees and to require credit card issuers to reconsider increases in interest rates."

"This proposal addresses two key costs of using a credit card--fees and interest rates," said Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke. "The rule would prevent credit card issuers from charging large penalty fees for small missteps by consumers and would require issuers to reevaluate rate increases imposed since the beginning of last year." READ MORE »

On Monday, February 22, 2010 several new rules take effect regarding how credit cards are issued and how cardholders are treated by issuers. Here's a roundup of articles from across the country about the new rules:

• NPR: What You Need To Know About New Credit Card Rules
• Los Angeles Times: Building credit when you're young is getting tougher
• MiamiHerald.com: These new regulations help, but don't let down your guard
• FT.com: New rules hit US credit card issuers
• WSJ.com: It's a New Day for Credit Cards
• Washington Post: Michelle Singletary: Beware of the loopholes in the new credit card law
• Cleveland Plain-Dealer: How we pay with plastic will change Monday with new credit card rules
• The Best Life (usnews.com): 4 Tips About New Credit Card Rules
• NYPOST.com: New credit card rules set to bow
• The Denver Post: Credit-card reforms take effect Monday

In an article titled "Banks Focus on People Who Can Pay More for Credit Cards", Eric Dash reports for the New York Times on how US credit card issuers are focusing on heavy "transactors" - "the moneyed users of rewards programs who spend big and pay their bills on time." Dash sees issuers charging higher fees for new rewards programs targeting these users - as issuers emphasize a focus on spending vs. lending.

In an article titled "A Card Fee Still Hides in the Luggage", Ron Lieber writes for the New York Times how the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act that is now US law does not address currency conversion fees charged on transactions outside the US. He fears that because "the banks stand to lose a lot of revenue" because of the new law that "they’ll want to make it up somewhere, so they may feel emboldened to raise the currency conversion fees further."

In an article titled "A New Day Dawns for Credit Card Lending" in Monday's American Banker, Maria Aspan writes about the new world of credit card issuing in the United States - post the February 22 implementation date of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. She notes that "issuers go from complaining to complying with new law" and talks to executives of Bank of American, Discover and Capital One.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced the launch of "a new interactive website to help consumers better understand the new credit card protections that will take effect on February 22. These rules ban several harmful practices and require greater transparency in the disclosure of the terms and conditions of credit card accounts."

The site summarizes the main provisions of the rules and explains how they will affect credit card users. Two interactive features will allow consumers to learn more about the terms and fees of credit card offers and about the new features of their monthly statements. READ MORE »

In an article titled "Credit Cards and Reluctant Regulators", Gretchen Morgenson writes for the New York Times about the upcoming changes in the credit card rules going into effect next month. Earlier last week, the Federal Reserve published its final changes to the rules affecting credit cards - and launched a new web page for consumers outlining the changes.

In her article, Morgenson expresses her frustration that new fees are already beginning to be implemented - for example, charging consumers a $1 monthly fee to receive credit card statements by mail. Say writes "Proof, yet again, that if you close the door, they will come in through the window. And if you close the window, they blow through the door."

In an article titled "Assessing the Damage Caused by Card Rewards", Ron Lieber writes for the New York Times about whether his aggressive pursuit of credit card rewards made him a selfish consumer - noting that merchants are paying much of the costs of those rewards and that stores presumably have to build in higher prices to afford them.

So, he "tried to figure out what would happen if we did just pay cash, or if there’s a better course of action for people who spend in a self-interested fashion but still have a conscience."

In her "Color of Money" personal finance column in today's Washington Post, Michelle Singletary writes about 2010 being the "Year of Consumer Power" - reflecting on the legislative (The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009) and regulatory (overdraft fees) changes that are scheduled to take place as 2010 plays out.