On the web:

• Bitcoin vs. Ben Bernanke - WSJ - "The chief scientist for the digital currency talks about its appeal—and pitfalls—in a world of fiat money."
• Square sets its sights on Foursquare: 'We can do something better' - TheVerge.com - "Lots of apps and web services make recommendations for places to eat, drink, and shop, but Square is betting its payment data will give it a decisive edge."
• Mobile payment entrepreneurs need inspiration - Taking Charge (CreditCards.com) - "I thought about that dilemma earlier this week while reading the obituary of … Stanley A. Dashew … who was the first to come up with the idea of plastic cards in place of paper…"
• What's your mobile wallet recipe? - FastCasual - Commentary by Cardfree's Chuck Davidson - "…establishments that are competing in the mobile market space would be wise to build from their existing POS infrastructure…"
• Visa’s TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon Generates Fresh Thinking on Payment Security Education - Visa Viewpoints Blog - "Visa joined in on the fun by sponsoring the Disrupt hackathon, where 700 developers descended on New York City for a chance to win $8,500 from Visa."

On the wires:

• Ingenico Secures Deal With Heartland Payment Systems® for Heartland's Next Generation E3™ End-to-End Encryption and EMV Terminals

On the web:

• A senior executive lifts the veil on some of Amazon’s plans - Internet Retailer - "...one of the e-retailer’s top executives provided a glimpse into some of the e-retailing giant’s plans in such areas as payments, lending and fulfillment."

On the wires:

• MasterCard Incorporated Reports First-Quarter 2013 Financial Results
• Visa Inc. Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2013 Net Income of $1.3 billion or $1.92 per diluted share
• Tranzlogic Partners With Payment Services Leader Signature Card Services - "Tranzlogic’s first-of-its-kind data analytics and marketing technology transforms a merchant’s credit card transaction data into actionable customer intelligence."
• New U.S. Bank Tool FlexControl Helps Credit Card Customers Take Control of Their Finances - "U.S. Bank customers can now use a free online tool that puts them in control of their credit card payments and avoid interest charges."
• Moneris Solutions Completes US Visa, MasterCard and American Express EMV Testing Requirements - "As the leading Canadian payment processor, we are pleased to bring our EMV knowledge and capabilities to the US market and to have received this important certification."

In an article titled "The U.S. Adoption of Computer-Chip Payment Cards: Implications for Payment Fraud", Richard J. Sullivan, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, takes a look at what has happened to payment card fraud in other countries following their migration to EMV-based chip cards.

U.S. regulators and industry leaders should expect shifts in the nature of payment card fraud and take proactive countermeasures. But the United States currently lacks effective tools to gauge what types of fraud are on the rise. Establishing a comprehensive monitoring system could help in assessing the level of payment card fraud, tracking trends in the fraud, and measuring the losses sustained by its victims.

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:

• PayPal Hits The Mall: eBay's Baby Takes On Google, AmEx And Apple At Cash Registers - Forbes (Clare O'Connor) - "The aim is for shoppers to be able to use PayPal at the cash register in two million stores by the end of 2013."
• Banks Urged to Put Limits on Payday-Style Loans - NY Times Dealbook - "Federal regulators on Thursday admonished some of the nation’s largest banks for offering payday-style loans, short-term costly credit tied to customers’ checking accounts."
• Google Think Insights: The Customer Journey to Online Purchase - "This tool helps you explore and understand the customer journey to improve your marketing programs."
• CGAP: Exploring Alternative API Product Concepts - "CGAP’s work in Applied Product Innovation (API) aims to understand how customer-centric design methodologies … could be tailored to branchless banking in order to achieve better financial service offerings for the poor."
• Medagate's health card combines incentives with functionality - Drug Store News - "...enables employers and health plans to combine a member/employee healthcare funding purse with a restricted-spend purse for targeted items and incentives…"
• Bank Customers Want A Seamless Experience (My Foot) - Snarketing 2.0 - "Consumers want things to work. Period."
• Banks use mobile phone history to determine credit rating - Springwise - "Cignifi’s new platform offers what it claims is the first to deliver credit and marketing scores for consumers without credit histories using mobile phone behavior data."
• Online Shopping, With Sales Tax Added - NY Times Bucks Blog - "Shoppers will now have to figure in sales tax when they are deciding whether it is better to buy a particular item online or in a brick-and-mortar store."
• The Mysterious World of Bitcoin: Does It Have Staying Power? - Knowledge @ Wharton - "Bitcoin has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble..."
• Are QR codes losing their magnetism? - Mobile Marketer Daily - "Brands don't want to place a generic black and white box all over their creative…"
• Infographic: Mobile Devices Overtake Daily Life - "On average, people check their phones 150 times a day or every 6.5 minutes…"

On the wires:

• GateCrafters Now Offers Bill Me Later Payment Option - "We hope this option will give customers more peace of mind when purchasing big ticket items."
• Co-Op to Offer Enhanced Member Control of Cards Via New Mobile Card and Alert Product - "…the product to be offered by CO-OP will provide a range of services, including allowing members to set controls and alerts based on their preferences, such as transaction type, merchant, location and thresholds."
• Blackhawk Announces First Quarter 2013 Financial Results Consistent With Estimates Provided in Prospectus - "Demand for our prepaid products was strong during the first quarter as load value reached $1.6 billion, up 23% year-over-year..."
• Merchant Warehouse and LevelUp Announce $1 Million Development Fund - "LevelUp and Merchant Warehouse want to give more merchants the opportunity to extend the reach of their brand and tap into a wealth of customer data to help them grow their businesses."
• Accenture Survey Identifies Actions to Increase Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments - "For mobile payments to achieve widespread adoption, consumers must be educated about the fact that mobile payments are secure and more convenient than other payment options."
• TSYS Merchant Solutions to launch TSYS Multi-Currency Solutions - "Pay in Your Currency, gives eligible international customers the choice of paying in their home currency at the point of sale, offering significant benefits to TSYS merchants and their customers."
• WorldPay, VeriFone Expand Efforts to Bring NFC/EMV-Ready Payment to Merchants - "VeriFone and WorldPay collaborate in crucial areas to deliver the right payment solutions to merchants…"

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."

Cit has announced a new price protection program called Citi Price Rewind. Here's how it works. After a Citi cardmember purchases and registers an eligible item, Price Rewind will search hundreds of retailers’ sites for 30 days after the purchase to find a lower price. If a price is at least $25 less than what the cardmember paid, Citi will refund the difference in price – up to $250 per item.

“During the holiday season when the clock is ticking on getting popular gifts and toys, our customers can make their purchases today with more confidence that we will help get them a lower price,” said Ralph Andretta, Head of Co-Brands and Loyalty at Citi Cards. “Citi Price Rewind is another way that we’re delivering value to our cardmembers by using unique technology, and we’ve found a lower price for one-out-of-four registered purchases over $100.”

For more information on Citi Price Rewind, including a full description of coverage, eligible categories and Citi credit cards, visit http://www.citi.com/pricerewind.

Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has granted preliminary approval in the U.S. merchant litigation. Reuters has a nice write up of the hearing:

During a packed hearing on Friday, lawyers for dozens of objectors -- including Target Corp and Home Depot Inc -- told the judge that the settlement offered meaningless relief for merchants saddled with an estimated $30 billion in annual swipe fees. They also argued that releases shielding Visa and Mastercard from new litigation over the same claims would violate their legal rights and give the two companies protection from for any future anti-competitive behavior.

The National Retail Federation said that is will continue to oppose the settlement and look at other legal options.

In other legal news, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to AmEx's bid to force merchants to arbitrate antitrust claims over it fees.

Debit cards continue to gain global market share from credit cards, and the use of electronic and mobile payments continues to show exponential growth concludes the World Payments Report 2012 released by Capgemini, RBS, and Efma.

“Debit card transactions continue to take market share from other types of payment methods because they easily allow people to bypass the use of cash,” said Kevin Brown, Global Head, Transaction Services Product, International Banking, RBS. “As more and more consumers move to mobile and other electronic payments, we’ll continue to see the exponential growth of innovative payment solutions.”

The World Payments Report 2012 also highlights that Brazil now the third largest non-cash market in the world after the US and the Eurozone.

Discover has announced Discover announced that it is partnering with Google to allow its cardmembers to save their credit card directly into Google Wallet by logging into the online Account Center at discover.com/googlewallet.

“Our cardholders regularly use their Discover card to make purchases and payments online, in-store and now more frequently through their mobile devices,” said Sanjay Gosalia, Director of Mobile at Discover. “By offering the ability to join Google Wallet through our Account Center, Discover is providing our cardmembers with even greater flexibility and convenience when it comes to paying for their purchases.”

"We’re excited to partner with Discover to make it even easier for cardmembers to pay for their purchases,” said Robin Dua, Head of Product Management, Google Wallet. “By providing a simple way for cardholders to securely add their credit card to Google Wallet directly from the Discover website, we’re extending the opportunity to pay with Discover through Google Wallet at hundreds of thousands of merchants."

Google says that Discover is the first issuer to launch an implementation of its new Save to Wallet API for Payment Cards.

Visa and MasterCard have announced that they, and several major US issuers, have reached a $7.25 billion class-action settlement with US merchants. Visa's statement is here; MasterCard's statement is here. Specific terms of the agreement include:

• Distribution to class merchants of an amount equal to 10 basis points of default interchange across all credit rate categories for a period of eight consecutive months, which otherwise would have been paid to issuers and which effectively reduces credit interchange for that period of time.

• Modifications to card company rules to permit retailers to impose a surcharge on credit transactions subject to a cap and a level playing field with other general purpose card competitors. The rule changes on surcharging likely would be implemented in early 2013.

• Agreement that card companies will meet with merchant buying groups that seek to negotiate interchange rates collectively (e.g., independent drug stores).

The card-issuing banks participating in the settlement include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Capital One among others.

National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), one of the class plaintiffs in the lawsuit, announced that they have rejected the proposed settlement.

According to a recently released Intuit GoPayment survey, 55% of the nation’s 27 million small businesses do not accept credit cards.

Intuit estimates that each business that does not accept plastic misses out on approximately $7,000 in sales annually, equating to approximately more than $100 billion in collective lost revenue. This missed opportunity represents a combination of new sales and sales that go to other businesses that accept credit cards.

Barclaycard US has announced the Barclaycard Ring MasterCard card, "the first social credit card to be designed and built through the power of community crowdsourcing. Driven by the influence of an online community of cardmembers, the new card will offer a low interest rate, low fees, simple terms and the opportunity for cardmembers to shape and share in the product’s financial success."

More information is a available on the Barclaycard Ring website. This video illustrates the concept.

The Nilson Report has announced that American Express overtook MasterCard to gain second place among credit card brands in the U.S., based on spending at merchants.

“This is the first time since MasterCard was known as MasterCharge back in the 1960s, that American Express has experienced more purchase volume,” said David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report. While purchase volume increased for all four card brands (Visa, Amex, MasterCard, and Discover), American Express credit cards had an increase of 13.4% to $540 billion dollars, vs. an increase 6.1% to $508 billion for MasterCard credit cards.

On the web:

• Credit Cards In Numbers (InfoGraphic) - PayLane Across the Board Blog
• PayPal Holding Your Funds? State Regulators Want to Know - AuctionBytes

On the wires:

• Fiserv to Offer Sageworks’ Products via its Account Processing Platforms
• InspirePay Consolidates Online Transactions With First Universal Payments Hub
• Bon-Ton Stores Announces New Private Label Credit Card Agreement with Alliance Data
• Brighton Collectibles Engages Shoppers in the Aisle with VeriFone’s GlobalBay Mobile POS on iPod Touch
• RushCard Continues On Its Mission to Serve Those Left Behind by Big Banks
• Seamless and SBAB Bank in Mobile Payment Pilots in Sweden
• Visa Europe Launches Exclusive UK Offers Portal

On the web:

• Private-Label Credit Card Spending Drops - Marketing Daily
• The Cardboard Beginnings of the Credit Card - NYTimes.com
• UnionPay and HSBC Launch Dual Currency Card - AsiaOne Business
• History Channel and FiOS Try Selling Items Instantly via TV - NYTimes.com
• VeriFone's CEO Explains Why It Spent $1 Billion on Acquisitions - AllThingsD
• T-Mobile backs out of delayed Dutch mobile payments JV - FierceWireless
• Watch Out PayPal, FlexiGroup Purchases Paymate - Wall Street Journal
• The Future of Mobile Payments - Portals and Rails

On the wires:

• Paychex Launches Online Mobile Application For iPad
• Prepaid Solutions Changes Name to Brightwell Payments
• Bottomline Technologies Expands Capabilities in Healthcare and Acquires European Reseller
• Aria Systems First To Deliver Breakthrough Technology That Eliminates Software Maintenance Downtime for Cloud Billing

TransUnion announced "the national credit card delinquency rate (the ratio of borrowers 90 or more days past due) increased in the third quarter for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2009, edging upward to 0.71%. Average credit card debt per borrower increased $63 in the quarter to $4,762, though it remains near record-low levels.

On the web:

• Google Wallet Hands On Review - Katherine Boehret - AllThingsD
• No Cards, No Cash. Just a Phone - David Pogue Reviews the Google Wallet - NYTimes.com
• In MasterCard's Future, You Can Buy Things by Waving at Your TV - Mashable
• Here's a Facebook App That's Basically a Bank - AllThingsD
• A First Look at the BankSimple UI - BankSimple Blog

On the wires:

• Visa Europe extends CodeSure family with Matrix Display card
• CreditKarma.com Releases Data on 5 Million Credit Cards
• Commerce Bank Adds First Data TransArmor Solution to Merchant Product Suite
• NexTech Partners with Chase Paymentech to Streamline Payment Processing

On the web:

• China UnionPay is Now the World's Largest Card Scheme - Bank Systems & Technology
• Cabela’s Embraces In-app Purchasing and Bar Code Scanning - Mobile Commerce Daily
• Online Banking Customers Demand Paper Checks - TIME.com

On the wires:

• Shandong Airlines Launches UATP Program
• NCR Secures Largest Ever ATM Services Deal in China
• Bank of America to Exit International Credit Card Businesses
• Experian Report Shows Credit Card Delinquencies are Below Prerecession Levels
• Bank of Internet Launches a POPmoney Person-to-Person Payment Service
• Admeris Partners With Global Transaction Services Group
• Cardtronics to Acquire Access to Money

On the web:

• Future of Money: Crowdsourcing Cash - New Scientist
• PayPal VP: Supporting Payments In The Physical World Is Critical For PayPal - TechCrunch
• Google’s Punchd Acquisition to Push Mobile Wallet Uptake - VentureBeat
• UK Cheques Will Not Be Scrapped in 2018 (Because There Are No Better Alternatives) - Mail Online

On the wires:

• EFT Canada to Acquire Credit Card Gateway
• CHEFS Catalog Serves Cash Consumers with eBillme’s Payment Option
• National Bank (Canada) Launches its International Direct Payment Solution
• New Mercator Advisory Group Report on Non-Prime Credit Card Segments

On the web:

• Using Facebook Credits as Ecommerce Sales Incentives - AuctionBytes
• PSECU's Remote Deposit Honor System - NetBanker
• 18 Fun Facts About Credit Cards - MSN Money
• 10 Reasons I'm Cancelling My Credit Cards - SmartMoney.com
• California Replacing Unemployment Checks with Debit Cards - Bakersfield.com
• Korean Govt To Credit Card Firms: We’re Watching You - Wall Street Journal
• Tapjoy Scores $30M to Boost Mobile App Monetization - FierceMobileContent
• Blaming the Fed’s Durbin Rule, Tempo Payments Prepares to Shut Down - Digital Transactions

On the wires:

• Spendvision’s new eMoney Module Enables Businesses to Track and Manage NFC Transactions
• Regions Bank Introduces Personal Pay to Send and Receive Electronic, P2P Payments
• CoVantage Credit Union Selects Tyfone to Deliver Next Generation Mobile Wallet Services
• U.S. Bank and Monitise Americas Introduce Free Mobile Banking Service for ReliaCard Visa Cardholders

On the wires:

• MoneyGram International Introduces Cash-To-Account Money Transfer Service in the Philippines
• International Visa Cardholders Increased Tourism Spend in the US by 18% in 2010
• comScore Says Credit Card Shopping More Prevalent as US Consumer Economic Sentiment Improves

On the web:

• Fortune: Venmo: Fighting the good fight against the online payment giants
• Digital Transactions: eBillme Takes a Dive into the E-Gift Card Pool
• Mashable: Why the Mobile Payment Debate Is Headed in the Wrong Direction [OPINION]

On the wires:

• Striata and Payments Gateway Partner to Securely Deliver Property Tax Bills Electronically
• USA Technologies Transaction Processing Volume Growth Continues

On the web:

• Mobile Money to Deliver on the Promise | Merchant Account Industry & Credit Card Processing Blog
• Credit Slips: How Credit Card Companies Get Around the Card Act

On the wires:

• J.P. Morgan’s Order-to-Pay Network Crosses 100,000 Supplier Threshold
• NRF Welcomes Consumer Groups’ Support for Swipe Fee Reform
• Near Field Communication Forum Announces New Members (including CSR, Google, and Intel)
• New Mercator Report on Prepaid Card Market in China
• The VoiceCash Single Prepaid MasterCard (Germany)

On the web:

• NFC World: Amazon Planning NFC Payments and Marketing Service?
• SmartMoney: The New Best Credit Cards
• Vending Times: Cashless Payments Go Mainstream In Unattended POS Markets
• TechCrunch: Social Payments Enabler WePay Celebrates First Birthday

On the wires:

• Pivotal Payments Selects FIS for EFT Solutions
• YellowPepper Certified by Western Union as a Mobile Money Transfer Vendor
• New Aite Group Report on How Banks Could Recoup Lost Debit Interchange Fees With Prepaid
• USA Technologies To Raise $10.7 Million In Common Stock Private Placement
• E-Debit Global Announces Launch of Its Micro Payment and Loyalty Card System

On the web:

• Portals and Rails: FinCEN Proposed New Rule Addresses Money-Laundering Risks in Prepaid Products
• NFC World: Orange launches NFC payments trial in Poland
• Advertising Age: AmEx Campaign Positions Rewards Points as Social Currency
• Wall Street Journal: Five Ways Banks Could Learn From Apple's iPad
• Boston Herald: Purchase Receipts going paperless
• San Francisco Chronicle: Yorder App Gives Fans Direct Line to Concessions (Mobile Payments)
• NPR Planet Money: Why Are Consumer Credit Card Agreements So Long?
• Wall Street Journal: EMC's SecurID Division Suffers 'Sophisticated Cyber Attack'
• Hughes Hubbard & Reed: Payments Cards and the California Zip Code Ruling
• Springwise: App Tells Visually Impaired the Value of Paper Currency
• Wall Street Journal: RIM and Carriers Fight Over Digital Wallet

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is now providing the key findings of a conference on the credit card marketplace held one year after the effective date of many of the provisions of the “CARD Act”.

The data from the eight presentations at the CARD Act conference provide an overview of the credit card market – the cost of credit for consumers, the supply of and demand for credit, and industry profitability. The CFPB also released data on the day of the CARD Act conference that focused on the ways that specific industry practices addressed in the Act – such as interest rate hikes and overlimit and late fees – have changed and impacted the consumer credit card experience.

Over on Payments Views, our sister blog, Glenbrook's Russ Jones shares his thoughts on where POS steering may be headed this year, commenting "several of Glenbrook’s merchant clients are already developing their strategies for rewarding customers that select low cost payment methods at the point of sale."

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• SafetyPay Partners With One of Brazil’s Largest Banks, Banrisul

• Portals and Rails: Nonbanks and Payments Innovation: Because That's Where the Money Is
• Ars Technica: The Security Gadget that UK Bankers Want Squelched
• Wall Street Journal: Students Still Targets of Credit-Card Offers
• Today Show: Consumers' Love of Credit Cards to Return
• The Green Sheet: The Convergence of Traditional and Alternative Payments
• SiliconIndia Magazine: Playspan: Leading Innovation in the Global Payment Industry
• Zachs: No Job? No Credit Card

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• San Jose Mercury News: PayPal's Laura Chambers Talks Mobile Payments
• Vending Times: How the Sprout Card System Will Benefit Vending Patrons, Suppliers And Operators
• Wall Street Journal: Some Retailers Swipe at Credit-Card Proposal
• TechCrunch: Square Starts 2011 with A New Round At A Big Valuation
• Chicago Sun-Times: 8 Million Fewer Consumers Use Bank-issued Credit Cards
• Portals and Rails: Demand Deposit Accounts: Balancing Convenience and Risk
• TMCnet.com: 17 Chinese Companies Apply for Third Party Payment License
• Technorati: Five Things To Do With Unwanted Gift Cards
• Internet Retailer: PayPal to Build an ‘e-commerce hub’ in Southwestern China
• TechCrunch: The Year In Virtual Goods By The Numbers

"A sizable and growing minority of American consumers who once possessed a credit card no longer have one," says the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Consumer Payments Research Center. Surveys done over the last two years indicate that the “discard rate,” the percentage of consumers who have abandoned that method of paying for purchases, grew from 14% in 2008 to 16.5% in 2009. In contrast, the discard rate among Americans for prepaid cards was 27.5%. Debit cards were about 5%.

These figures were announced in the 2008 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (SCPC), annual study by the Boston Fed that is available to the public for free.