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.

A new study by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) finds that "credit card offers have grown increasingly complicated since 2000, when Congress required issuers to start disclosing pricing information on credit card offers. But instead of providing clarity to consumers about the true cost of their credit cards, issuers responded to this mandate by adding a confusing array of numbers to their offers."

A recent paper from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay explores why cash payments are so predominant in the Indian retail sector, in spite of the huge inroads made by payment cards in recent years.

The card payments data shows that even though we have 19 million credit cards, 190 million debit cards and half a million point-of-sale terminals, on an average there is just one transaction annually for every debit card and 11 transactions annually for every credit card.

"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."

POSB recently announced that has launched the first card in Singapore to feature both debit and credit functions on a single card. The Multi-tude card is EMV enabled, works at the ATM with a PIN, or can be used on online via NETS. At the point of sale, EMV readers facilitate the selection of credit or debit.

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.

Most of the practices deemed "unfair" or "deceptive" by the Federal Reserve have disappeared from new credit card offers since federal passage of the Credit CARD Act last year, according to a new report by the Pew Health Group's Safe Credit Cards Project. "Yet new trends have emerged that could cost cardholders significantly."

The report finds that issuers have eliminated practices such as "hair trigger" penalty rate increases (disproportionate charges for minor account violations), unfair payment allocation, and raising interest rates on existing balances. However, Pew's research also highlights a sharp rise in cash advance fees, continued widespread use of other penalty interest rates and an emerging trend of credit card companies failing to disclose penalty interest rates in their online terms and conditions.

Earlier today, the British Retail Consortium published its Cost of Payment Collection Survey 2009. The survey, based on data covering 53% of total UK retail sales, found that debit cards are the most used form of payment representing 44% of UK retail sales. Cash represents 32% of sales - but 58% of transactions - while credit cards represent 21% of sales. Cheques acceptance is minimal - only 1% of sales.

In terms of costs per transaction, debit cards were 8.5 pence, cash 2.1 pence, credit cards 33.3 pence, charge cards 50.3 pence and cheques 38.6 pence. The weighted average costs across all tender types was 8 pence.

In a separate press release also issued today, the BRC asked for the UK Government to intervene the reduce the fees retailers pay to banks for card acceptance.

The Federal Reserve Board has announced it has approved "a final rule to protect credit card users from unreasonable late payment and other penalty fees and to require credit card issuers to reconsider interest rate increases imposed since the beginning of last year." Click here to read the Federal Register item.

"The new rules require that late payment and other penalty fees be assessed in a way that is fairer and generally less costly for consumers," said Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke. "Card issuers must also reevaluate recent interest rate increases and, if appropriate, reduce the rate." READ MORE »

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 published its latest G.19 report on Consumer Credit - reporting that while overall consumer credit increased at an annual rate 0.5% in April, revolving consumer credit declined at an annual rate of 12% in the month. Revolving debt outstanding at the end of April 2010 was $838 billion - down over $160 billion from the same month in 2009.

Barclaycard US has announced an exclusive multi-year agreement with the National Football League to market credit cards bearing the NFL shield logo and the logos of each of the 32 NFL clubs.Fans may obtain these credit cards from Barclaycard starting in September via the web, at stadium displays, through in-bound telephone applications and via email and direct mail invitations." READ MORE »

The UK Cards Association and ABTA, the travel association, have published a new consumer advice guide – Using your card overseas – that provides the latest tips and useful information for travelers who are planning to use their cards abroad this summer. READ MORE »

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 »

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 »