ThreatMetrix and TransUnion have announced a collaborative effort to incorporate features and functionality from their respective fraud prevention platforms.

“Today’s reality is that device identity is a critical component of a person’s overall online identity. The combination of personal and device identity verification now available through the TransUnion and ThreatMetrix platforms is good for consumers in that it can prevent unauthorized transactions if their online identity has been compromised,” said TransUnion’s Jeff Brown, vice president, Identity Risk Solutions.

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.

TransUnion has announced availability of its quarterly analyses of credit-active U.S. consumers finding that the "national credit card delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 90 or more days past due) decreased for the sixth consecutive quarter, dropping to 0.6% at the end of the second quarter in 2011. This is the lowest mark observed in 17 years. Credit card debt per borrower increased $20 in the quarter to $4,699, though it remains near record-low levels."

On the web:

• Wells Fargo to Begin Charging Debit Card Fees - MyBankTracker.com
• M-payments are Vodafone's Biggest Business in Kenya - Rethink Wireless
• How a Google-Motorola Combo Could Be ‘Good News’ for NFC in the U.S. - Digital Transactions
• NYC Testing Mobile Payments for Parking Meter - PCMag.com

On the wires:

• TransUnion "Pulse Poll" Reveals Untapped Opportunity in Hospital Point-of-Service Collections
• peerTransfer Raises $7.5 Million to Help Streamline Edu Payments for International Students
• Jwaala and eWise Partner to Offer Secure Vault Payments to Members of MACU
• Cielo Deploys Nationwide Secure Payments Network with NewNet in Brazil
• Vindicia Launches New Marketing Capabilities for CashBox Billing Solution
• Mojang Partners With Skrill to Extend International Payment Options

A new TransUnion analysis has found that consumers made an estimated $72 billion more in payments on their credit cards than purchases between the first quarters of 2009 and 2010.

"Many people in the financial services industry believe charge-offs have been the leading factor in declining credit card debt since the start of the recession," said Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit. "In fact, some have stated that charge-offs account for the entire change in card balances over the past two to three years. In reality, the dynamic is more complex. Our analysis shows that consumers have made a concerted effort to pay down their credit cards during these uncertain economic times."

TransUnion released a study that "reveals the divergence in payment patterns -- where consumers are increasingly apt to pay their credit cards before their mortgages -- has now occurred for three straight years. However, for the first time since the deviation began, the percentage of consumers who are current on their credit cards and at least 30 days delinquent on their mortgage payments has declined."

TransUnion has announced the results of its quarterly analysis of credit card industry trends.

The national credit card delinquency rate (the ratio of bankcard borrowers 90 days or more delinquent on one or more of their credit cards) decreased to 0.83 percent in the third quarter of 2010, down almost 9.8% over the previous quarter. Year over year, credit card delinquencies fell by 24.6%.

Average consumer credit card balances in the U.S. are the lowest in eight years, according to TransUnion's quarterly analysis of trends in the credit card industry. The 2Q Credit Card Quarterly Statistics show that the national credit card delinquency rate (the ratio of bankcard borrowers 90 days or more delinquent on one or more of their credit cards) decreased to 0.92% in 2Q2010, down 17.1% over the previous quarter. Year over year, credit card delinquencies fell by 21.3%.

TransUnion and ID Analytics have introduced a new credit risk score – ID Analytics Credit Optics Plus – that the two companies say "examines conventional measures of creditworthiness, willingness and ability to pay, in combination with a new dimension, stability, in a single solution. This powerful combination provides a 360-degree view of consumer behavior and enhances the predictiveness of credit decisions, often resulting in a performance lift for lenders." READ MORE »

A new study by TransUnion confirms that the "new" payment hierarchy -- where consumers pay their credit cards prior to their mortgages -- is continuing, with the trend occurring more readily than ever before. READ MORE »

TransUnion and ID Analytics have announced that TransUnion will include ID Analytics' collections, credit, and identity risk solutions in TransUnion's portfolio of service offerings. According to the two firms, "ID Analytics' scores provide TransUnion customers with unique, real-time insight into consumers' fraud risk and creditworthiness across the entire lifecycle including origination, portfolio management and collections. The two companies are jointly delivering a suite of solutions that reduce credit losses, improve collection efforts, and reduce costs associated with fraudulent transactions." READ MORE »

TransUnion has announced that it TransUnion Credit Risk Index, a statistic developed to measure the changes in average consumer credit risk within various geographies, increased 1.98 percent from 124.79 in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 127.26 in the first quarter of 2009. On a year-over-year basis, the Credit Risk Index increased 7.10 percent (from 118.83 in the first quarter of 2008), the largest increase for that time period in this decade. The Credit Risk Index is defined as the weighted average probability of 90-day delinquency or worse among consumers in a given region relative to the nation as a whole. READ MORE »

TransUnion.com has released the results of its analysis of trends in the credit card lending industry for the first quarter of 2009 based upon approximately 27 million anonymous, individual credit files - providing a real-life perspective on how U.S. consumers are managing their credit health.

Nationally, the bankcard delinquency rate (the ratio of bankcard borrowers 90 days or more delinquent on one or more of their bankcards) increased to 1.32 percent in the first quarter of 2009, up 9.1 percent over the previous quarter. Year over year, bankcard delinquencies increased 11 percent from 1.19 to 1.32 percent. READ MORE »

LifeLock has announced that it has entered into "an agreement that will leverage TransUnion's secure, automated processes to expedite and enhance the delivery of identity theft services that LifeLock currently provides to its members." READ MORE »

TransUnion.com has released the results of its analysis of trends in the credit card lending industry for the third quarter of 2008. The report is part of an ongoing series of quarterly consumer lending sector analyses focusing on credit card, auto loan and mortgage data that may be found on TransUnion's Web site. READ MORE »

TransUnion has announced the launch of Payment Behaviour Score - described as "a new score to improve the effectiveness of acquisition and portfolio reviews for credit card businesses. This scoring solution is designed to strengthen relationships with cardholders and enhance the portfolio management strategy for the credit card providers." READ MORE »

TransUnion has announced newly updated TransUnion Account Management and TransUnion New Account scoring models claiming that "both models experienced improvements, over the previous versions, in their ability to identify bankrupt accounts -- in some cases by as much as 32 percent." READ MORE »

Meta Payment Systems has announced it has contracted with Fiserv and TransUnion "to enhance the next generation of its award-winning iAdvance product. The partnerships enable Meta to expand its short-term, small dollar loan alternative that is accessed immediately on a MetaBank-issued prepaid card." READ MORE »

TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company have announced the Revolver Model, "the second scoring model to identify predictive credit behavior characteristics using survey-based data from the PaymentDynamics 2007 Preferred Payments Study. The Revolver Model helps financial institutions determine how consumers prefer to manage their credit card balances and enables banks to develop custom marketing offers accordingly."

TransUnion's TrueCredit.com has commissioned GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media to assess Americans' thoughts about their finances at the turn of the New Year. "The survey found that in 2007, one in four (25 percent) of all Americans missed making one or more on-time bill payments, with the bulk of those delinquencies occurring on Utilities (12 percent), Credit Cards (12 percent) and Medical Services (11 percent). Meanwhile, only 17 percent choose paying down debt as their top resolution for 2008, down notably from 22 percent in last year's survey."

TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company have announced initial findings from the PaymentDynamics 2007 Preferred Payments Study on consumer payment preferences, attitudes and behavior - concluding "that more consumers prefer debit cards than any other type of payment for point of sale purchases."

TransUnion’s TrueCredit.com has announced results from two surveys it recently commissioned with GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media designed to gauge distinct aspects of consumers’ current credit habits. "TrueCredit.com found that 35 percent of consumers actually report purchasing less on credit this holiday season than last year, when the same question yielded 43 percent. Similar to the 2006 survey, four in ten (43 percent) say they have the same amount of credit card debt this year as last, with 11 percent reporting they have more debt and 29 percent reporting they have less."

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Scott Coates has been named to lead product management and marketing communication for TransUnion's Canadian operations. Before TransUnion, Coates was manager of marketing strategy and analysis for Lexmark Canada Inc.'s consumer printer division.
• Robert McCabe Jr. has been named Chairman of the Board of Goldleaf Financial Solutions.

TransUnion has announced that it has joined Utica College’s Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP), a research collaborative composed of elite public and private sector organizations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, LexisNexis, IBM and three prominent universities. The organization is dedicated to using applied research to further a national research agenda on identity management, information sharing and data protection.

Fair Isaac Corporation has announced that it filed a lawsuit yesterday in Federal Court in Minneapolis "alleging that the three national credit reporting agencies and a jointly owned entity have violated antitrust laws and engaged in unfair competitive practices." Fair Isaac alleges that "Equifax Inc., Experian Information Solutions Inc., TransUnion LLC and VantageScore Solutions, LLC, through their launch and marketing of the VantageScore credit scoring model, are jointly engaging in unfair and anti-competitive practices that harm the FICO credit score brand and goodwill that Fair Isaac has spent 50 years creating."

TransUnion has announced it is acquiring Qsent, a Beaverton, Ore.-based provider of contact and identity management services that support customer acquisition and retention, collections and recovery and identity resolution applications.

NYPay has announced its formation as "New York City's premiere networking forum for professionals in the payments industry."

TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company have announced they are developing the PaymentDynamics 2006 Preferred Payments Study, intended to be the "first of its kind to combine consumer payment attitudes, behavior and credit information." Results from the study are expected beginning in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Damon Darlin reports for the New York Times on VantageScore, the recently introduced alternative to the long-standing FICO scores produced by Fair Isaac. According to the three credit bureaus that created VantageScore - Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, it improves risk prediction of future credit performance by weighing more factors. VantageScore also reportedly is more accurate at assessing consumers with "thin files" - having a short credit history.

TransUnion has announced RentBridge, a new patent-pending rental payment database that will gather and maintain rental payment history information to help apartment owners, property managers and other types of credit grantors make more informed risk, fraud and identity management, collections and marketing decisions.