Credit Card News

• Watch2Pay combines wristwatch with prepaid MasterCard
  Posted on - February 3, 2012

  

  Mobile payments industry observers have focused most of their attention on smartphones with near field communications technology. However, an Austrian company has dreamed up a way for prepaid debit card users to avoid reaching for their pockets altogether.  Read More

• GE Capital renews credit card deal with ShopNBC
  Posted on - February 2, 2012

  

  GE Capital Retail Bank is renewing its private label credit card agreement with ShopNBC. In a press release, the companies announced a new multi-year deal for GE Capital to continue providing the TV and online-shopping portal's credit card. The two companies have had a relationship since 2006 when GE Capital first started producing the ShopNBC card.  Read More

• Visa won't force US merchants to adopt "chip-and-PIN"
  Posted on - February 1, 2012

  

  After setting a 2015 deadline for installing a new generation of retail credit card terminals, Visa has taken steps to assure merchants that it doesn't intend to bring the stricter "chip-and-PIN" requirements from Europe into the United States. Visa spokeswoman Stephanie Ericksen took to her company's blog this month, clarifying that "EMV technology" can refer to both the exposed smart chips popular overseas and the contactless chips embedded in recently issued American credit cards.  Read More

• Cabbies protest credit card fees in San Francisco, Philly
  Posted on - January 31, 2012

  

  The debate over credit card interchange fees has taken to the streets of San Francisco, where taxi cab drivers have challenged city rules about accepting plastic from passengers. A city-commissioned study reviewed the results of a pilot program that allowed taxi cab companies to pass along the cost of credit card transaction fees to drivers, in exchange for upgrading back seat technology. The new payment structure replaced a 1997 rule that stuck cab company owners with the bill for processing charges.  Read More

• Canadian's credit card fraud scheme said to top $1.5 million 
  Posted on - January 30, 2012

  

  U.S Bank, Citibank and Discover each suffered a major hit recently due to identity theft and a serious case of fraud, all perpetrated by one man. A Canadian citizen, who was unemployed and receiving welfare assistance, is being charged with what prosecutors described as "one of the largest high-tech robberies in U.S history," according to Dave Kolpack of Associated Press.  Read More

• Retailer refund compromised credit card security
  Posted on - January 29, 2012

  

  A British retailer's response to holiday delivery problems has raised questions about credit card security both in the U.K. and around the world. Luxury home goods merchant Fortnum & Mason has already apologized for computer glitches that kept many of its customers' online orders from arriving in time for Christmas. In statements to reporters, company officials assured the public that customers could request full refunds for unfulfilled orders by calling a toll free hotline.  Read More

• Supreme Court could bring arbitration back to credit card agreements
  Posted on - January 28, 2012

  

  A recent Supreme Court ruling could restore binding arbitration clauses to the terms and conditions of many American credit cards. Eight of the Supreme Court Justices ruled in favor of CompuCredit, a company marketing credit cards for bad credit. The company's customers had attempted to sue CompuCredit for marketing a Visa credit card that only retained $43 of available credit after applying initial service fees and upfront finance charges.  Read More

• Visa, MasterCard antitrust case could squeeze rewards cards
  Posted on - January 26, 2012

  

  The Street's Dan Freed warned investors this month that a major lawsuit against Visa, MasterCard, and over a dozen large credit card issuers has slipped "under the radar" despite the significant changes it could bring to the payment marketplace.  Read More