Credit Cards

Bank of America Corp.'s planned acquisition of MBNA Corp. and its 40 million active credit card accounts has payment industry executives pondering the fate of American Express Co.'s ambitious efforts to jointly issue credit cards with banks. The $35 billion deal, announced this morning and expected to close in the …

The huge theft of card data at processor CardSystems Solutions Inc., revealed last week by MasterCard International, has prompted litigation and drawn the attention of most of the state attorneys general, but at least one network-security expert cautions that more such incidents are likely. Indeed, he says, little is likely …

The merchants that last week filed a class-action antitrust suit against major banks and the bank card associations seek more than to collect damages for what they regard as anticompetitive behavior. Indeed, according to the lead attorney representing them, they hope their case will lead to sweeping reform of the …

The major breach of credit card account data revealed over the weekend, the latest in a string of such incidents over the past six months, may lead to tougher enforcement of data-security standards by the card companies, experts say. The breach, which exposed cardholder names, account numbers, and card verification …

The first order of business for the new Washington, D.C.-based merchant group formed earlier this year to lobby for regulation of card-interchange rates is to inform consumers and their representatives about the costs they incur because of interchange, says Mallory Duncan, chairman of the Merchants Payments Coalition. “Consumers don't appreciate …

Visa U.S.A. today announced that starting in October it will begin tracking cardholder transaction data at the full 16-digit account number level, allowing issuers and merchants for the first time to target unique promotions and other marketing campaigns at individuals. “Now we can enable [marketing to] a cardholder of one,” …

International Card Establishment Inc., which began offering card-processing services a few weeks ago, has signed the first independent sales organization in its ISO program. Midland, Texas-based Foresite Merchant Solutions, formed recently, is I.C.E.'s first ISO client, the company says. Foresite is signing 200 merchant accounts per month, a rate it …

Continuing its national rollout of contactless card technology, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Bank U.S.A. unit said it will begin issuing the chip-equipped cards early this month in Colorado. The announcement follows by 15 days the bank's introduction of its contactless card, which it calls “blink,” in Atlanta, the …

Addressing a longstanding complaint of independent sales organizations and other nonbank acquirers, MasterCard International has published its operating rules for what the card company calls member service providers. MasterCard says the 291-page document, entitled “Member Service Provider Rules Manual,” is now available free, and has posted a PDF for download. …

Technology that allows consumers to pay at the point of sale by waving or tapping a card or other token took a major step forward today with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s announcement that it will issue millions of cards equipped with the technology starting this summer. Following on the …