Links in “Credit/Debit Cards”

“After the brutal beating taken in recession years, capital has been replenished, dividends have been restored, marketing investment in the business has resumed...loan losses have returned to more normalized levels,” and the credit card is once again a financial institution's most profitable loan product. [9/22/14]

While it will make fraud more difficult, EMV technology won't make fraud go away. Right now, it's easier for the crooks to go after cards without the enhanced technology of EMV cards. However, as older technologies begin to go away, expect the bad guys to exploit weaknesses in the EMV technology. [9/22/14]

#1: Follow the lead of First Choice Federal Credit Union and sue the retailer for damages. #2: Do as credit unions in Maine are doing and proactively issue new cards to your members. [9/19/14]

Survey of 54 executives at a risk management conference identifies EMV technology as the most effective in reducing credit card losses over the next three years. [9/18/14]

Ever trying to protect consumers, the CFPB has offered guidance on four simple steps to take if you think your debit or credit card data may have been hacked. This guidance seeks to mitigate the mess caused by several high-profile security breaches and to help consumers help themselves during uncertain times. [9/10/14]

Credit card companies have been officially warned by the CFPB against deceptively marketing special interest rate promotions. Certain companies have been offering consumers reduced or zero interest deals for transferring specific purchases and balances from another credit card, and then hammering consumers with hidden interest charges. The CFPB has directed that a clear disclosure of costs and risks must be made prior to signing consumers up for such programs. [9/4/14]

"Card not present" fraud expected to increase as EMV implementation rolls out, which could start shifting consumer wrath from physical retailers to online retailers. [9/4/14]

According to a survey by CrediCards.com, consumers ages 18 to 29 prefer using credit cards 51% of the time, even for purchases under $5. That reflects a dramatic difference from the 65 plus demographic, who prefer cash 82% of the time. [8/28/14]

In an interesting twist, First Premier Bank, an issuer of credit cards to low-income and credit-impaired consumers, is suing CardHub, a consumer education website, that provides consumers with information about credit card products.  First Premier, which is known as an issuer of high-rate, high fee credit cards, is claiming that CardHub is in violation of trademark law by using the bank’s card information on its website. Or is it just that the comparison of its terms to others looks really bad? [8/22/14]

The National Federation of Retailers has only addressed the interchange fee limits in its petition to the Supreme Court to overturn the Federal Reserve Board’s interchange rule. It appears they have accepted the Fed’s positon that debit card issuers must ensure that two unaffiliated payment networks are available to cardholders. Originally, retailers had argued that the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act required card issuers provide more than two options. [8/21/14]