The Financial Obligations Ratio (FOR) has declined to 15.28%, the lowest measurement since 1981 and the Debt Service Ratio (DSR) has plunged to 9.92%, the second lowest ever recorded in 35 years. However, this trend my reverse in 2015 as the economy heats up.
UK consumer spending growth trends continue to validate household spending is in its strongest of times since 2010. February Expenditure was up by +1.2% year-on-year, following a similar increase in January (+1.4% on the year).
While the total number of U.S. Visa (V) and MasterCard (M) credit plus debit Cards-in-Force (CIF) topped one billion in 2013, the number of Gross Accounts (GAC) is ready to cross the milestone in 2015. RAM Research forecasts a total of 942 million V+M GAC in the first quarter.
The European Parliament this week voted overwhelmingly to cap the interchange fees for credit and debit cards. Effective October 1st, interchange fees will be capped at 0.2% of the transaction value for consumer debit cards and at 0.3% for consumer credit cards.
Hanoi-based Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam Joint Stock Company (BIDV) has started accepting JCB card in Vietnam. BIDV becomes JCBI’s 10th partner financial institution and provides card acceptance at their 15,000 accepting locations to all JCB cardmembers issued in Vietnam as well as 16 other countries out of Vietnam.
The deep freeze of the Northeast this winter had a dramatic impact on consumer spending in January and February. Boston merchants showed a drastic drop of 6.2% in overall spending during this period of historic blizzards.
A new app makes it possible to transfer between currencies and across borders using a wearable device for the very first time. WorldFirst.com’s new free Money Transfer app is available to wearers of the Samsung Gear Live, Motorola Moto 360, LG G Watch R and Sony SmartWatch 3.
CardWeb.com’s CardExecs database of payments industry movers and shakers today features Kyung-Hye Chun, Head of the Corporate Service Group of BCcard.
With more than two-thirds of all purchases made with payment cards and $20 trillion in credit card transactions expected for 2015, security has become a top priority for organizations that accept credit cards. However, nearly 80% of all businesses fail their interim PCI compliance assessment.
DebitWay’s new Turnkey service offer promises to take eMerchants and their electronic businesses to the online payment processing Promised Land, from beginning to end.
CardWeb.com’s CardWatch database of more than 57,000 marketing items today features the Barclays “Personalized Visa Debit Card ” TV ad from 2012.
In today’s CardFlash News Que: TOUCHSUITE; PAYMENTVISION; INTUIT; AND BIGCOMMERCE.