Who's Addicted to Mobile Banking
Are consumers addicted to mobile banking? Well, if pulling out a mobile phone to check a bank account balance during dinner--and even on a date--qualifies as addictive, then the answer is yes. A Chase-commissioned survey shows that when it comes to digital banking trends, consumers are more addicted to online banking sites than mobile apps, but that the trend is slowly shifting. The survey results for 1,502 U.S. consumers over 18 (not specifically Chase customers), showed that 33 percent more consumers are using their mobile device to access a mobile banking app, compared with a year ago. But online banking is seeing stronger growth too, as that figure is up 35 percent on the year. And, interestingly, 16 percent more consumers have visited a bank. Story in PYMNTS.

New Chip Credit Cards Putting Squeeze on Small Businesses
New credit and debit cards with computer chips are putting the squeeze on small businesses. The cards being rolled out by banks and credit card companies are aimed at reducing fraud from counterfeit cards. As chip cards are phased in, magnetic stripe cards, which are easier for thieves to copy, will be phased out. Businesses of all sizes face an Oct. 1 deadline to get new card readers and software that can handle chips. Most estimates of transition costs for small companies vary from the low hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars due to the wide range of equipment used. If businesses don't meet the deadline set by companies including MasterCard, Visa and American Express, they can be held liable for transactions made with phony chip cards. The switch to new chips in credit and debit cards poses a threat for small companies because they can't get the volume discounts on the new equipment that big retailers get. And they don't have in-house tech experts to install the new systems. Story by Joyce Rosenberg for the Associated Press.

Consumers Still Confused about their Credit Scores
The vast majority of Americans (90%) recognize the importance of having access to credit. But a significant percentage (52%) of adults do not understand the most influential factors that go into a credit score, and almost 40% do not know their personal credit score. People who consistently check their score have a better perspective of a "good" credit score. Those who had previously checked their scores said 719 was "good" on average, while those who never check their score said it was 668. Of those surveyed, only 37% said their current scores will help them achieve their personal goals. Two out of three respondents would like to be able to improve their credit score during the next year, but only 35% have a plan they feel will allow them to do so. In fact, 22% admit they have never taken any steps to improve their score. Story by John Oldshue for LowCards.com.

Credit Card Firm Synchrony Financial Uses Analytics to Help Retailers Clinch Deals
Synchrony Financial, the $12 billion credit card company spin-off from General Electric, plans a September launch of personalized pricing and other mobile offers for shoppers. Synchrony handles private-label credit cards for Gap and other retailers and merchants. The analytics work reflects the central role IT groups can now play in building revenue-generating products and services. Story by Kim Nash for The Wall Street Journal.

India's Government Proposes Income Tax Benefits for Debit/Credit Card Payments
India is looking to incentivise the use of credit and debit cards by offering tax rebates to merchant establishments and consumers, making high-value transactions mandatory through electronic means and imposing an additional levy on cash payments above a certain level to curb black money. The finance ministry has prepared a draft discussion paper proposing benefits such as an appropriate tax rebate or a 1-2% reduction in value added tax for establishments that accept electronic payments. Story in The Economic Times.

UK Debit Cards are a Scandalously Easy Target for US Fraudsters
It's tempting to see credit and debit card fraud as an old-world problem nobody is interested in these days but every now and then a pattern jumps out of the morass of statistics that deserves our attention. A prime example is the volume of debit card fraud (i.e not including credit card fraud) being heaped on UK card-holders from the US, both against people visiting the US and, unbelievably, people who have never been there in their lives. According to a large sample of fraud looked at by US analytics organization FICO, the US accounted for almost half of all fraudulent cross-border transactions on UK debit cards during 2014 despite being a distant third on the list of total transactions. FICO didn't break down US fraud by type in much detail, but the vast majority of these fraudulent transactions were card-not-present frauds carried out from the Internet or by phone. Cross-border fraud is a big deal, accounting for a third of all theft from the 52 million UK cards FICO sampled. Story by John E. Dunn for Tech World.

Green Dot Retains Wal-Mart MoneyCard Account
Green Dot reached an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores to continue as the issuing bank for the retailer's prepaid reloadable debit card program for an additional five years. The companies had worked together on Wal-Mart's MoneyCard program since its 2006 inception, but Green Dot shares have declined 25% so far this year through Monday's close, partly on concerns about the possibility of losing the business. The new term, which became effective May 1, replaces an agreement that was already extended to the end of the year. Green Dot also worked with the retailer on last year's rollout of a checking account service called GoBank, which doesn't charge overdraft fees, unlike other the banks housed within the retail giant. Story by Josh Beckerman for The Wall Street Journal.

Atom is a New UK Bank That'll Have No Branches, Just Apps
Banking is a bit of an old boys' club dominated by a few huge, lumbering corporations, but up-start Atom thinks it's time for a new player with a different approach. Atom wants to take mobile banking seriously; so seriously, in fact, that it aims to exist almost solely as a mobile app. The company has just been granted a UK banking licence and plans to launch later this year, first using mobile apps to offer its services before graduating to desktops in due course. Atom will have a 24-hour support team available by phone, email, webchat and social networks, but the idea is you can do everything, even open an account, from within the mobile app. Story by Jamie Rigg for Engadget.

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.62 percent, slightly higher than last week's average of 14.60 percent. Six months ago, the average was 14.46 percent. One year ago, the average was 14.52 percent.

Credit Cards are the Preferred Payment Method
It's all in the cards--the days of cash and carry are long gone. When consumers pay for purchases today, whether in person or online, the overwhelming majority prefer to use a debit or credit card. That's the finding of a recent survey that asked more than 500 people 18 years and older about their preferred payments methods. When people pay in person, 42 percent use debit cards and 38 percent use credit cards, while only 17 percent use cash and 3 percent use checks, the survey reported. Online, the breakdown was 50 percent credit cards, 30 percent debit cards and 20 percent PayPal or similar bank account-linked services. The respondents who prefer debits cards said they are convenient and allow them "to use real money." In the case of credit cards, respondents said they want rewards points. Story by Gregory Bresiger for The New York Post.

Are Millennials Not Interested in Mobile Payments?
On the surface, it sounds like a ludicrous question. Why wouldn't Millennials--currently those in the 18 to 34 age bracket--be interested in mobile payments? After all, this is the future of payment technology, right? But a new study from Trustev suggests that there might be some issues holding the rise of mobile payments back a bit. 91 percent of Millennials had at least one debit card, and routinely used them. 80 percent, meanwhile, had a standard credit card. When it comes to online payments, the older Millennials--between 25 and 34--were more likely to turn to a credit card, and 67 percent of the younger Millennials were following suit. What's more, alternative payment systems weren't unknown to the Millennial crowd, just often unused. 66 percent of Millennials reported having at least one payment app installed-be it Venmo, PayPal, or something else, but these apps weren't often used. Bitcoin was also sufficiently unappealing. While 63 percent have heard of it, just 12 percent have actually used it. Story by Steven Anderson for Payment Week.

Apple Pay Brings Contactless iPhone Payments to U.K.
Apple is making the U.K. the first market outside the U.S. for its digital-wallet system as the company fights for a place in the electronic-payments industry. The Apple Pay service was made available at 250,000 retail locations in Britain on Tuesday, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The setup lets consumers use devices such as the iPhone 6, iPads and Apple Watches to make payments similar to transactions with contactless debit and credit cards. U.K. Apple users can now buy everything from coffee to diesel with their devices. "The U.K. is an important market for Apple because the level of contactless penetration in cards and accepting terminals far exceeds that of the U.S.," said Eden Zoller, an analyst at Ovum. Story by Mark Beech for Bloomberg.

Wal-Mart Canada Shuts Online Photo Centre over Potential Credit Card Data Breach
Wal-Mart Canada is contacting customers who may have been affected by a potential data breach of its photo website. In an online statement, the company said it was recently informed of a "potential compromise of customer credit card data" of its photo site. Wal-Mart Canada would not confirm how many customers may have been affected, when or how the potential breach was discovered or when the potential breach occurred. Wal-Mart said it has no reason to believe that in-store, Walmart.ca or Walmart.com transactions had been affected. The photo centre website--since disabled--is operated by a third-party, PNI Digital Media, which is owned by Staples. Story by Katrina Clarke for The Star.

Samsung Starts Testing its Apple Pay Rival in Korea
Samsung Pay, the mobile payments service announced alongside the Galaxy S6, is getting closer. The company is inviting select S6 and S6 Edge owners in Korea to participate in the first public trial of Samsung Pay before a wider rollout kicks off in the coming weeks. Samsung Pay combines NFC, which is used by Apple Pay and Google Wallet, with technology that the company picked up with its acquisition of LoopPay. This allows Samsung's phones to communicate with magnetic stripe card readers, making Samsung Pay instantly compatible with most payment terminals you'll find at retailers today. Story by Chris Welch for The Verge.

Americans Would Rather Have Nude Photos Stolen Than Financial Data
According to a new survey from MasterCard, 77% of Americans worry about the security of their personal information. 62% worry about their emails getting  hacked, and 46% worry about being pickpocketed. But what is more surprising is the value that Americans put on their financial security. 55% of survey participants said they would rather have naked photos of themselves stolen than their financial data. A staggering 92% of participants said they take precautions to protect their financial information, but 46% say they rarely change the passwords on their accounts. 39% reported they use public networks to check financial accounts from their phones, which makes them far more vulnerable to hacking than checking the information on a secure personal network. Story by John Oldshue for LowCards.com.

Cyber-Crime Hits Napa County Wineries
As many as 250,000 customers who used their credit cards at dozens of Napa Valley wineries this April had their financial information and personal data stolen by a cyber-thief. However, according to one attorney, no evidence of significant fraudulent use of the data has been found yet. The intruder gained access to customer names, credit/debit card numbers, related billing addresses and any dates of birth from winery clients using eCellar Systems created by Missing Link Networks of Calistoga. Story by Jennifer Huffman for the Napa Valley Register.

Senate Banking Puts CFPB and Cordray in the Crosshairs
The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday for his twice-a-year legislative grilling, where lawmakers raised ongoing concerns about the bureau's massive data collection, its management, its lack of oversight and its overspending. Chairman Richard Shelby noted that the CFPB has grown to over 1,450 employees and it has recently expanded enforcement actions to cover telecom companies and broadened its authority over the auto finance industry. Shelby also raised concerns about the CFPB's profligate spending and lack of budgetary oversight. In particular, there was concern for the cost of renovating the CFPB headquarters in a building that was, in a bit of irony, formerly leased by the Office of Thrift Supervision. Story by Trey Garrison for Housing Wire.

Do You Have to Respond to a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Card?
If you own a credit card, chances are you've experienced the disquiet that comes from an alert saying someone may have stolen your card. Whether you got the bad news via text, email or an old-fashioned phone call, word of potentially fraudulent behavior on your credit card seems to be one of the pernicious downsides of shopping in the modern world. Dealing with fraud alerts can be time-consuming, so you may be wondering if you have to respond to every single time, or whether your card company can just take care of the problem itself. After all, you're shouldn't be liable for charges that you didn't actually make. Story by Taylor Tepper for Money Magazine.

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.65 percent, identical to last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.44 percent. One year ago, the average was 14.49 percent.

According to the latest FICO report, card fraud in Europe only grew by 6% in 2014. A majority of this increase was due to cross-border fraud, with domestic losses remaining relatively flat.

While this number shows promise for the continent's card protection programs, it does not emphasize the severity of card-not-present (CNP) fraud.

70% of fraud cases in the UK were the result of card-not-present transactions, and cross-border fraud is becoming an equally alarming issue to control.

In the UK, card fraud losses only increased by £29 million in 2014, the same 6% as fraud losses for all of Europe. However, CNP losses have risen significantly, from 54% of overall fraud losses in 2008 to 70% in 2014. By comparison, card-not-present fraud losses accounted for 41% of the total fraud losses in Western European countries, and only 23% in Eastern European countries.

"We are winning the war on CNP fraud, but we still have a long way to go to get CNP fraud fully under control. Authentication of customers and their devices will play an ever-increasing role," said Martin Warwick, fraud chief in Europe for FICO, said. "This is why FICO has been focused on advances in analytics that assess consumer behavior, and profile not just cardholders but also devices and merchants."

The three European countries with the highest percentage of card fraud were France, Greece and the United Kingdom. Russia reported the biggest increase in fraud losses at 24%, but this may be due to a 36% increase in card sales during that same time period.

If you have recently received a new credit card in the mail, you may have been asked to "dip" your card when you made your transaction at the store. "Dipping" is replacing "swiping" in today's world of credit cards.

New chip technology in credit cards and point-of-sale terminals are finally being launched across the nation. MasterCard estimates that 65% of cards will have chips by the end of 2016 and 95% by the end of 2017.

What is spurring the change? In October, stores that have not upgraded to accept the new chip credit cards could be held liable for fraudulent charges that take place. Currently, credit card providers and processing companies are the ones held liable for unauthorized transactions. The new chips are very hard to forge, and banks want to transition to the new cards to cut down on their fraud losses.

So consumers will probably be "dipping" soon. If you haven't dipped yet, it is fairly easy. Slide the card in the slot of the bottom of the machine with the chip facing up, and leave it there until your purchase is complete.

The transition will cost retailers and card issuers close to $9 billion, but is long overdue. Europe and some of the other parts of the world have been using chip embedded cards for years.

Analysts feel that approximately 60% of card processing terminals will accept chip cards by the end of 2015, and 90% will by 2017.

The new chip system's official name is EMV, which is named after the companies that built it: Europay, MasterCard and Visa.

There are some concerns about these new cards.

The United States is only opting for a portion of the enhanced security. Most cards now being sent to consumers are "chip and signature" cards. After being inserted into the processing machine, consumers only have to sign their name to complete the transaction. A much more secure form of the EMV card is the "chip and PIN" card where consumers have to add an individualized four-digit PIN number instead of the signature. A thief would have to know your PIN number in order to complete a transaction, making the chip and PIN card much more secure. Unfortunately, credit card issuers chose not to implement this extra security feature, most likely due to the additional cost. Retailers were not happy about that decision.

"The fact that we didn't go to PIN is such a joke," Mike Cook, Wal-Mart's assistant treasurer told CNN. "If you look at the Target and Home Depot breaches...not a single PIN debit card needed to be reissued in those breaches. The card number was worthless to the individual thief and fraudsters, because they didn't know the PIN."

Another concern is that many businesses are not prepared for the upcoming October 1st deadline for processing chip-embedded credit cards, according to a new survey from Randstad Technologies. The survey found 66% of IT decision makers, including "C-suite executives" (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer), do not believe that chip and signature cards provide enough security, and that PINs should be mandatory for card transactions. The survey also revealed 42% of decision makers have no plans for switching to EMV technology at this time.

Most terminals will still accept cards with just a magnetic strip for a few years, so don't be concerned if you still have a "swipe" card and not a "dipping" card.

Credit card thieves may now have an easier way to steal card numbers, thanks to a hacking opportunity that was uncovered on the Square portable card reader. The hack essentially turns off the encryption settings on the reader, allowing users to steal the credit card information swiped on the dongle, allowing thieves to then use the card without your permission.

This is scheduled to be demonstrated this week at The Black Hat Security conference taking place in Las Vegas.

This new hack has two sides. In one scenario, a hacker may modify the Square reader to not encrypt information. Square's official app will not work with a modified reader, but a person can create an app to go along with it. In the second scenario, a hacker can record the signal sent from your card to an unmodified reader so he can make fake swipes long after you're gone. In either event, your card is vulnerable to identity theft.

Square was quick to respond about the accusations, saying that, "Any card reader on the market can be deconstructed. The chip could be crushed and then reassembled by using the undamaged shell of the reader. At Square, we have processes in place to prevent malicious behavior on damaged readers."

While the move to EMV credit cards may help eliminate problems like this in the future, recent studies show that nearly half of all major businesses do not have plans in place to switch to chip and PIN. In fact, 42% of small business owners--those who Square actually targets through its program--have no plans for switching to EMV technology at this time. 58% of businesses said the liability risks to come after the deadline "will have limited or no impact on their company’s bottom line."

Weaknesses like the one discovered on the Square reader will continue to be an issue until the entire country transitions to a more secure credit card solution.

Using a Digital Wallet May Cost You in Credit Card Rewards
Mobile payments are surging as an alternative payment method, with Forrester Research estimating that the industry will nearly triple in terms of transactions by 2019. Digital wallets are typically free to use, but if you're doing so with a credit card that offers bonus rewards on certain spending categories, your digital wallet may still be costing you money. Credit card companies rely on merchant category codes to determine whether your purchase qualifies for certain bonus rewards your card offers. MCCs are assigned by the four major payment networks depending on the nature of the merchant. For example, a grocery store purchase will likely be coded as 5411, according to the MCC list provided by the IRS. However, if you purchase groceries from an online retailer such as Amazon, your purchase will likely generate a different MCC because Amazon's primary business isn't selling groceries. Story by Ben Luthi for Nerd Wallet.

Card Fraud Losses Hit $16 Billion Worldwide
Worldwide fraud losses on credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards hit $16.31 billion in 2014 on a total card sales volume of $28.844 trillion. This translates to a rate of 5.65 cents in fraud losses per every $100 in volume. In addition, fraud grew by 19% last year, while overall volume only grew by 15%. Nilson reported that U.S. fraud losses reached 12.75 cents for every $100 in volume annually, and that the U.S. accounted for 48.2% of the world's card fraud losses. At the same time, the U.S. only contributed 21.4% of the world's overall card sales volume. Story by David Morrison for the Credit Union Times.

How We Pay: Digital Payments Rise, But Cash is Still King
More Americans are making digital payments but traditional payment methods are still overwhelmingly preferred. Cash is still king. In the last year, 93% of shoppers reported using cash, while 68% said they used debit cards. Checks were also used by 68% of the respondents, and 67% used credit cards. PayPal ranked the highest of all digital payment platforms, with 62% of respondents saying they had used this service in the past year. One in seven respondents (14%) made a mobile payment in the past year. In fact, 68% of mobile payment users said they were using more alternative payment methods than they were a year ago. Cash and checks saw the greatest drop in use among these mobile payment users. Story by Bill Hardekopf for LowCards.com.

Judge Reinstates ATM Antitrust Case Against Visa, MasterCard
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reinstated an antitrust lawsuit brought against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. by a trade association of ATM operators. Consumers, independent ATM operators and the National ATM Council filed the lawsuit in 2011. They alleged Visa's and MasterCard's ATM-fee policies suppressed competition because they barred ATM operators from offering discounts to customers who complete transactions over less-costly payment networks. In 2013, a federal judge in a 39-page ruling, found several problems with the lawsuits and dismissed them. Story by Angela Chen for The Wall Street Journal.

Small Businesses Not Yet Ready for New Secure Card Payment System
October 1 is an important date for businesses that accept credit cards. That's when a new rule takes effect, shifting the liability for fraudulent credit card purchases from the banks to the business making the sale, if it has not installed EMV chip card technology. Unfortunately, a survey by Wells Fargo shows small businesses, by and large, are not only unprepared--they aren't aware of what's coming. Just 49% of small business owners who accept point-of-sale card payments today report being aware of the impending liability shift, when a card issuer or merchant that does not support EMV chip card technology will assume liability for any fraudulent point-of-sale card transactions. Story by Mark Huffman for Consumer Affairs.

Hackers Turn Square Hardware into Device to Steal Credit Card Information
Just because the Square Reader is new doesn't mean it isn't susceptible to the same scams as old school ATMs and credit card readers. A team said it discovered a way to steal credit card information using a modified Square magnetic stripe reader. By tampering with the magstripe reader, the team was able to turn Square's hardware into a credit card skimmer, a device that can be used to steal credit card information. The modified reader doesn't work with the proprietary Square app The modified reader doesn't work with the proprietary Square app, but it could be used to steal credit card information using a custom-recording app, according to the team behind the hardware hack. The team also claims that the modification of Square's hardware only takes 10 minutes and can be done with household tools. Story by Chris Perkins for Mashable.

Scott Walker Carrying Credit Card Debt with 27% Interest Rate
Gov. Scott Walker has a high-interest credit card with a more than 27% interest rate, his recently filed financial report shows. Walker's form shows the card was issued by Barclays last year, and he owed as much as $10,000 to $15,000 at some point during the reporting period. Candidates must report liabilities of more than $10,000 owed to any creditor at any time during that time, and it must include the debts of a spouse and dependent children. That interest rate--27.24%--is notably high. Story by Mary Spicuzza and Jason Stein for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

China Curbs Online Payment in Fresh Blow to Internet Finance
China plans to tighten regulations governing the nation's 270 online-payment firms, dealing another blow to the booming business of Internet finance. Under draft rules, the central bank will limit the amount an individual can pay online to 5,000 yuan ($805) per day through third-party payment accounts, unless the customer's identity can be verified by a security token and electronic signature. The People's Bank of China is seeking public feedback by Aug. 28. The central bank last month imposed stricter rules on the industry, which analysts expected to lead to sweeping changes and failures among online lenders. Internet finance is posing a rising challenge to China's traditional banks, which have lobbied for more regulation on third-party payments and peer-to-peer lending platforms. Story in Bloomberg.

AmEx Judge Rejects Merchant Settlement Over Card Fee Rules
A U.S. judge rejected American Express Company's settlement with merchants over credit card fees after finding the plaintiffs' lawyer tainted the deal by exchanging confidential information with an attorney for MasterCard. The rejection means that merchants and the card firm may have to renegotiate the deal or possibly go to trial. A conference is scheduled in Brooklyn, New York federal court for Oct. 5 to discuss the next steps. Story by Christie Smythe for Bloomberg.

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.68 percent, identical to last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.40 percent. One year ago, the average was 14.49 percent.

Credit Card Fraudsters Pump Gas Stations for Profit
As motorists head out on the last big driving weekend of the summer, the credit card industry and gas-station owners are deploying everything from sophisticated software to heavy-duty padlocks to combat an epidemic of fuel-related theft and fraud. The crackdown is gaining additional momentum because many gas stations will be among the last merchants to install equipment accepting a new generation of fraud-resistant cards. While many big merchants will have equipment in place by Oct. 1 to accept the new chip-based cards, tougher guidelines set by Visa and MasterCard don't apply to gas stations until 2017. Story by Robin Sidel for The Wall Street Journal.

No Credit Card at Checkout? Online Shopping Just Got Even Easier
As it currently stands, online checkouts are far from seamless. I learned to dread the process from an early age. My mother, near the end of any and every online purchase, would inevitably yell, "Can somebody please bring me my wallet?!" But according to Wired, a Swedish checkout service that officially debuted in the U.S. on Tuesday is in the market to fix that. The service is named Klarna, and the way it works is this: when it comes time for checkout, you type in your email address, shipping address, and sometimes your phone number. The service then quickly decides-based on whatever data about you it can gather-whether it will extend you credit. Assuming you are worthy, your purchase is complete. No credit card necessary . yet. Customers have 14 days to pay up. After that, a warning is issued. Eventually, anyone who doesn't make good on a bill will see late payment fees and possibly have to deal with a debt collection agency. Story in Fortune.

Affinity Credit Card Companies Need To Expand Customer Base
Roughly 43% of U.S. adult consumers own at least one co-branded or affinity credit card. By year-end 2014, co-branded credit cards generated 31% of general purpose credit card purchase volume, or $809 billion out of $2.63 trillion, among Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express branded credit and charge cards. There are several trends that will shape the market for co-branded and affinity cards, including new and growing co-branded entrants. Citi is rejuvenated, Capital One and TD Bank are relatively new to the market, Wells Fargo has finally stepped in, and Alliance Data and Synchrony are shifting their emphasis to co-brand. Behind the scenes, the Visa, MasterCard and American Express networks are also jockeying for position. Another trend is rewards that tie back to the partner in a unique way. Story by Tanya Gazdik Irwin for MediaPost.

Subprime Borrowers Should Apply for That Credit Card Now
If you're a subprime borrower--meaning you're a higher credit risk to credit card companies, mortgage lenders and other creditors, and that you have a credit score below 601--now is the time to apply for that new piece of plastic. Why? Because credit card companies are more lenient these days about approving card applications from consumers with weaker credit. That's the opinion from TransUnion, the credit reporting giant based in Chicago. TransUnion reports that credit card approvals "have increased to subprime borrowers" in the second quarter of 2015. What's more, even with new approvals to consumers with lower credit scores, credit card delinquency rates "remain low," at 1.19% for the quarter. Story by Brian O' Connell for The Street.

Credit Card Delinquencies Remain Low Despite More Subprime Lending
Even though subprime consumers are once again being courted and approved by credit card issuers, credit card delinquency rates have remained steady for the past year. These are the findings of the latest TransUnion Industry Insights Report. Despite the new lending opportunities for subprime consumers, the amount of money they are allowed access continues to decline. The average new account line is now $923, the lowest it has been since 2012. The subprime group made up 18% of all new account originations, up from 14.7% a year ago. Overall, new accounts increased 11.2% to 13.1 million. The average credit line per borrower dropped slightly to $5,199 in the second quarter of 2015, down from $5,234 the same time last year. Story by Bill Hardekopf for LowCards.com.

MCX Mobile Payments Rolling Out to Walmart and Other Locations in Ohio
Mobile payments have been making their way to a bunch of retailers around the world, but some of the biggest companies in the US have yet to adopt mobile payments. Three years ago a group of retailers in the US working under the Merchant Customer Exchange umbrella decided to enter the mobile payments market. That Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) partnership includes Walmart, Target, and Darden Restaurants. Three years after vowing to enter the mobile payments market, companies in the partnership are finally set to start rolling out the tech needed to enable mobile payments. The first locations to get the mobile payment upgrade will be several retailers and restaurants in the Columbus, Ohio area. Story by Shane McGlaun for SlashGear.

Mobile Payments will be Mainstream Soon, Says 1 in 3 UK Consumers
Though mobile payments have been slow to take off, they are rapidly becoming more popular and now a new study based on a survey from Lloyds Bank has shown that many consumers feel that they will be regularly using this tech within five years from now. One in four participants in the U.K. study felt that between mobile payments and contactless cards, they would no longer need to carry cash. Moreover, recent statistics from Barclaycard have revealed that contactless spending in the United Kingdom is three times greater than it had been a year ago. In the Lloyds survey, conducted by Ipsos Mori, with the participation of more than 2,000 people, 43 percent of consumers agreed that technology is the way that payments are going in the future. Story in Mobile Commerce Press.

eBay Sellers Can No Longer Process Payments Through PayPal Rivals
PayPal and eBay may have split ways, but that doesn't mean they will no longer be affiliated with one another. As part of their breakoff agreement, eBay promised to process at least 80% of its payments through PayPal. Now, the online auction house is ending its contracts with ProPay and Skrill in order to keep up its end of the deal. eBay told its community that it is parting ways due to the low usage and high maintenance from offering ProPay nor Skrill. Story by Natalie Rutledge for LowCards.com.

5 Things to Know About the EMV Deadline
By the end of 2015, losses due to credit card fraud in the U.S. are expected to exceed $10 billion. This makes the transition from mag-stripe to EMV chip-and-PIN cards even more important as the industry moves toward the first major deadline in the EMV shift process. With the EMV conversion deadline fast approaching, here are five significant points for businesses and financial institutions to keep in mind. Story by Roy Urrico for the Credit Union Times.

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.60 percent, identical to last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.45 percent. One year ago, the average was 14.49 percent.

Yet another study has emerged showing that small businesses are unprepared for the October 2015 deadline of transitioning to EMV card readers. Only 22% of small retailers are ready for the deadline, and 23% feel chip and PIN card readers are completely unnecessary.

The research from Software Advice is consistent with the data from the Wells Fargo survey published in August. In that study, only 29% of small business owners said they would upgrade their credit card processors before the deadline. 46% did not want to pay for an EMV terminal, and 41% were not concerned about being held liable for charges.

Across both studies, business owners report that they need extra time to research and implement the new technology, or it is simply too expensive to make the switch at this time. Surprisingly, about one in 10 business owners still said they did not know about the approaching deadline.

These unwilling or unknowing retailers may be in a rude awakening in October because the new laws shift liability to the point of lowest security. In other words, the organization with the lowest amount of protection for a cardholder will be the one held liable for any fraudulent charges on the card. If the retailer does not support chip-embedded cards, it could incur huge costs in covering those losses.

What may be even more surprising about this study is the fact that 62% of consumers say they still have not received their new EMV cards. A recent report from Aite Group showed 70% of credit cards and 41% of debit cards in the United States should have smart chips by the end of this year, but so far, the release has been a slow one.

Bank of America Reveals Details of Biometric Smartphone App
Bank of America has launched a mobile banking app which uses fingerprint and Touch ID sign-in. The bank says its new fingerprint and Touch ID sign-in capabilities provide eligible Android, iPhone and iPad customers with a secure and convenient way to log into the mobile banking app using their fingerprint. The technology supporting fingerprint sign-in was built according to FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) standards, says Bank of America. Story in Planet Biometrics.

EMV Credit Cards Still a Mystery for Most Consumers
The majority of Americans are unaware of what a chip or EMV credit card is, despite the upcoming transition on October 1st, according to a new survey. 54% said they were still waiting on chipped replacement cards from one or more of their credit card issuers. Millennials were the least likely to use EMV cards, according to the study, but they were more likely to adopt mobile payments than any other age group. Respondents with lower incomes were less likely to be familiar about EMV technology than those in higher income brackets (40% compared to 74%). Story by Bill Hardekopf for LowCards.com.

Active Credit Card Accounts Growing Since Middle of Recession
Shocked into action by the recession, Americans have spent the past several years getting rid of credit card debt. But as the economy improves, they're starting to show a willingness to use credit more freely again. The number of active credit cards accounts has increased to levels not seen since the end of 2008, according to the Washington, D.C.-based American Bankers Association, which attributes the growing card market to an improving economy, more jobs, higher incomes and more lenders taking a chance on subprime borrowers with less than perfect credit. Story by Tim Grant for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

4 Reasons Mobile Payments Will Explode In 2016
Imagine shopping without a wallet. No bills, no change, no loyalty cards or old receipts weighing you down. You may not need to imagine for long, as more and more merchants embrace mobile payment systems, enabling consumers to pay with a quick tap and swipe of their mobile phone at the retailer's sales terminal. A trend report from Gartner predicts mobile commerce revenues will grow to half of U.S. digital commerce revenue by 2017. Here are four reasons mobile commerce is set to explode in the next year. Story by Pragati Verma for Forbes.

What a Fed Rate Hike Will Mean for Your Mortgage Rate, Savings, and Credit Cards
With Federal Reserve officials gathering for a policy meeting this week, speculation as to whether the central bank will finally raise interest rates hasn't let up. In the scope of the U.S. economy, tinkering with the federal funds rate is a big deal--the higher it goes, the more expensive borrowing becomes. That's because many lending institutions look to the fed funds rate to determine where they should set their interest rates. To try to stabilize the economy in the wake of the financial crisis in 2008, the Fed dropped the rate to rock-bottom lows of 0% to 0.25%. Now that the economy has essentially rebounded, experts have spent the last year trying to anticipate when the Fed might jack up the rate again. What would a rate hike mean for my wallet? Story by Mandi Woodruff for Yahoo Finance.

Is Samsung Pay A Potential Game Changer Against Android Pay?
This week Google released its Android Pay as a replacement for its Google Wallet. The new payment platform will go up against the upcoming Samsung Pay, which will release on September 28. These apps allow users to buy products online with ease and without worrying about security. The tech giants provide similar payment efforts, however they are different in some ways. Story by Mirza Umair Baig for Tech News Today.

Credit Card Fraud and ID Theft Statistics
With compromised credit cards and data breaches dominating the headlines in the past couple of years, it's hard not to have some concern about fraud. Technology such as EMV promises to make some payments safer, but experts predict fraud will remain a growing problem for years to come. Data breaches totaled 1,540 worldwide in 2014--up 46 percent from the year before--and led to the compromise of more than one billion data records. Twelve percent of breaches occurred in the financial services sector; 11 percent happened in the retail sector. Malicious outsiders were the culprits in 55 percent of data breaches, while malicious insiders accounted for 15 percent. The United States accounted for 1,107 of those breaches--72 percent of breaches in the world. Fifty-four percent of data breaches in 2014 related to identity theft, 17 percent aimed at financial access and 11 percent sought account access. Story in Nasdaq.

Russian Man Pleads Guilty in US in Major Hacking Scheme
A Russian man pleaded guilty in the U.S. on Tuesday to a major role in a computer hacking scheme that authorities say involved stealing and selling 160 million credit and debit card numbers. Vladimir Drinkman faces up to 35 years in federal prison plus millions in fines and restitution when he's sentenced Jan. 15. He will be deported after he finishes his sentence in a case that U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in 2013 was the largest hacking and data breach scheme ever prosecuted in the country. Story by Geoff Mulvihill for the Associated Press.

ATMs That Don't Require Debit Cards May be the Future
ATMs, which dispense billions of dollars in cash to consumers, are undergoing some radical changes. Fiserv, Inc., which provides financial services technology to banks and other institutions, says it has completed a successful pilot with Jacksonville, Fla.-based VyStar Credit Union. The new prototype ATMs the company has installed offer card-free access to cash. Don't have your debit card with you? It won't mean you can't withdraw cash. Story by Mark Huffman for Consumer Affairs.

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.59 percent, identical to last week. Six months ago, the average was 14.48 percent. One year ago, the average was 14.51 percent.

If your credit card bill contains an unauthorized donation to a charity, you are not alone. New information reveals that criminals are using unsecured charity websites to test stolen credit card numbers on a global scale.

Many charity websites have simplified their donation platform to encourage more people to give to their organizations. This added convenience comes at a price though, costing some organizations thousands of dollars due to false donations made to their websites. Transactions processed as "card not present" puts the burden of repayment on the non-profit organization, not the credit card company.

Cyber criminals are beginning to take advantage of the limited security measures on charity websites to verify the validity of stolen credit card numbers so they can be used for future fraudulent purchases.

Why is this verification necessary? This is how credit card thieves make money. Unverified credit card numbers are not worth much on the "dark web," the online equivalent of the black market. If a fraudster can verify that a card number is still valid, the card can be sold for a much greater amount.

"There's a giant target painted on the industry’s back that is very advantageous for credit card thieves," said Kevin Conroy, chief product officer for the charitable group GlobalGiving.

Criminals are finding a way to scam consumers with the recent conversion to the more secure chip-embedded credit cards.

Since only about 40% of Americans have received their new EMV cards, many are wondering when their current card will be replaced. Scammers are taking advantage of this, sending an e-mail that seems to come from the user’s credit card company. In order to get their new chip card, the letter informs them that they need to either click a link to update their account or respond to the e-mail and provide personal information.

If a consumer responds to the e-mail, the scammer will obviously have instant access to that user’s personal information. If the recipient clicks on the link, they will download keystroke-logging malware that will allow a scammer to steal personal information from the computer, including passwords, financial information and a person’s Social Security number.

Steve Weisman, a lawyer and professor at Bentley University, offered some tips for determining whether an e-mail is legitimate. Just because an e-mail has the credit card company’s logo does not mean the e-mail really came from the company. It is fairly easy to counterfeit a logo. If the sender’s e-mail address does not seem related to the company, it is obviously a fake.

Another thing to examine is the content of the e-mail. Instead of addressing a user by name, the scam e-mail will generally start with “Dear Cardholder.” When a credit card company actually sends an e-mail to its cardholders, the letter will address them by name, and the last four digits of the credit card number will be referenced somewhere in the e-mail.

Finally, it is unlikely that a credit card company needs to confirm personal information before issuing a new EMV credit card. If you do want more information about an e-mail you have received, call the toll-free number on the back of your card.

To help protect banks and payment processors against cyber hacking, MasterCard has developed a special program called Safety Net that identifies potential threats before they turn into full-blown attacks. The program is designed to screen billions of transactions a day through multiple layers of tools and analytics, utilizing the inherent power of MasterCard's global network.

MasterCard first announced its Safety Net in February, with plans to launch this past spring. The credit card giant invested an estimated $20 million to get the fraud prevention program running, but its official launch date took longer than expected.

Safety Net works on a global scale, pinpointing unusual transactions that could turn into worldwide attacks. The program adds an external layer of protection in addition to an issuing bank's existing security measures, and then monitors transactions through a series of advanced algorithms tailored to each market. Banks under the protection of Safety Net are able to continue operations as normal without any interruptions from MasterCard.

The MasterCard Safety Net is being run out of Europe, but it covers card issuers and processors from nearly every continent. All Maestro, Cirrus and MasterCard credit cards and debit cards are covered under the program.

"Safety Net is the latest in a strong line up of network level defenses available to issuers in their fight against major cyberattacks," said Ajay Bhalla, MasterCard's Enterprise Security Solutions President.

Four men have been indicted on charges that they hacked into financial institutions across the globe and used stolen information to manipulate stocks, commit credit card fraud and operate illegal online casinos. The hackers and their conspirators generated over $100 million from these unlawful operations, which took place from 2012 to 2015.

Federal authorities allege the men are responsible for hacking JPMorgan Chase, E*Trade Financial, Scottrade, Dow Jones and at least five other institutions. The data of more than 100 million victims was stolen.

Gery Shalon, the alleged leader, Joshua Samuel Aaron and Zic Orenstein were charged on 23 counts, including unauthorized access of computers, identity theft, securities and wire fraud and money laundering. The fourth hacker has not yet been named.

This unidentified hacker used many methods to enter networks, including the "Heartbleed vulnerability," which was discovered last year. Also, Aaron was able to trick a victim in the United States into providing the E*Trade and Scottrade network login credentials, which the hackers used to locate customer databases on the networks.

According to online chats between the criminals, they stole customer information in the hopes of establishing their own brokerage business. They wanted to model their business after Merrill Lynch and hoped this stolen customer data would give them an advantage over competitors.

The cyber criminals hacked JPMorgan in 2014 and compromised the data of 76 million personal accounts and more than seven million small business accounts. The financial institution filed reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission that stated only names, addresses and emails were taken in that breach. Money, credit cards, passwords and social security numbers were not compromised.

However, the information that was obtained was enough to make the hackers millions of dollars. They were able to manipulate stock prices, operate dozens of Internet gambling sites and start a Bitcoin exchange.

Certain groups of consumers in the United States are losing interest in using debit cards, according to a new study from Mercator Advisory Group. Debit card use among young adults and high-income earners (people with incomes over $100,000 per year) has dropped to a seven-year low, with young adults at 56% and high-income households at 52%. The national average, by comparison, is 59%.

Why are these consumers losing interest in debit cards? Fraud risk may be playing a factor. The study showed young adults and high-income earners were more likely than other consumers to have noticed fraudulent activities on their debit cards, or to have had their cards lost or stolen.

In many cases, debit card fraud is more costly than credit card fraud because of the way banks handle liability for unauthorized transactions. With credit cards, the consumer simply calls the issuer, has the card reissued, and gets reimbursed for the fraudulent transactions. With debit cards, the money comes out of your bank account, causing you to jump through some hoops to get your funds back.

42% of all consumers reported an interest in mobile-based debit card controls to prevent fraud and monitor account finances. 55% of young adults showed interest in this feature, up from 48% last year. 51% of debit cardholders who choose not to use their cards showed interest in mobile account controls, compared to 43% of cardholders who do use their cards.

Wearable Technology Will Be Used by Half of Consumers for Mobile Payments
Research firm, Gartner Inc., has released a recent prediction that wearable technology will play a tremendously larger role in mobile payments over the next few years, saying that half of all consumers will be using them or smartphones for that purpose by the close of 2018. In markets such as Japan, North America and many countries throughout Western Europe, mobile payments remain a small but growing transaction technology. Gartner feels that by 2018, they will have become popular enough that fifty percent of consumers will be using their smartphones or wearable technology devices in order to complete transactions at checkout counters in retail stores and restaurants. Story in Mobile Commerce Press.

Coin Production Costs May Help Push U.S. to Cashless Society
It now costs more money to make a penny and a nickel than the coins are actually worth, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Since 2006, the U.S. Mint has been losing money producing pennies and nickels, due to rising metal prices throughout the country. A single penny now costs 1.7 cents to produce, while a nickel costs 8 cents. Logically, the way to solve this issue is for the U.S. Mint to utilize cheaper metals, but they have not been able to identify anything cheaper than zinc. Every penny is made up of 97.5% zinc. Yet another option for alleviating some of the costs of coin production would be to produce new coins to hold the same value. The drawback to this idea is that businesses, banks, and even vending machines would have to be reconfigured to accommodate the new coin. Story by Bill Hardekopf for LowCards.com.

U.S. Consumer Credit Grew Slowly in November
Americans' outstanding debt tab grew at the second-slowest pace of the year in November as they appeared to rein in borrowing for higher education, masking a pickup in credit-card debt. The report showed faster growth in credit-card debt from the prior month and sharply slower growth in nonrevolving credit, main auto and student loans. Revolving credit, mostly credit cards, rose at an annual 7.4% rate, a steep increase from October's downwardly revised rate of 0.1%. Nonrevolving credit rose at an annual 3.8% rate, its slowest pace since October 2011, and a drop from the downwardly revised 7.3% annual rate notched in October 2015. Story by Anna Louie Sussman and Josh Mitchell for The Wall Street Journal.

Does Bernie Sanders Understand He's About To Abolish The Credit Card Industry?
I came across something in Salon which, even for there, seemed to me to be a very odd thing to be celebrating. Which is a speech Bernie Sanders gave in which he threatened to pretty much kill off the entire credit card industry. That isn't, of course, what he thinks he said but it is the meaning of what he did say. If you cap the interest rate at which people can lend money, and your cap is below the economic cost of lending that money, then people don't cut their interest rates to the new cap: they just stop lending money. And Bernie's number for interest rates on credit cards is rather below current market rates for credit cards. In fact, only those with very high credit scores would currently be able to have a credit card under the rate Bernie is proposing. Story by Tim Worstall for Forbes.

Credit Cards Lead the Charge for Cyberlaw Issues
The payment card industry set October 2015 as the implementation date for the EMV standard (Europay, MasterCard and Visa). The standard requires merchants conducting card transactions to transition their point of sale systems to devices that can process cards that bear a microchip. The chip enables more secure transactions both by requiring a secondary authorization in the form of a signature or PIN (personal identifying number) and by creating a unique transaction code for each purchase. The import of EMV adoption is that it comes with a liability shift. Up until October, card issuers were liable for most card present fraud. Now, liability falls on the party with the least security. If the card issuer has not issued chipped cards, and many have not, the fraud liability is on the card issuer. If the merchant fails to implement card-compliant point-of-sale devices, and many have not, liability falls to the merchant. Some issues we have seen so far and will undoubtedly see more of in 2016 are that both card issuers and merchants have been slow to comply. We can expect a rise in online fraud similar to that which the EU experienced when it adopted the technology several years ago. Story by Monique M. Ferraro for the Connecticut Law Tribune.

Will Mobile Banking and EMV-Chip Cards Boost Check Fraud?
Every year for the past decade or so, fewer checks are written as consumers switch to cards and, lately, mobile apps. Total losses from check fraud have also dropped. So, thwarting check fraudsters can be crossed off your financial institution's to-do list in 2016, right? Not so fast. According to a white paper just released by Bluepoint Solutions, Cheating With Checks: An Update on the Shifting Check Fraudscape, stemming losses from checks continues to merit serious executive attention. For one thing, checks are still a leading source of attempted fraud, according to the Federal Reserve. For another thing, the dollar value of each check transaction averages significantly more than the average card transaction. This means that each check poses a relatively larger risk than card transaction, and in fact, the average loss per fraudulent check is actually rising. Story by Alissa Fry-Harris for CU Insight.

10 Banking Trends for 2016
What's on the horizon for the banking sector in 2016? Here are 10 trends: Fewer people will head to branches. The digital and branch experience will merge. Branches will start to go digital. Investment options at the bank aren't likely to expand. Savings account interest rates should go up, but you won't get rich. Banks could start charging for convenience. Online banking will remain popular but won't replace branches. Mobile payments will continue to make in-roads. Regional banks will get in on mobile deposits. Chip cards may finally see some action. Story by Maryalene LaPonsie for U.S. News.

For the First Time, More Are Mobile-Banking Than Going to a Branch
Are you one of those people who think, "Why on earth does anyone go into a bank branch anymore," as you tap your mobile banking app? If so, you're not alone. For the first time ever, there are more of you than people who actually walked into a branch in 2015, according to a new survey by Javelin Strategy & Research. Last year, roughly 30% of adults in the U.S. used a mobile banking service weekly, while just 24% availed themselves of a physical branch service as often, Javelin's survey of 3,100 people found. That's the first time in the history of the survey that mobile users (and that means just smartphones and tablets, not via desktop computers) outpaced branch users. In 2015, one in ten consumers used mobile banking for the first time, or roughly 25 million people. Since 2010 the number of smartphone bankers has doubled, while the number of people using a tablet has jumped nearly 10 times. Story by Telis Demos for The Wall Street Journal.

LowCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
Based on the 1,000+ cards in the LowCards.com Complete Credit Card Index, the average advertised APR for credit cards is 14.89 percent, a slight  increase from last week's average of 14.87%. Six months ago, the average was 14.65 percent. One year ago, the average was 14.44 percent.

Young adults, born afterafter 1996 and known as iGen or Gen Z, are less concerned than Millennials about their privacy when it comes to mobile payment apps and social media. But they are more concerned about protecting their identity while paying with a debit or credit card.

This is just one finding of the Center for Generational Kinetics report, “iGen Tech Disruption,” which studied generational attitudes on issues ranging from politics to technology. Other key findings include:

• Vine, Instagram and Twitter were the most popular social media sites for iGen. Facebook didn't even make their top five list, but 44% said it is a good social media site for people of any age, from their own generation to their grandparents.
• More than any other generation, including Millennials, iGen felt social media determines their self-worth. It affects their self-esteem, popularity, social influence, job and dating prospects. 37% said that it also affects their happiness.
• While 25% of Baby Boomers don't trust shared service providers such as Uber and AirBnB, iGen counts on these companies. 63% of iGen respondents said background checks on those providing shared services is the way to earn their trust, which is higher than any other generation.
• iGen believes people should receive their first smartphone at 13 while everyone else, including Millennials, think people should wait until they're 18.
• iGen respondents believed phone usage is acceptable nearly everywhere, including during dinner, religious service, a job interview, applying for a home loan and even at their own wedding. But only 6% thought it was okay to use their phone in any way at work.

“iGen’s role and relationship with technology—from attitudes toward technology to true dependence on it—provides the best snapshot we have of future technology usage for each of us," said Jason Dorsey, iGen expert and co-founder of the Center for Generational Kinetics. "This happens because technology trends now ripple up: from the youngest adults to the oldest. The generations before iGen, such as Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers, will eventually adopt many of the technology habits and attitudes that iGen already views as normal. Our study reveals what to expect.”

Consumers are well aware of data security risks in the modern world, but they show no signs of changing the way they use technology. A staggering 83% of consumers reported that technology has enhanced their daily lives, and 30% of participants said technology has improved their financial status.

These were the findings of a study done by Experian for today, Data Privacy Day.

Despite the heavy reliance on technology, 93% of consumers said identity theft was a growing problem, and 91% believed consumers should be more concerned about data privacy violations. Nevertheless, only 36% of participants said they review privacy policy changes when they receive these notifications, and just 28% of consumers review privacy policies for mobile apps before downloading them.

These statistics reflect those of a similar study recently published by the Center for Generational Kinetics. This survey reviewed how members of "iGen" (people born after 1996) view their privacy and financial future. The study showed iGen is more concerned with the threat of credit card fraud than they are with online privacy violations. This could put the young generation at risk of identity theft in the future.

Our reliance on technology is only going to increase, and so is the threat of data privacy breaches. With that in mind, there are some steps to take to ensure your online financial safety:

• Only submit your personal information to trusted sources
• Only enter your credit card information on secure webpages
• Monitor your card accounts after shopping online to check for fraudulent transaction
• Never use your PIN for debit card purchases online
• Make sure your credit card offers fraud protection

Javelin studied the nation's top 20 credit card issuers to determine the leaders in consumer identity safety. Those topping the 2016 list are: American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, PNC, SunTrust, USAA and Wells Fargo.

To assess credit card issuers’ account security features, Javelin used its Prevention, Detection and Resolution Model. The study found:

• Bank of America has long been “Best in Class” but was edged out by one percentage point by USAA this year. Unlike most issuers, USAA offer credit monitoring, public information monitoring and identity fraud insurance as add-on features.

• Prevention is the most difficult fraud category. Only Bank of America, USAA, Citibank, American Express, Chase and PNC stood out in this category, as they offer customer-defined controls and advanced mobile and online authentication procedures.

• Fraud detection features showed the biggest gaps between top performing credit card issuers and lower tier issuers. The top five companies in detection were USAA, Bank of America, American Express, Wells Fargo and Capital One. They scored 72% to 97% of possible points, while the fourth and third quartile issuers scored only 28% and 51%. It is anticipated that account takeover will grow, so risk alerts, such as cash advances and changes in personally identifiable information, are very important.

• USAA and PNC were tied as leaders in fraud resolution with perfect scores. They were followed closing by a tie among Bank of America, Citibank and SunTrust. Expedited card replacement and the ability to report a lost/stolen card from a mobile device distinguished the top companies.

Many companies are making advancements at the resolution level. Most issuers resolved fraud claims quickly. In fact, two-thirds of fraud victims had their claim resolved in less than an hour.

The study profiled American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, BB&T, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Citizens Bank, Commerce Bank, Discover, Fifth Third, First National Bank of Omaha, Navy Federal Credit Union, Pentagon FCU, PNC, SunTrust, TD Bank, USAA, US Bank, and Wells Fargo.

Bank of America added new features to its mobile app in January, including the option to lock and unlock debit and credit cards directly from your phone. Customers can place a temporary lock on their accounts to prevent new card transactions and ATM withdrawals from occurring, or they can report a permanently lost card and request a replacement.

Another feature coming out later this year is two-way email fraud alerts. Bank of America already offers two-way text messaging for credit card alerts, but the new feature will provide the same convenience in an email form. Accountholders will get an email about suspicious card activity so they can review the transactions and authorize which ones are valid. This speeds up the hold process on accounts with suspicious card activity.

The new app will provide more flexibility for deposit applications, including the ability to save an online or mobile deposit to complete at a later date.

In addition to these changes, Bank of America will be offering free FICO scores for credit cardholders for the first half of the year. Consumers can view their scores online starting the month they enroll. This option will be available on the mobile app later this year.

If you haven't noticed, the latest credit card technology is already here. Credit cards with embedded smart chips were sent out in great numbers last year, and retailers are rushing to install terminals that can read them. These embedded microchips are often referred to as EMV chips after the companies that were behind the creation of this new standard: Europay, MasterCard, and Visa.

How EMV chips work

Traditionally, credit cards have used the magnetic stripes on the back of the cards to transmit information to credit card terminals. This technology dates back to the 1960s and to this day, the information is not transmitted securely using encryption. This makes it relatively easy for the data from your credit card to be compromised. From there, it's a somewhat simple process to recreate your credit card, also known as cloning. Once your credit card is cloned, a criminal can use it anywhere.

Although EMV smart chip technology has been in use in Europe and other parts of the world for 20 years, it hasn't been adopted in the United States until recently. In October of 2015, the United States credit card industry underwent a so-called liability shift, which transferred the liability for fraudulent transactions between merchants and credit card issuers, if one of them failed to be EMV compatible. So if a fraudulent transaction occurred and a card issuer hadn't provided its customer with an EMV equipped card, then the card issuer would be held responsible for the cost of the fraudulent transaction. But if fraud occurred when the card issuer provided the customer with an EMV equipped card, and the merchant hadn't used an EMV compatible card reader, then the merchant became liable for the cost of the fraud.

Replacing the magnetic stripe with a microchip works to fight fraud in two ways. First, the microchips transmit credit card information in an encrypted manner. In fact, the exchange of information between the chip and the terminal actually goes two ways, unlike magnetic stripes which are simply read. In addition, it is exponentially harder and more expensive to reproduce a card with a microchip than it is to clone a card with a magnetic stripe.

The role of EMV equipped cards when making purchases online or over the phone

For all the strengths of the EMV smart chip system, it is really only used when the credit card itself is present in a transaction. When cardholders make purchases over the phone or through the Internet, then they will still be providing their credit card account information manually to the merchant. So in this sense, the existence of an EMV smart chip will do nothing to directly enhance the security of the transaction.

Nevertheless, the EMV system does have an indirect security benefit, even when the transaction is performed over the phone or online. Should the customer's credit card information be compromised, it would be much harder to use that information to create a cloned credit card that has an EMV smart chip embedded. So in this narrow sense, the EMV smart chip system could potentially make it harder for stolen credit card information to be used fraudulently.

Credit card fraud and the law

Thankfully, Federal law holds cardholders largely harmless to the cost of fraudulent transactions, whether or not they use a credit card with an EMV smart chip. The Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974 dictates that credit card users will not be held liable for more than $50 in the event of a fraudulent transaction, yet in practice, nearly every credit card issuer waives that limit by offering a zero liability policy.

The most important thing you need to know is that you have to carefully review your credit card statement each month in order to identify and report fraudulent charges. But once you report a fraudulent charge to your credit card issuer, then you will not be responsible for paying it. In fact, the card issuer will immediately remove the charge from your account, pending its investigation.

How EMV cards could encourage fraud over the phone and the Internet

Since EMV cards are more secure than regular credit cards with just magnetic stripes, criminals will have a hard time cloning them. But if someone steals your credit card number, it will be much more likely that they will use it over the phone or the Internet. In addition, transactions where the card is not present, such as those over the phone and the Internet, will become the preferred method of credit card fraud, now that cloning a card has become too expensive and impractical.

By understanding how EMV equipped credit cards work when making transactions over the phone and through the Internet, you can continue to enjoy the security and convenience of your credit cards without worrying about the risk of fraud.