In an effort to provide direct financial relief to tens of millions of American families, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today announced that he has introduced legislation that would cap interest rates on credit cards and all other loans at 15 percent.

The Interest Rate Reduction Act would rein in the skyrocketing rates that banks and financial institutions are charging customers with little or no warning and without any justification. (Source – Mike Morosi)

Researchers have developed a proof-of-concept Android program that can literally keep an ear out for credit card numbers.

Dubbed Soundminer, the software uses the phone’s microphone to listen for credit card numbers spoken aloud, or typed into the phone. (Source)

The Federal Reserve recently outlined a proposal for a new, reduced debit interchange rate. This new rate is the result of the Durbin Amendment, which requires the Fed to set a lower debit interchange rate early this year. (Source)

Less than half of the small to mid-sized retailers surveyed had completed a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) self-assessment, according to a poll by the National Retail Federation and First Data Corp.

While 66% of respondents were aware of the PCI DSS, 42% did not know that merchants that process credit card payments are obligated to conduct the self-assessment annually.
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CyberSource, a subsidiary of payment card network Visa issued a report that online retailers lost $2.7 billion dollars 2010, compared to $3.3 billion for 2009.

Online merchants are becoming more aggressive about rejecting suspicious orders. North American Internet retailers rejected 2.7% of orders in 2010, up from 2.4% in 2009. (Source)

Internet security experts have come out with their predictions on the biggest threats in cyberspace for 2011.

The experts said that hackers and online criminals are increasingly taking aim at smart phones because they are often not up to date on security software.

Dave Marcus from McAfee Security said cyberspace security hasn’t kept up with mobile access to the World Wide Web. (Source)

The Federal Reserve is proposing new caps on debit card swipe fees, but unless you are a business merchant, you probably do not understand swipe fees and their impact.

A  ’swipe’ fee covers multiple fees, which merchants pay to the electronic payment processing networks when customers pay with a debit or credit card.

The largest swipe fee is the interchange fee. The interchange fee typically is synonymous with swipe fees, but interchange fees are a portion of the swipe fee that goes to the card issuing bank. Read the rest of this entry »