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This week, state Sen. Michael Rubio will introduce legislation that would prohibit food stamps from being used to purchase "junk food" or prepared meals at fast-food restaurants. "The question is what should we be using taxpayer funds to purchase," the Bakersfield Democrat said Tuesday. "In my opinion, we should be focusing on what people need, not what they want." Those needs include foods found in the traditional food pyramid, he said, including breads and cereals, meats, beans, nuts, dairy products and other protein sources, and lots of fruits and vegetables. Rubio's idea is not yet an official Senate bill. But...

Federal limits on debit card processing fees will force banks to charge customers more for services, making accounts too expensive for as many as 5 percent of customers, JPMorgan Chase & Co's chief executive said on Friday. The rules, proposed as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, would cap the fees that merchants pay banks for processing debit card transactions at 12 cents each. That is almost 75 percent less than the average 44 cents per transaction that banks get now. U.S. banks could lose about $13 billion of their annual industry debit processing revenues because of the rules,...

<p>NEW YORK — The Federal Reserve on Thursday proposed a 12-cent cap on the fees banks would be allowed to charge merchants for debit card transactions, a limit that could sharply cut into the revenue of the banks that issue debit cards.</p>

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A Northern California city is moving forward with plans for a municipal identification card that is being touted as the first in the nation that would double as a full-fledged debit card. The Oakland City Council this month awarded a contract to issue the cards. The goal is to help any city residents, including illegal immigrants, who may have difficulty obtaining a state-issued ID.

"In a decision handed down late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest, rather than in the order the transactions took place. That helped drain customer bank accounts faster and drive up overdraft fees, a policy Alsup referred to as "gouging and profiteering.""

A week from today, one in 10 New Yorkers who use debit cards will be red-faced at a retail checkout counter when their cards are declined. That's because Aug. 15 is the kickoff day for new federal rules requiring existing bank and credit union customers to opt in for debit-card and ATM overdraft coverage -- a massive change in banking regulation that many consumers have ignored or failed to notice. The choice for customers is this: Opt in to overdraft coverage, meaning you can use your debit card even if you overdraw your account, but pay a $20-$30 penalty every...

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: International Hacker Arraigned After Extradition Elaborate Scheme Stole over $9.4 Million from Credit Card Processor ATLANTA, GA—SERGEI TŠURIKOV, 26, of Tallinn, Estonia, has been extradited to the United States. TŠURIKOV appeared today and was arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III, on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, and aggravated identity theft. TŠURIKOV was indicted by a federal grand jury on these charges on November 10, 2010, along with VIKTOR PLESHCHUK, 29, of St. Petersburg, Russia; OLEG COVELIN,...

The gal at the car wash this morning said that banks were charging 50 cents per debit transaction on people's accounts. She heard it on the news and the man who set up the debit machine at the car wash told her as well. She said that the banks are not making enough on credit cards because people are using debit cards more. I have dug around on bank sites but have not found this. Does anyone know?

A Bid for Payments to Become Cheaper and More Secure The Treasury Department plans to introduce a prepaid debit card for Social Security recipients in an effort to provide safer and cheaper benefits payments. The Direct Express debit card, set to be announced today, will be introduced in a handful of states this spring and rolled out nationwide by the end of the summer. Dallas-based Comerica Inc.'s Comerica Bank has been selected as the card issuer for the program, which is targeted at Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients who don't have a bank account. The card could mean...

Capital One, the McLean financial services company, announced yesterday that it will purchase NetSpend Holdings, a retail seller of prepaid debit cards, for $700 million. The acquisition would give Capital One, best known for its credit card offerings, a bigger presence in the growing market for prepaid debit cards and extend its reach to the estimated 70 million U.S. citizens who don't have bank accounts, the company said. "It's adjacent to our core business," said Tatiana Stead, a spokeswoman for Capital One. "We now have an opportunity to provide an option for everybody." Prepaid debit cards can be used like...

Redmond police have arrested the owner of a local smoke shop after dozens of customers who used their debit cards at his store discovered that their bank accounts had been siphoned. One customer, a businessman, took a client to lunch, and the restaurant declined his debit card. Some victims suffered $900 in losses. Others took hits as high as $3,000, police said. So far, investigators have identified at least 26 victims who were customers of US Bank and Washington Mutual, police records show. The 35-year-old suspect in this case is believed to be part of a large crime ring operating...

WASHINGTON — The federal government's relief agency said Friday it will discontinue its program to distribute debit cards worth up to $2,000 to hurricane victims, two days after hastily announcing the novel plan to provide quick relief. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (search) said it will scrap the program once officials finish distributing cards this weekend at shelters in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where many of the evacuees were moved. No cards will be issued to victims in other states.

VICTORIA - Two men from Montreal have been arrested in Victoria in what police are calling the most sophisticated debit-card fraud they've ever seen. Police Insp. Bill Naughton says investigators seized a "Trojan" card reader – a device that records debit-card information, including PINs. Police allege the suspects recruited store cashiers to replace real bank debit machines with their reader, and then transferred the information to counterfeit cards. Naughton says those new cards were used weeks or even months later, usually in foreign countries. "So if your grandmother, for example, had been using her card in Oak Bay to purchase...

<p>NEW YORK (AP) -- The familiar process of buying something with a credit card -- handing the plastic to the clerk or swiping it yourself, then waiting for approval and signing the receipt -- could be headed the way of the mechanical brass cash register.</p>

<p>The lawyers who negotiated a $3 billion debit-card settlement for the nation's biggest retailers have submitted their bill: $558 million, including expenses.</p> <p>The settlement reached in May brought an end to a seven-year legal battle that produced nearly 400 depositions, five million documents, and 54 expert reports, and changed the way credit-card companies charge retailers to process their cards.</p>