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Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart and American Express have teamed up to offer customers an alternative to debit and checking accounts. The new service, called Bluebird, is designed to provide financial services to customers who often do not have traditional bank accounts. It will allow for deposits by smartphone and mobile bill paying, with no minimum balance or monthly, annual or overdraft fees.

Cincinnati -- Payment processing service-provider Vantiv said Wednesday that it has launched its Mobile Check Deposit product that enables consumers and small business owners to use their smartphone to take a picture of a check and deposit into their account.

The service, which had been in pilot with Town & Country Bank in Salem, Mo., is now available in the United States and already more than 40 financial institutions have signed up for the service.

Atlanta -- The SpendTrend analysis released Friday by First Data Corp., which tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations, found that overall year-over-year dollar volume growth was up 7.3% in November 2011, down from October’s 9.4% growth.

November 2011 had tough comparables as November 2010 was a particularly strong month, with dollar volume growth up 8.1%, according to First Data. November 2011 transaction growth was 6.1%. 

Atlanta -- A report released Tuesday by First Data Corp., which tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations, found that card spend growth slowed significantly in July. However, dollar volume growth at general merchandise stores, including value retail, rose 10.3%, the largest increase in 10 months, as value retailers increased merchant promotional activity and discounting to attract consumers.

Hampstead, Md. -- JoS. A. Bank Clothiers is now allowing international customers to place orders on its website. The retailer is now able to deliver website orders to customers in over 90 countries. JoS. A. Bank will utilize a third-party provider, FiftyOne Global Ecommerce (“FiftyOne”), New York City, to facilitate the checkout of the orders and to export and deliver the orders to the international destinations.