In his statement Thursday, Ryley said Sky News had commissioned an internal audit of payment records, alongside the external review of e-mail records.

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What's more, in my view the company has sullied its brand with questionable promotions, declining customer service and tight credit even for customers with stellar payment records.

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The lowest late-payment rate on TransUnion records going back to the mid-1990s was 0.56 percent, set in the third quarter of 1994.

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Last spring it won permission to inspect the records of customers of PayPal, eBay's online payment system, who have bank or payment-card accounts in tax havens.

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For it to work, a person must use a micro-payment network to buy food, which allows their purchases to be monitored and compared against their health records.

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