Visa USA today announced its sales volume during the recent holiday season. The top line news was spending on Visa branded cards in the US totaled $218.7 billion, a 15.7 percent increase over 2003 for the period November 1 through January 2).

Spending on Visa credit cards exceeded $110 billion, while debit spending grew to more than $90.6 billion, a 6.8 percent and 26.2 percent spike over 2003, respectively.

Card Technology reports on why the convenience store chain Sheetz recently announced it was going to accept MasterCard's tap-and-go PayPass proximity cards at its 305 store locations: wanting to be first to market.

The article cites MasterCard test results showing that PayPass transactions are 13% faster than standard credit card transactions with average purchase amounts also up 5% with PayPass.

Internet Retailer reports on how some phishers are using Visa's Verified by Visa program as bait in phishing attacks.

Because the security program has been widely publicized by Visa, phishing scams have begun targeting Visa cardholders to encourage them to sign up for it. Fraud experts say they have seen phishing e-mail with Visa logos that request recipients to submit their credit card account information and other data, such as the 3-digit card verification numbers designed to protect against fraud in card-not-present transactions.

First Data Corp. has announced that it has been selected by Washington Mutual to provide authorization and settlement processing for Washington Mutual's nine million card signature debit portfolio -- extending a previously announced relationship between Washington Mutual and First Data's STAR Network where STAR serves as the preferred brand and network for PIN-secured, online debit point-of-sale, and ATM processing.

Ariana Eunjung Cha writes in today's Washington Post about how some folks are using eBay for turning stolen goods into cash -- including gift cards.

Gift card fraud is one of the fastest-growing problems for merchants, according to Richard C. Hollinger, a professor of criminology at the University of Florida. The National Retail Federation, an industry group based in the District, said one of its member companies recently tracked 42 gift cards it found online and found that 22 had been stolen or purchased with stolen credit cards.

Cha goes on to report that eBay recently restricted the sale of gift cards on its site to one per seller per week with a maximum value of $500.

Matt Wickenheiser writes in the Portland (Maine) Press about purchasing card provider BlueTarp Inc.'s recent $14 million venture capital financing.

BlueTarp's business is this: It takes over the trade-credit business for building-materials suppliers. Typically, building contractors have a credit line with a hardware store, or several stores. The stores must manage those accounts receivable.

BlueTarp has made the whole system electronic. It also organizes the purchases in such a way that contractors can track their expenses, even nailing down how much they spent on materials each day on separate jobs. BlueTarp collects a tiny percentage from each transaction.

Former Concord EFS, Bank of America and Visa USA executive Bond Isaacson recently joined BlueTarp as CEO.

MasterCard has announced that it will waive its fees to the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, UNICEF, Save the Children and CARE USA for donations for Tsunami relief made by Americans with their MasterCard cards beginning January 7th.

MBNA has announced that it will be running its first national commercial advertising during the upcoming Super Bowl XXXIX telecast.

SG Cowen analyst Walter Pritchard has released the results of a recent survey of over 1,000 consumers regarding their views of security.

New York Lawyer reports this morning that W. Stephen Cannon, most recently general counsel of retailer Circuit City, is joining the law firm Constantine & Partners as president and a name partner. Cannon will open a Washington, D.C., office for the 20-lawyer Constantine firm, which will adopt the name Constantine & Cannon, effective Feb. 1.

The retailer was one of the major forces behind the antitrust class action suit in the Eastern District against Visa USA, Inc., and MasterCard International Inc., in which more than 5 million merchants claimed the credit card companies acted as a monopoly. The suit, in which Constantine & Partners was lead counsel, last April resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the largest ever for an antitrust case.