Newswise reports on a new loan program launched by some credit unions called Salary Advance Loans.

Can you believe paper being faster than electronic payments? This morning Bank One announced a new Overnight Check service that is available to its checking account customers through its online banking website BankOne.com.

Moneris Solutions, InfoTouch and Merchant Partners have announced they are teaming to integrate payment processing with touch screen technology and help the retail industry transition to a touch screen point-of-sale (POS) infrastructure.

Verifone Holdings has filed an S-1 registration statement with the SEC. According to the financials included in the S-1, the company reported revenues of about $390 million for the year ending October 2004 and $0.6 million in net income.

In his new article "Looking Back, Looking Ahead" (PDF), Tom Brown of Second Curve Capital takes a look back at financial services industry highlights from 2004 and ahead on what to expect in 2005.

Scott Reeves writes for Forbes.com on American consumer debt and strategies to get out of it.

The typical U.S. household carries $9,200 in credit card debt. The U.S. Federal Reserve reports that debt levels of U.S. households fell $8.7 billion in November after a sharp drop in charge-card and credit activity.

Liz Pulliam Weston reports for MSN Money on technologies to better secure electronic payments.

Personally, I want financial institutions and retailers to do more to make sure the person withdrawing money and charging purchases is actually me. I’m not going to let them implant a chip or scan my retinas (another “biometric” authentication process that gives most people the willies), but I wouldn’t mind carrying a key fob that would make my accounts more secure.

Bloomberg reports on the UK's Competition Commission's inquiry into store card rates.

The commission is investigating whether companies such as GE Consumer Finance and HSBC Holdings Plc are stifling competition in Britain's 4.8 billion-pound market ($9 billion) for store cards, allowing them to charge interest rates as much as 10 percentage points higher than for ordinary credit cards.

P.J. Huffstutter writes in the Los Angeles Times about the "freight dogs" that fly paper checks around the country at night -- and the impact that Check 21 is likely to have on them.