Update: See this blink Denver update posted Friday, August 12, 2005.

A very good friend of Glenbrook's, Linda Elliott, lives in the Denver area and just got her very own Chase blink card in the mail. She's just finished writing up part one of a report on her first day's experiences with that blink card in her hands. Great stuff - enjoy!

First Data Corp. has announced that its Primary Payments Systems (PPS) affiliate now covers an estimated 90 percent of all open and active US transaction accounts.

The near total coverage is expected to help save U.S. financial institutions an additional $100 million or more in fraud losses this year. Powered by the databases, the Early Warning deposit and payment risk assessment services help prevent fraud-related losses by notifying users of high-risk deposits and payments via transaction accounts, such as checking, demand deposit, negotiable order of withdrawal, automatic transfer service and credit union share draft accounts. The databases, which are used exclusively for fraud prevention, receive daily updates with non-public secure information regarding accounts, transactions and identities.

MedDirect Health Benefits, a provider of financing to patients seeking affordable ways to pay for healthcare procedures, has announced a strategic partnership with 1Point Solutions, a third party administrator in Dickson, Tennessee.

"MedDirect HSA Plus" offers a full range of other services necessary to administer HSAs.

Central to "MedDirect HSA Plus" is a savings account established with Bancorp Bank that offers superior interest rates, mutual funds and FDIC/SIPC protection, as well as overdraft protection offered through the MedDirect Bridge Line. This overdraft protection is an employer-sponsored benefit, and is available to all employees regardless of their creditworthiness.

The partnership with 1Point Solutions helps to enhance a key element of "MedDirect HSA Plus" - the Bridge Card, a smart debit MasterCard that can be used at the point-of-sale by subscribers for all HSA-eligible expenses.

Matthias Bekier and Kenny Lam write for the McKinsey Quarterly on what Chinese consumers want from their banks.

While Chinese consumers indicate some willingness to use foreign banks, their preference for local ones is stronger than ever: 78 percent of respondents say that doing business with local institutions is important to them, up from 66 percent in 1999.

CashEdge announced this morning that the Los Angeles Firemen's Credit Union, a credit union serving firefighters and their families in the state of California, is using CashEdge's OpenNow and FundNow services. OpenNow/FundNow enables prospective credit union members to securely open and fund a new account in real-time through the credit union's website.

Approximately 95 percent of new online account applicants drop out between enrollment and funding. By offering a single-session solution, CashEdge enables financial institutions to increase dramatically account completion rates among this valuable member-base. Online members are particularly attractive because they are less costly to acquire and more profitable, maintaining higher account balances, utilizing more services and exhibiting higher overall account activity.

• Equifax CEO: Identity Theft Is an Epidemic
• USA Today: Credit card fraud hits small online merchants hard
• National Consumer Group Warns Latest Merchant Lawsuit Against Credit Card Companies Poses Veiled Attempt to Pass Additional Costs Onto Consumer
• TSYS Announces Executive Promotions
• Huntington Protecting Customers From Third-Party Card Processor Breach
• Stored Value Systems Forms Strategic Alliance with Brand Keys, Offering ''Total Solution'' Loyalty Program Consultation
• Identity Theft Impacting the Uptake of On-Line Banking & E-Commerce
• UK: Forgetfulness dogs chip and pin cards
• Some consumers can freeze credit history from prying eyes
• Cyota's Anti-Phishing Data to Further Enhance EarthLink's ScamBlocker
• Days of Tax-Free Online Sales May Be Numbered
• Metavante to Acquire GHR Systems, Adding Consumer Finance and Residential Mortgage Origination Services to Financial Technologies
• Authorize.Net Launches New Integration Center
• FT: Biometrics companies scan a lucrative market
• Steps for Growing Your Purchasing Card Program
• UK: Economy 'at risk from card debt'
• USA Today Editorial: Give consumers the option to freeze out credit crooks
• Retailers go on higher alert to halt credit fraud
• Business as usual for card firms
• Merchant Losses from Online Payment Fraud, Which Amounted to the Seemingly Astronomical Sum of $2.6 Billion in 2004, Still Accounted for just 1.8% of Total Sales
• Newsweek: The Scary New World of Identity Theft