Natalie Weinstein reports for CNET News.com that Visa USA has acknowledged today that a U.S. merchant "may have experienced a data security breach" that compromised credit card account information.

Ina Steiner reports for AuctionBytes.com that First Data's BidPay unit is closing down operations on December 31, 2005.

This week's Top 11 Most Popular News Stories on Payments News are:

• Tom Peters Interviews Eric Jackson, Author of "The PayPal Wars" - Management guru Tom Peters has fun interviewing PayPal Wars author Eric Jackson.
• When PayPal Becomes the Back Office, Too - A look at how small businesses are using PayPal's payment capabilities.
• Citi Launches New American Express Credit Cards - Over a year after announcing their card issuing alliance, Citi prepares to launch five new American Express-branded cards in January.
• Risky Business: Managing Electronic Payments in the 21st Century - The Philidelphia Fed's Payment Card Center publishes a summary of a recent conference on electronic payments.
• Contactless Payments Outlook for 2006 - A commentary from MasterCard on what's shaping up to be a big year for contactless payments in 2006.

IndianTelevision.com reports on Visa International's new brand identity and the Reliance Any Time Money Card that will be the first Visa payment product that will have the new Visa brand identity and design in India.

Kim Norris reports for the Detroit Free Press on the growing number of banks who are beginning to offer health savings accounts.

Sarana Schell reports for the Anchorage Daily News on merchant card authorization practices and how authorizing larger amounts can affect a cardholder's availability of funds.

Harold Davis reports for the Stamford, CT Advocate on GE Consumer FInance's new private label credit card for Carvin Music.

Nicole Warburton writes for the Deseret Morning News about plans by the Utah Transit Authority to test a contactless card-based fare collection system.