Jessica Mintz reports for the Wall St. Journal on the three primary payment card choices for kids: a credit card; a debit card linked to a checking or savings account; or a prepaid debit card that can be loaded with money by parents or children.

James Bickers, editor of Kiosk Marketplace, reports on contactless payments and what will be required for marketplace success.

Vidyalaxmi & Preeti R Iyer report for India's Business Standard on EMV smart card initiatives in India.

Michael Clarke reports for This Is Money from the UK on the state of the UK credit card business. Clarke points out that credit card-related consumer debt in the UK currently represents 2/3rd's of total European Union credit card debt outstanding.

Ann Bednarz reports for Network World on contactless payments.

Dustin Kirk has published plans for making a homemade RFID blocking wallet.

From Malaysia, Surin Muragiah reports for The Edge on MBF Cards introduction of mBILLPAY, "a payment mode that combines credit card and mobile phone usage."

USA Today's editorial today is about consumer credit card debt and the increases in minimum monthly payments on credit card loans -- and levels criticism at federal regulators for the loose guidelines provided to card issuers on the timing for making this change to repayment minimums.

Martin Crutsinger of the Associated Press reports that the proportion of consumers behind on their credit card bills remained near record-high levels in the July-September period as high gasoline prices and rising interest rates continued to put stress on personal budgets.

Citibank is currently offering Apple iPod nano's as promotion items to new Citibank Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit applicants who apply by the end of this month.

Bolero has announced that HypoVereinsbank (HVB) - one of the leading German banks and a member of UniCredit Group - has implemented BoleroAdvise and BoleroApply into its trade finance offering.

Pay By Touch has announced it has completed the acquisition of BioPay LLC for $82 million in stock and cash. BioPay is a biometric services provider with more than two million enrolled consumers that has authorized more than $7 billion in biometrically-authenticated transactions.

Arthur Blank & Co. has announced CornCard USA, a corn-based plastic card that uses corn, an annually renewable and domestically grown resource as an alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastic cards.

Becky Bright reports for the Wall St. Journal on financial planner Elizabeth Jetton's favorite books.

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated.

• Hypercom Expands Optimum 32-Bit Payment Terminal Line
• VeriFone's VisualPayments Suite Drives Retailer Dataflow
• Visa expands business operations in India