The BBC reports that the new chip and Pin bank card system cut UK card fraud by 13% in 2005 according to the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS). Losses due to the fraudulent use of credit and debit cards fell last year by £65m to £439m.

Last week, a new design US $10 bill entered circulation. According to the US Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Printing and Engraving, this bill is the third denomination to be redesigned in the series.

Carolyn Said reports for the San Francisco Chronicle about hometown startup Prosper.com, the latest person to person lending enabler that is backed by $20 million raised from venture investors Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital, Fidelity Ventures and Omidyar Network.

JPMorgan Chase has announced the rollout of pre-paid debit cards to speed payment of tax refunds to low-income tax filers without bank accounts.

Brian Krebs of the Washington Post reports in his Security Fix blog about how various hotel key cards are having their magnetic stripes re-encoded by fraudsters for use as bank cards.

Reuters reports that Visa USA has announced that VIsa cardholders spent $1.23 trillion during 2005, up 17.5 percent from the prior year. A total of 510.9 million Visa cards were in cardholders' wallets at year end, up 12 percent.

Patrick Baltatzis reports for Business 2.0 on earlier rumors driven by job postings that PayPal may be planning to get in (or back in) to the mobile payments business.

Gillian Jones reports for South Africa's MarketingWeb about an idea being put forth by South African businessman Neil Solomon who says he’s come up with a way for both the US to get rid of its massive budget deficit and for developing countries to earn wads of cash: advertise on money.

Black Lab Mobile has announced the availability of billmycell, a service they describe as enabling consumers to make credit card transfers to any person or business via their cellphone.

The Center for Financial Services Innovation has announced the first of four online chats (scheduled for this Thursday, March 9 at 2 PM EST) with participants from the National Community Investment Fund's Retail Financial Services Initiative to discuss the value of check-cashing partnerships, prepaid cards, and second-chance accounts as viable acquisition and asset-building strategies, and their own experiences in designing and managing their programs.

U.S. Bank has introduced an additional level of fraud security to business customers with U.S. Bank UPIC secure account identifier, a unique identifier that masks the actual bank account numbers of business customers when electronic payments take place.

Kohl's Corporation has announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with JPMorgan Chase to enhance the credit operations of the company.

Geoff Dutton of the Columbus Dispatch writes about growth in controversial new online businesses that claim to be able to help you improve your credit score - called credit repair. Such services may be attractive to first-time home buyers looking to qualify for their first mortgage.

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

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• InfoWorld Gripe Line: EBay Makes Sellers Pay for Using PayPal
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• Government and Industry Leaders Share Experience with Secure Identity Credentialing at 5th Annual Smart Cards in Government Conference
• S1 Corporation Delivers New Retail and Business Online Banking Solutions
• Mosaic Software Brand Transitions to S1 Corporation
• MBNA Merger Could Give A Boost To BofA's Bottom Line
• Omaha Restaurant Association Awards Purveyor of Year to Heartland Payment Systems
• Asia Pay Adds Former MasterCard Vice President Hong Kong/Macau Rosaline Tam to Board of Directors
• VeriFone Serves Up New Hospitality Systems Organization
• ABC News: On the Lookout for Identity Thieves
• Four Top Card Issuers Select Online Resources for Web-Based Collections
• Bankrate.com: Tax payments by plastic doubly rewarding
• Standard Chartered launches new Manhattan lifestyle credit card in UAE
• New York Daily News: It's a bawl of confusion on credit card charges
• Commentary: Data Insecurity: What Remedy Should Consumers Have When Companies Do Not Keep Their Data Safe?
• Commentary: Interchange fee fight calls in wrong regulatory forces
• Mortgage Lenders Wage Aggressive Counter Attack on Fraud: BasePoint Helps Lenders Leverage Advanced Technology and Lessons from Banks to Effectively Solve Fraud and Keep Mortgages Affordable
• Cyveillance Enables COCC to Protect Financial Institution Clients from Online Risks