Zopa has announced a $15 million Series B funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and including existing investors Benchmark Capital and Wellington Partners. The additional funding will support Zopa's intended California launch.

Phillip Torrone of Make Magazine writes about what he'd like to see in the next generation of credit cards where "credit card companies and game makers will reward their customers who spend money in the real world using private label "rewards" credit cards." According to Torrone, they will use "gifts of virtual currency such as Blizzard's World of Warcraft gold and Second Life's Linden dollars."

Martyn Williams reports for InfoWorld that Aeon Co., one of Japan's biggest retail groups, is "throwing its weight behind NTT DoCoMo's plans to enable touch-and-go credit card payments through cell phone handsets."

Almost one-half of all U.S. adults (45%) say their household does not have enough money in liquid savings to cover at least three months of living expenses, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell's lawyers.com.

Declan McCullagh of CNET News.com interviews Ed Mierzwinski, the consumer program director for the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PIRG), about a new data security breach bill that is moving its way through Congress and would pre-empt various state laws on the subject including California's SB1386 consumer notification provisions.

Larry Greenemeier reports for Information Week on Visa's contactless card efforts including the potential that contactless technology could be used to better secure cards.

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