Visa USA has announced the election of its first four independent members of its board of directors: Philip D. DeFeo, Linda Baker Keene, Jon C. Madonna and John A. Swainson.

Mercator Advisory Group has released a new report titled "The Online Opportunity for PIN-Based and "PIN-Less" Debit" that discusses market opportunities to expand usage of PIN-based debit cards in the online environment.

David Steiner writes for AuctionBytes about his first impressions as a shopper on eBay's new eBay Express fixed price shopping portal - he calls it "eBeX". HIs big learning - watch out for shipping costs from eBeX sellers - especially when comparing prices before checkout to those on Amazon.com where shipping on orders over $25 is free.

Cliff D'Arcy writes for Motley Fool UK about how some card issuers, notably MBNA, have introduced a new approach to reducing the minimum payment amount due on outstanding balances - which he calls "the most evil and disturbing card trick that I've ever seen in almost two decades in financial services." Credit card issuers in the US were recently nudged to address the minimum payment amount due issue by federal regulators.

Andrea Coombes writes for MarketWatch about the record number of mailed credit card solicitations - over 6 billion - mailed by US credit card issuers in 2005, up 16 percent over 2004 according to a new report by Synovate. That works out to an average of six offers per household per month.

Card Technology reports on plans by South Korea’s major mobile operators - led by SK Telecom and KTF - to roll out contactless payment to their subscribers.

Yukako Ono writes for Japan's Asahi.com about NTT DoCoMo's new DCMX contactless mobile payment service phones containing Sony Corp.'s Felica contactless IC chip.

David Kaplan profiles PreCash CEO John Chaney for the Houston Chronicle. PreCash is a Houston-based company that offers a variety of payment options serving immigrants and other consumers who do not have bank accounts.

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