Ron Lieber reports for the Wall St. Journal on the "third wave" of credit cards tied to free air travel rewards - highlighting the new Chase United Mileage Plus Visa "Choices" and American Express Delta SkyPoints programs.

While browsing around this morning, I noticed the following on the Green Dot Corporation's web site: "2006 - Green Dot announces its plans to create the first ever credit card to be sold at a retail store. With a pilot scheduled for Q3, the Green Dot credit card program has the potential to re-invent the credit card acquisition model." Sounds interesting - haven't been able to find any other details about their plans. I'm reminded that back in April 2004, Chase and Universal Entertainment announced an instant issue credit card program - inside Universal theme parks.

Unlimited Diversity, Inc., a provider of prepaid products and services for BankFirst and MasterCard, has announced the launch of the PODER Payroll MasterCard, a card program it says is designed specifically to address the needs of the Hispanic immigrant in the United States.

Ed Sutherland reports for InternetNews.com that US consumer concerns about online banking security is slowing the growth of online banking.

Michael Santoli writes for Barron's about MasterCard's upcoming initial public offering (subscription reqd). Santoli reports that MasterCard's IPO roadshow is now underway - meeting with institutional investors - with an expected launch date of May 24. If the IPO is priced at the mid-point of the $40 to $43 range -$41.50 - MasterCard would have a market value of about $5.6 billion, trading nearly 21 times last year's per-share net income per share.

• Australia: Can you live without a bank?
• Chile: Credit cards help fuel expansion of retailers
• AP: Prepaid card would cap gas prices
• Report swipes at security of credit card issuers