AP Business Writer Eileen Alt Powell reports that MasterCard will announce Monday that "it has signed an agreement that will allow its member banks to issue debit cards linked to the Upromise college savings program." Upromise members earn rebates on purchases that are deposited into Section 529 college savings plans.

Jane Boon Pearlstine writes for the Wall St. Journal about some of her first hand experiences lending online on Prosper.com where she's made "more than 300 small loans at an average rate of about 21%."

Visa International announced last week at its Visa International Global Debit Forum in Prague that its most recent figures showed that consumer debit and prepaid card usage represented 53 per cent of total Visa sales and cash volumes. Significantly, consumer debit and prepaid purchases at the point of sale - excluding cash transactions such as ATM withdrawals - totaled more than US$1.1 trillion. Visa says that this growth in purchase volume, 19 per cent year-over-year, demonstrates the growing preference for debit payments for everyday transactions.

Brooke A. Masters writes for the Washington Post about how "consumers are flocking in enormous numbers to Internet-based bank accounts that pay interest rates upwards of 3.5 percent." For example, ING Direct is adding $1 billion in deposits each month. These banks use the Internet to offer accounts, insured by the FDIC, that pay far higher interest than is usually available at traditional brick-and-mortar bank branches.

Interestingly, today's San Francisco Bay to Breakers race isn't the Wells Fargo Bay to Breakers but, rather, the ING Bay to Breakers!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published its Best of Business 2006 list of Georgia companies - including profiles of several payments-related firms: CheckFree, CompuCredit, Global Payments, and Synovus.

Bruce Mohl writes for the Boston Globe that "Verizon Communications Inc. has begun reporting to the nation's three credit bureaus which Massachusetts customers pay their bills on time and which ones don't, a practice a company spokesman described as ''a free gift to the public." Apparently "Verizon is the first telecommunications company to submit monthly payment data."

Kirstin Cole reports for WCBS-TV in New York about using mobiile payments to transfer money among friends using Text-Pay-Me, Obopay, or PayPal Mobile.