Bryan Keogh reports for the Wall St. Journal on the various practices that ecommerce retailers are pursuing with respect to their free shipping policies.

Dan Ilett writes for Silicon.com about yesterday's APACS news about the success of the Chip and PIN rollout in the UK, six months in, and asks whether it's really been a success.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) member agencies have released a frequently asked questions document (FAQs) to aid in the implementation of the interagency guidance on Authentication in an Internet Banking Environment (PDF) issued October 12, 2005.

In early July, Visa USA and First Data Corp. announced they had agreed to settle a legal dispute over the processing of Visa transactions. At the time, financial terms weren't disclosed. In its recently filed 10-Q report, First Data disclosed that "pursuant to the terms of the settlement, for the next five years, Visa will pay [First Data] $10 million per year."

Sufia Tippu writes for Australia's ITwire about the burgeoning mobile commerce activity in India where several firms have raised venture capital financing over the last few months.

The Wall St. Journal reports this morning that Chase has entered into a one-year marketing agreement to be the exclusive credit card sponsor on Facebook.

Nichole Monroe Bell writes for the Charlotte Observer about some concerns being raised about a new grocery credit card called BonusPay that was introduced in all South Carolina Bi-Lo grocery stores last week. The card is issued by Purpose Solutions, a subsidiary of CompuCredit, and the First Bank of Delaware. According to Bell, "with BonusPay, shoppers are given a credit line of $50 to $200 and are charged $3 or $5 each time they use the card at the checkout, plus $4.99 for each month they use the card. The balance and fees are deducted from their checking account when they get their paychecks."

Wells Fargo has announced that it has begun issuing Wells Fargo Visa Platinum Credit Cards and Wells Fargo Visa Signature Credit Cards with Visa Contactless to customers - and says it is on track to distribute 400,000 cards by the end of 2006.

MasterCard Worldwide and Advanta have announced that they will begin issuing the PayPass-enabled Advanta MasterCard Small Business Card in September. The companies say this will be the first small business credit card to be equipped with PayPass contactless payment technology.

• Hannaford Supermarkets Installs Rapid7's NeXpose for Achieving Compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard
• FirstEnergy Offers Customers Convenient Automatic Visa Payment Option
• My Payment Network Launches SchoolPay(C) 2.0; New Version Delivers Improved User Experience and More Powerful Tools for Schools and Partners
• Vault Remote Deposit for Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006
• Nevada Federal Credit Union Partners with Corillian for Strong Online Authentication to Protect Members from Online Fraud
• Innovative Program Helps Consumers Improve Credit Scores