MasterCard has filed with the SEC notice that on December 27, 2006 it amended and restated its agreement with Bank of America relating to "certain pricing arrangements for Bank of America’s use of MasterCard’s core authorization, clearing and settlement services and certain supplemental user-pay services in the United States and certain other countries. The Agreement was amended to include new pricing arrangements in exchange for transaction volumes related to the issuance of MasterCard-branded debit cards by Bank of America." Today's notice follows last week's similar announcement from MasterCard regarding HSBC.

According to a new Aberdeen report titled "Retail Contactless Payment Systems: Improving Customer Retention & Loyalty", "contactless payment systems are fast approaching the tipping point of adoption within retail. After numerous pilots and deployments in the last three years, the continued pressure to improve the customer shopping experience is prompting retailers to adopt this technology." The report was underwritten by ViVotech, MasterCard, Alphyra, Visa and Discover Financial Services.

comScore Networks has announced that "consumer online non-travel (retail) spending at U.S. sites during 2006, including the holiday season (November 1, 2006 - December 31, 2006). For the full year 2006, online retail spending reached $102.1 billion, marking a 24-percent increase versus 2005. Online holiday e-commerce accounted for $24.6 billion, up 26 percent versus last year."

Bankrate.com's Ellen Cannon has been posting on her Plastic Rap blog about the recent publication by the U.S. Census Bureau of its 126th Statistical Abstract of the United States - and some of the numbers regarding Americans, their debts, and their use of various payment methods and online bill payment based upon age.

Dave Birch blogs about a "medium term vision for retail payments." In Dave's vision, "the retail POS shrinks to a button on the shop counter, whereas all the "smarts" migrate into the mobile." We can speculate about just what that "medium term" timeframe for Dave's vision actually is - and what the downstream implications might be for the POS equipment vendors.

In a new report titled "Gift Cards: How to Ensure they Don't become Drift Cards" by Brian Riley, senior analyst in the Bank Cards practice, TowerGroup says it "believes gift cards need tighter regulation due to the money laundering risk associated with the anonymous nature of the product and lack of control."

ClickandBuy has announced that "three independent online music stores have selected its international digital payments platform for its hosted digital commerce system and its ability to provide different types of payment methods, including yearly subscriptions, micropayments or single downloads of songs."

CheckFree and SunTrust have announced a multi- year contract extension where SunTrust will continue
to offer CheckFree Web and will add CheckFree's FraudNet fraud engine to its online banking service.

Beth Healy writes for the Boston Globe about credit bureau data quality issues and just how irritating they can be for consumers. Healy reports that US Rep. Barney Frank, who becomes chairman this week of the House Financial Services Committee, plans to hold hearings early this year to look into the problems.

PayMate India has announced it is "now aggressively targeting offline merchant sign-ups which include large chains to stand-alone establishments in any form of retail. SMS has been the driving platform for online and remote payments thus far but the company has now introduced a voice based module specifically keeping in mind the unique requirements of the retail industry."

Green Dot Corporation has announced that it is offering "through its retail network the first reloadable prepaid card to launch on the Discover Network. Customers will be able to use the card to purchase goods and
services at over 4 million merchant locations where Discover is accepted. Like other Green Dot products, the Green Dot Discover Network prepaid card can be reloaded via the Green Dot Financial Network -- one of the nation's largest retail-based cash acceptance networks."

John Philip Coghlan, president and CEO of Visa U.S.A., will be delivering a keynote presentation at CTIA WIRELESS 2007 on Wednesday, March 28, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. According to the show's producer, "Visa is making great strides to enable Americans to have more freedom and choice when it comes to shopping, paying bills or just getting cash when they need it. As president and CEO, Coghlan has put an increased emphasis on mobile and electronic payments, and his CTIA keynote is expected to address the many ways and places that businesses and consumers will be able to take advantage of Visa’s current and future offerings." At last year's CTIA WIRELESS 2006 show in Las Vegas, PayPal's then president Jeff Jordan announced PayPal Mobile.

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• ePayments Corp. Acquires Alabama-based Automated Check Recovery
• Corporate Insight Finds Diversity in Check Image Archives at Major Banks’ Websites
• Sun New Media Announces Exclusive Agreement with China's Sole Bank Payment Service Provider
• Fair Isaac Enterprise Origination Solutions Deliver Competitive Edge In Emerging Romanian Consumer Credit Market
• U.S. Treasury's Go Direct Campaign Launches Pledge Drive to Spur Direct Deposit for Social Security Benefit Payments
• Acacia Technologies Licenses Fraud Protection Technology to Center.com