APACS has announced a new report finding that "the number of cheques written by individuals has halved from 2.0 billion to 1.0 billion in the last ten years. The Way We Pay 2007: UK Cheques reveals that in 2006 cheque volumes declined at their fastest ever rate, falling by eight per cent. Last year, only 54 per cent of adults made payments using cheques and only 47 per cent received a cheque payment. On average we now write 1.6 cheques a month and receive just one every two months, with half of adults no longer receiving any. For personal payments, cheques have fallen from one in four non-cash payments in 1996, to just one in 14 in 2006. In the retail sector the decline has been particularly rapid, with cheques accounting for just three per cent of all non-cash transactions."   » Continue Reading

APACS has announced that "ten million UK-issued payment cards have now been registered with MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa services – making these cards more secure when shopping online. Using these services is quick and easy. Cardholders sign up and choose a private password, which they then use when shopping at participating retailers." APACS has published a new guide for consumers titled "How to protect cards against online fraud" (PDF).   » Continue Reading

Consumer Reports has published results of a consumer survey into the best and worst credit cards conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center that asked 36,298 readers about their experiences with 61,944 credit cards. USAA Federal Savings and the Navy Federal Credit Union ranked highest in the results. CNNMoney reports that five of the largest Visa and MasterCard issuers earned mediocre ratings by consumers.

GE Money has announced an agreement to purchase the proprietary consumer credit card business from Chevron Corporation subsidiaries, Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and Chevron Credit Bank, N.A. GE Money Bank will own and operate the Chevron- and Texaco-branded consumer credit cards.   » Continue Reading

Coinstar E-Payment Services Limited and PayPoint have announced an agreement to team and to make available a gift card program for PayPoint retailers at more than 17,000 outlets in the United Kingdom.   » Continue Reading

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