Bank of America has announced the release of the SafePass(R) Card - a "new wallet-sized card essentially builds on SafePass, a one-time-use, six-digit code sent as a text message to consumers' mobile devices to authorize and help safeguard sensitive transactions." READ MORE

ING DIRECT has announced that it will "suspend foreclosure sales on occupied single-family properties through the end of March 2009. Furthermore, in the spirit of the holidays, ING DIRECT will also suspend evictions from occupied single-family properties until January 15, 2009. This formalizes a previously informal, internal process."

PayPal has announced a new way for members to add even more security to their PayPal accounts using their mobile phones. PayPal members can now choose to receive a unique six-digit security code via text message to their mobile phones prior to logging in to their accounts. READ MORE

This week's New Yorker magazine has an article by John Cassidy titled "Anatomy of a Meltdown - Ben Bernanke and the Financial Crisis" that's available for reading online.

For the last few months we've been hosting a page here on Payments News showing the latest updates from over 30 banking and payments-related blogs. We've recently streamlined the page so that it's now much faster to load. You can visit the new page here. If you're an active blogger discussing industry topics and would like to be included, follow the instructions on the Other Banking and Payments Blogs page.

If you're really a banking and payments news junkie, you might also be interested in this new banking page on Alltop.com.

Ronald J. Mann, Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, has updated his book "Payment Systems and Other Financial Transactions: Cases, Materials, and Problems" in a newly available fourth edition. If you're interested in the legal aspects of how the US payments system is put together, this is a great book. It should also be available soon from Amazon.com.

In a front page story in Sunday's edition titled "Banking Regulator Played Advocate Over Enforcer", Binyamin Appelbaum and Ellen Nakashima wrote for the Washington Post about the Office of Thrift Supervision - the banking regulator who have oversight responsibility for several of the biggest financial institution failures this year: Washington Mutual, IndyMac, and, as of last Friday evening, Downey Savings.

Goldleaf Financial Solutions has announced the Sierra Xpedite Retail Remote Deposit solution enabling financial institutions to extend the reach of remote deposit across retail customer segments including consumers, micro businesses and small businesses. According to Goldleaf, "Sierra Xpedite Retail Remote Deposit is a new browser-based client application built using rich user interface technology with optimized workflows to meet the specific needs of small volume depositors. The solution facilitates the cost effective deployment of remote deposit functionality to financial institution retail customer segments through support for commercially available flatbed and multi-function (print, scan, copy, fax) scanning devices many users already have." READ MORE

Universal Air Travel Program (UATP) has announced that it has partnered with Moneta to support Moneta's online payment wallet for the 250 airlines utilizing UATP payment gateway services. Moneta offers consumers, airline and merchants an alternative payment method which is distributed and marketed through the consumer's bank. Airlines using the UATP payment gateway connection can activate Moneta on their retail checkout site with no infrastructure investment and minimal configuration. READ MORE

Javelin Strategy & Research has announced results from a study of how a prepaid card issuer should assess and choose a processing partner in order to obtain the greatest success from prepaid card programs. According to Javelin, the processor choice is often overlooked and undervalued by prepaid program managers - but growth in the complexity of prepaid products underscores the importance of selecting the right processor. READ MORE

APACS, the UK payments association, on behalf of the UK credit card industry has announced "an important enhancement to well established data sharing processes to share ‘behavioural data’ on their customers’ accounts." READ MORE

• Consumer Reports' Annual Public-Education Campaign Warns of the Pitfalls of Credit Card Debt
• FindLaw Helps Consumers Navigate the Financial Crisis: From Wall Street to Main Street
• ABA Says, 'Tis The Season to Use Credit Wisely
• Fiserv Case-Shiller® Home Price Insights: Weakness Broadens Across U.S. Housing Market as Credit Crunch, Tighter Lending Standards and Sagging Economy Take a Toll
• MoneyGram ExpressPayment: Consumers Pay the Price with Late Payments
• First Command Bank Offers Innovative Electronic Deposit Service
• MarketWatch: How to protect yourself against credit-card rate, fee hikes
• NEC Infrontia Secures Next-Generation POS Systems With Solidcore
• Cyveillance Warns of Dramatic Increase in Phishing Attacks - During Thanksgiving Weekend Online Attacks Expected to Surge over the Holiday Weekend
• PaySimple: Electronic Payments Leader Recognized As One of the Best Places to Work in Denver
• Forte Financial Blog: Social Networking & Banking 2.0 - New Webinars