In an article titled "The Check is in the Email? Electronic Payments Orders Could Be An Opportunity for Banks" over on our sister site PaymentsViews.com, Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson takes a look at the opportunity for banks with Electronic Payment Orders.

Carol writes that "the EPO concept is a way for banks to leverage their existing investment in checking – and check imaging – and enhance the somewhat surprising success of remote deposit capture."

In an article titled "In Love Affair With Credit, It’s Business as Usual", Eric Mink writes for the New York Times about the PBS Frontline episode titled "The Card Game" that's scheduled to air tomorrow evening. Mink writes that "the program, a co-production with The New York Times, springs from the enactment in May of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009."

Wesabe has announced the launched of GetSpringboard.com, "a personal finance management (PFM) platform that is available via a cloud-based services model for financial institutions that want award-winning personal finance management tools without the engineering requirements of hosting the platform in-house."

Wesabe CEO Marc Hedlund notes that Wesabe is offering "a new model for deploying banking software. Instead of going back and forth for weeks (or months) with a salesperson to get a quote, and then spending months with consultants charging for "integration," our new site lets banks and credit unions see pricing, sign up, launch, configure, and control their sites all over the web. We've had people deploy a full PFM suite for their site in under 10 minutes. We think this is a new way to get and deploy banking software, more akin to Salesforce.com or 37signals.com than to traditional banking software."

Chase Paymentech has launched an updated version of its Cyber Holiday Pulse Index to track online shopping activity throughout the 2009 holiday shopping season. Chase Paymentech says its Pulse Index this year will track over one million payment transactions made daily at 50 of the top U.S. retail Web sites as ranked by Internet Retailer magazine. READ MORE »

Discover has announced the launch of ItPaystoDiscover.com, a new web site that describes all the ways Discover's cardmembers can get the most value from their Cashback Bonus rewards. READ MORE »

Mobile Money Ventures (MMV) and CPNI Inc. (CPNI) have announced they will be partnering to offer financial institutions "a comprehensive solution that integrates CPNI's mobile commerce solutions into MMV's mobile financial services platform. The multifaceted relationship will combine CPNI's PATsend remote mobile payment technology into MMV's next generation mobile platform, with the opportunity to integrate PATbuy mobile purchases in the next phase." READ MORE »

In yesterday's The Haggler column in the New York Times, David Segal writes about how he had been throwing away his credit card bill because it had begun arriving in a plain envelope with no return address on the outside. "The Haggler can’t prove it, but this seemed like a brilliant, low-cost way to pocket a fortune in late fees." The bank, Bank of America, said it changed the envelope after the "acquisition of several credit card companies" in 2006 and denied that it was trying to fool people.

• Digital Transactions: After the GAO Report, Outlook for Interchange Regulation Is Cloudy
• Consumers in a Frugal Holiday Mood, The Conference Board Reports
• Buy.com(R) Enhances Payment Options with Checkout by Amazon and Amazon PayPhrase
• MoneyGram International and the Italian Post Office Bring Mobile Money Transfer Service to Italy
• Gemalto in exclusive talks with XIRING to acquire XIRING's banking activity
• Fiserv Recognized as a Top Online Bill Payment Provider by Aite Group
• S&P and Experian Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide Consumer Credit Data on Collateral in Securitized Loans
• American Express launches new gift card in Canada
• Baltimore Sun: Seniors on the Go: No End to Credit Card Problem in Europe
• The Associated Press: Late payments on credit cards drop in 3rd quarter
• Advertising Age: Will Retailers or Consumers Come Out on Top on Black Friday?
• Wachovia Visa Gift Card, Toys for Tots Join Forces to Put Presents Under the Tree for Less Fortunate Children
• WSJ.com: Experian Forms JV With 7 Indian Fincl Services Institutions
• Bloomberg.com: PayPal to Work With Australia Regulator on Reporting Standards
• TIO Networks Launches Nationwide Real-Time Bill Payment Processing Service for Cox Communications
• Xcellink Defines Mobile Payments Marketplace as It Develops Applications and Rolls Out Its Patented Technology
• Verizon Makes Online Billing Even Easier and More Helpful for Businesses
• The Mississippi Press: Avoiding credit card debt difficult but necessary