Lauren Wilbert reports for the Medill News Service on increasing consumer concerns about gift card fees and rules that are increasingly drawing the attention of legislators.

Eric Dash reported for the New York Times on Friday about how financial services companies are positioning to become central players in health savings accounts.   » Continue Reading

Peter Thal Larsen reports from Davos for the Financial Times on plans by Visa International to turn its regional organizations in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America into separate companies.   » Continue Reading

Harris Murray writes for the Times and Democrat in Orangeburg, SC about how she finds it reassuring to be able to see her daughter's MasterCard charges online while she's on a foreign trip away from home.   » Continue Reading

The Hindustan Times reports from Hyderabad on efforts by Bangalore-based Credit Card Holders' Association of India to educate Indian consumers about the risks of credit card debt as Indian and foreign banks are ramping up their credit card marketing efforts in the country.

Aneace Haddad has recently started Aneace's Blog, a new weblog that he subtitles:

"Ideas from around the world on how to re-invent the payment transaction as a privileged moment of contact, communication and exchange between customers, merchants and their banks."

Aneace is founder and chairman of payment software company Welcome Real-time, based in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France and a 20-year veteran of the point-of-sale and smart card software industry.

Over on the TextPayMe blog, the founders share why they really started this new mobile payments company:

"We wanted to split dinnertime bills easily and fairly."

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Marilyn Geewax reports for Cox News on Wal-Mart's applications with the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the FDIC to charter a new special purpose bank. The applications have provoked an uproar among community bankers who fear Wal-Mart's ambitions with the new bank.   » Continue Reading

Scott Whipple reports for the New Britain Herald on how credit scores are calculated and what you can do to affect your score.   » Continue Reading

Elaine Morgillo writes for New Hampshire's Portsmouth Herald about a TV ad she finds particularly annoying recommending consolidating credit card debts to lower monthly payments. She goes on to point out that the benefits of debt consolidation may not always be real - because, in the process, the borrower is often trading off lower monthly payments now for much higher interest payments over the longer term.   » Continue Reading

Lisa Bachelor writes an opinion piece for the UK's Sunday Observer newspaper about a teen prepaid Maestro spending card that BlueCorner introduced last week.   » Continue Reading