1.57 million Americans paid their taxes with credit cards in 2005, 54% more than the year before, according to IRS. As many as a third of them did it just to accumulate some sort of rewards points, says Official Payments.

Last week the Economist took at look at person-to-person, "bank-less" lending from Zopa.com and Prosper.com.   » Continue Reading

Sam's Club yesterday issued a press release "to set the record straight" regarding "persistent rumors and false media reports" regarding reports of fraud following the use of debit and credit cards to make purchases at Sam's Club fuel stations.   » Continue Reading

Damon Darlin reports for the New York Times on the dubious economics around using a credit card to pay taxes just to earn reward points - because of the convenience fee of 2.49 percent typically charges on tax payments by service providers Official Payments or Link2Gov.

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated.

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