Damon Darlin reports for the New York Times on VantageScore, the recently introduced alternative to the long-standing FICO scores produced by Fair Isaac. According to the three credit bureaus that created VantageScore - Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, it improves risk prediction of future credit performance by weighing more factors. VantageScore also reportedly is more accurate at assessing consumers with "thin files" - having a short credit history.

James Gilden writes for the Travel section of the Los Angeles Times about how American travelers might experience some difficulty using their mag stripe based credit cards in countries that have recently migrated to "chip and PIN" card technology - like the UK. "If a merchant doesn't want to take a magnetic-strip card, the traveler needs to be persistent," says Brian Triplett, senior vice president of emerging product development for Visa USA said. "Request the merchant to look into it," Triplett said. "Don't take that first 'no' for an answer."

Rabin Ghosh reports on Paymate, a mobile commerce startup in India that has secured $5 million in venture funding from two of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capitals firms, Sherpalo Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.