The US Federal Reserve has reported its latest G.19 Consumer Credit statistics - finding that "Consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 3.75% percent in February 2011. Nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 7.75 percent, while revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 4%."

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has announced that a new public policy discussion paper on consumer payment choice is now available.

In 2009, the average U.S. consumer held 5.0 of the nine payment instruments available, including cash, and used 3.8 of them during a typical month. Between the 2008 and 2009 surveys, a period that includes the trough of the latest recession, consumers significantly increased their use of cash and close substitutes for cash, such as money orders and prepaid cards.

By focusing on payments by consumers only, the SCPC complements the recent 2010 Federal Reserve Payment Study, which describes the entire noncash payments economy.

On the wires:

• FreedomPay Opens World’s Most Flexible Payment Gateway to Independent Developers
• 10 Million UK Consumers Using Mobile Commerce but 83% Have Experienced Problems
• New Aite Group Report on Network Branded Prepaid Cards
• SIMalliance Open Mobile API boosts Smartphone Application Security
• MasterCard SpendingPulse March 2011 Retail Report
• Visa Europe: Q1 UK Expenditure Index

On the web:

• BBC: NFC Trials for Payment in UK Shops
• Slate: Paying With Your Phone Is Awesome, Because... Because.

Recent white papers:

• Bell ID: Six Myths Preventing EMV Migration in the United States
• First Data: The Marketing Side of Tokenization (PDF)
• SJB Research: NFC Business Models (registration required)
• Ensenta: Agile Risk Management for Remote Deposit Capture