Glenbrook’s 2012 Winter and Spring Payments Boot Camps in New York and the San Francisco Bay Area are open for registration. Payments Boot Camps are being offered February 15-16 in Santa Clara, CA, April 10-11 in New York City, and May 16-17 in Palo Alto, CA.

Our popular Payments Boot Camp is a two day “deep dive” into the world of payments. Day One covers the basics: how payments systems work; the core systems (value chains, providers, and economic models); perspectives of key users and providers in the systems; and “What We’re Watching” – key trends and drivers of change. Day Two covers Emerging Payments, with new and updated content on Mobile Wallets (POS, cloud, P2P, NFC and more!) and Global Payments.

Agendas, testimonials, and logistics information is available on the Glenbrook Payments Essentials website.

New research from Fiserv indicates there are "significant short-term and long-term shifts in the way consumers pay their bills. The 2011 Billing Household Survey showed that consumers use multiple payment channels on an ongoing basis, with nearly one out of every five online consumer households changing the way they pay bills each month. Mobile bill payments are on the rise, with more than six million Americans using smartphones to pay their bills in the past year. Interest in electronic bills (e-bills) has also hit an all-time high."

Cartera Commerce and Billeo have announced a strategic partnership and a joint solution to help consumers find and redeem multi-channel card-linked offers -- from both online and in-store retailers -- as they search and shop the Web.

The new solution, combining Cartera's award-winning card-linked offer platform with Billeo's patented context-aware browser technology, will instantly alert consumers browsing the Web to relevant card-linked offers in Web search results and on retailers' Websites. By driving increased consumer adoption of relevant, card-linked offers, Cartera and Billeo's joint solution will help banks and loyalty programs drive incremental revenue and customer engagement, and enable retailers to drive incremental sales and customer loyalty.

Clingle has announced the launch of Clingle Gifts, a feature that lets users to send gift cards instantly from an iPhone while attaching a personalized video, audio or text message.

“We’ve taken check-in technology one step further by incorporating the spontaneity and creativity that comes with surprising a friend or loved one,” said Sonpreet Bhatia, co-founder of MyCityWay, the company behind Clingle. “The new gifting feature allows users to leave a thoughtful gesture at the right place at the right time, but with a far more personal twist. As a first of its kind mobile ‘thank you,’ the recipient can send a cling with a multimedia message, such as a picture of what they purchased with the gift card, as opposed to a traditional email or phone call.”

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% in October. Revolving credit increased at an annual rate of 0.5%, and nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 5.25%."

On the web:

• War Over the Digital Wallet - Wall Street Journal
• Verizon Blocks Google Wallet on Nexus - Rethink Wireless
• Launch of Apple's EasyPay Retail Self-Checkout Deemed a Success - AppleInsider
• One in Four Starbucks Transactions Now Done via Starbucks Card or Mobile App - Mashable
• AmEx Introduces 'Get $10, Share $10' Program for Serve Activations - Facebook
• Debit-Card Fee Cap Has Nasty Side Effect for Small Merchants - WSJ.com
• Small Businesses Use Square for Credit Deals – USATODAY.com

On the wires:

• Transaction Wireless Powers Finish Line Personalized E-Gift Cards for the Holidays
• Port Chester, New York Increases Parking Revenues by 40% With New Parking Meters From Digital Payment Technologies
• CHARGE Anywhere Adds Support For Bluetooth Card Reader & Receipt Printer
• New Mercator Report on Consumer Prepaid Distribution