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According to the Wall St. Journal, MasterCard's SpendingPulse reports "September retail sales excluding auto sales fell 2.4% in September from August, the biggest month-to-month drop since MasterCard SpendingPulse first started tracking spending of all types in 2003."

• Telegraph (UK): Chip and pin scam 'has netted millions from British shoppers'
• Wheaties for Your Wallet: Five concrete things you can do to prepare for harder times

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.

Citi announced this afternoon that "it had reached no agreement with Wells Fargo following several days of discussions about matters related to Wachovia. The dramatic differences in the parties' transaction structures and their views of the risks involved made it impossible to reach a mutually acceptable agreement." The New York Times DealBook reports that Citi will not try to block the Wachovia/Wells Fargo merger.

Separately, the Federal Reserve has announced that it will "immediately begin consideration of the filings submitted by Wells Fargo for approval to acquire Wachovia Corporation."

ClairMail has announced that the ClairMail QuickStart mobile banking product offering - saying it is "setting the industry standard with its rapid deployment, rich feature set and high level of bank branding."

Peppi Kiviniemi writes from Brussels for MarketWatch.com that EU antitrust officials are looking at a new acquirer fee structure MasterCard has introduced. Earlier, EuroCommerce commented on the fee changes saying that "we see such fee increases as a clear attempt by MasterCard to circumvent the Commission's decision against their cross-border interchange fee. They are trying to recoup lost revenue by increasing fees in other areas without justification."

• MarketWatch: Research Reveals the Majority of Retailers Are in Favor of Mobile Contactless Payments
• CreditCards.com: Weekly Credit Card Rate Report
• NetBanker: Zopa to Close U.S. Operation
• CPI Card Group Receives Dual Interface MULTOS Card Manufacturing Certification
• International Herald Tribune: EU plans uniform protections for Internet shoppers
• StorefrontBacktalk: Major Japanese Retailers Plan Mobile Phone Reward Card Trial
• SmartPay Creates Magic with Moliyo
• Shell Offers New Cardholders a Savings of 38 Cents Per Gallon
• MasterCard Report Underscores Gas Demand Decline
• New B2B Service Streamlines Employee Spending with Prepaid Cards
• All About Nortel Blog: Nortel’s Bill Me Later Connection
• Ottawa Citizen: Bill Me Later - the $945M Nortel spinoff that got away
• Shop 'n Save Launches New Gift Card Program and Helps Ease the 'Pain at the Pump'

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.

The September 2008 edition of the First Annapolis Navigator is now available (registration required). This month's feature article is "The World's Largest Bankcard Acquirers". Other articles include: "Retail Loyalty: What US Retailers Can Learn from Our Neighbors to the North", "HSBC's Multi-National Banking Package", Interchange Regulation Update: Poland", and "E-Commerce Payments Acceptance Update".

David Reilly writes for the Wall St. Journal's Heard on the Street column about the challenges US credit card issuers are facing as both credit losses and funding costs are increasing.

Discover has announced that its "U.S. Spending Monitor dipped 2.2 points to 86.5 in September, as consumers grew increasingly concerned about the U.S. economy and worked hard to hold-the-line on future spending plans. More than 55 percent of the nation’s adults rated the economy as poor, and nearly 70 percent think it is getting worse. Both measures were 5 points higher than the previous month and both turned increasingly negative as the financial crisis played out."

First Data has named Robert P. DeRodes as its chief technology officer (CTO). DeRodes, 58, will join the company’s executive management team and report directly to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Capellas.

• Digital Transactions: Plenty of Upside for eBay in Bill Me Later Deal, Experts Say
• Virgin America and Barclays Offer New Visa Signature Card With No Annual Fee
• Western Union expands distribution channels, taps new customer base with launch of online banking service in Asia
• Consumers Concerned Retailers Not Doing Enough to Protect Financial Data
• Tata Consultancy Services to Acquire Citigroup Global Services for $505 million
• UK Retailers Argos and Homebase Turn to TSYS
• Revolution Money and Murphy Oil USA, Inc. Save Consumers Money at the Pump
• First Data Becomes First Payment Processor to Offer All Major Alternative Payment Brands through Agreement with CardinalCommerce

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.

The Federal Reserve has published its latest G.19 Consumer Credit report for August 2008 showing that overall consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 3-3/4 percent in August. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 3/4 percent and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-1/2 percent.

Experian has announced the results of a study that analyzed delinquency trends across consumer risk segments to uncover the shifting patterns in consumer payment behavior and the geographies most affected. "The changing delinquency trends highlight the severe affect of the mortgage crisis on subprime consumers and its continuing permeation into the prime consumer segment. The study's findings suggest that the conventional wisdom -- consumers who hold a mortgage are less risky than those who don't -- may need to be rethought in light of the mortgage market turmoil."

Libercard, ViVOtech and Inteligensa have announced they have "collaborated to develop the first Transit & Retail combination contactless payment implementation in Latin America. With the new technology, Brazilians in the city of Fortaleza use a single contactless payment card to ride local transit and make retail purchases. Libercard has enabled tens of thousands of transit riders with dual-purpose prepaid contactless cards to ride transit, pay for purchases and perform top-ups at several hundred retail stores in Fortaleza that use ViVOtech contactless payment devices implemented with Inteligensa integration expertise."

Zuora has announced the release of Z-Payments, a complete payment solution built for subscription businesses that comes pre-integrated with the ability to accept PayPal payments. Z-Payments allows subscription-based businesses "to offer their customers flexible and secure online payment options, manage the complexities of collecting recurring subscription payments, and ultimately get paid faster."

Over on the Digital Money Forum blog, Dave Birch writes about a student In London who spends a whole day using just his Barclays OnePulse card - and then comes home to find his wallet (with his cash) on the kitchen table. Some believe that, in a few years, he wouldn't even need his card - just his ever-present mobile phone!

INSIDE Contactless has announced that "samples of its first MicroPass contactless prelam for use in mobile handset stickers for secure payments are now available for card manufacturers. INSIDE’s new sticker technology combines the award-winning MicroPass 4003 contactless payment platform – designed from the ground up to support open loop contactless payment applications – with a tuned RF antenna in a compact, shielded prelam for payment sticker applications. The contactless sticker form-factor is rapidly gaining popularity as a way to turn mobile phones, company IDs or just about anything else into a convenient payment device."

• CreditCards.com: The (not surprising) psychology behind minimum payments
• Mobile Banking Poses Fraud and Money Laundering Threats for Financial Institutions
• MT&L Doubles Gift Card Manufacturing Capacity, Improves Distribution Capabilities - MarketWatch
• Plastic Jungle Launches Fundraising Program, Turning Unused Gift Cards into Cash
• Awareness and Use of Mobile Banking Low, But Poised to Grow
• Bits Blog - NYTimes.com: EBay Plays Warren Buffett and Buys Online Lender
• AuctionBytes: eBay Gains More Intelligence with Bill Me Later
• The Cambridge Group Names Richard Srednicki a Director
• abc7chicago.com: Consumer Reports: Credit-Card Caution
• SCM Microsystems Introduces Mobile, Contactless, Multi-Application Solution for Secure Access and Payment Transactions
• ProPay Announces Details of Electronic Payment Alternative for eBay Sellers

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.

Glenbrook's October 15-16 Payments Boot Camp is now sold out. The next Payments Boot Camp is being held in Denver, Colorado on December 3-4.

BART, First Data and ViVOtech have released the results of an NFC-based mobile payments trial conducted in the San Francisco area from Jan. 28 to May 30, 2008 - saying it demonstrates high use when both transit fare and retail payments are combined in the same phone.