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Users of electronic cash protocol Bitcoin might soon have another way to access and spend funds...Charlie Shrem...revealed that his company was 6-8 weeks away from launching a Bitcoin-funded international debit / credit card that will be issued by two unnamed major banks: one international and one domestic...the card will function like a regular debit or credit account and should be accepted wherever MasterCard is accepted – virtually everywhere. The first 1,000 cards will be given away for free but after those have been spoken for, expect to pay around $10 for a card.

Yes, it’s entirely possible [according to this Forbes article] to fund your existing debit card, or credit card, with your accumulated bitcoin.

Internet sellers who don't report their sales will no longer be under the radar. Starting next year, any bank or other payment settlement company that processes credit cards, debit cards, and electronic payments such as PayPal will have to issue information returns telling the IRS what merchants receive. The new returns are Form 1099-K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Payments.

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. agreed to pay scores of retailers more than $6 billion to settle a long-running lawsuit in an agreement that also permits merchants to charge higher prices to customers who pay for purchases with credit cards.

The settlement is expected to have wide-ranging implications for consumers, retailers and the card industry. It is also the latest victory for merchants, who have recently logged some significant wins in their efforts to reduce their cost of accepting plastic.

In the language of credit cards, “gold” has long been used to describe a certain level of benefits and consumer protections. Many banks issue Gold Visa or MasterCard credit cards, and American Express features a Gold card in its charge-card lineup.
Soon, “gold” will be used to describe a new type of credit card – but in more literal terms. The Gold Bullion credit card promises to be backed up by the value of your own gold bullion coins. Don’t have any? The company marketing the card can buy them for you at market rates.

Banks get accused and charged with fraud when they charge fees and interest in a voluntary contract. The IRS gets away with it without consent and uses the threat of force to extract the money. Which is worse?

ayPal has increased the cost of chargebacks from $10 to $20. For refunds, PayPal will refund the 2.99% but will KEEP the 30 cent transaction fee. This is a mandatory non negotiable change in your policy, effective August 2010.

American Express rates for PayPal Website Payments Pro and Virtual Terminal Merchants will jump from a variable between 2.2% to 2.9% to an astronomical 3.5%. This is a mandatory non negotiable change in your policy, effective October 2010.

Craig Franco hopes to cash in on Gold currency legalization with his Utah Gold and Silver Depository. His business idea: Store your gold and silver coins in a vault, and Franco issues a debit-like card to make purchases backed by your holdings.

It seems ironic to have a credit card made of solid gold, but Visa and Sberbank have begun offering a credit card made of solid gold to Sberbank’s top 100 customers in Kazakhstan as a companion card to the Visa Infinite card, hoping to capitalize on what they see as a “growing appetite for elite, status-symbol cards.”