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The article discusses about how two companies are turning back to plastic to make micropayments work on the Net. Dozens of companies have come and gone chasing micropayments. But even Web veterans are optimistic about the chances of two Silicon Valley, California startups that are taking yet another step for the micropayment problem. Their solutions aren't alternatives to the credit card. They're the credit card itself. The more promising approach, which involves a kind of aggregate billing, comes from San Francisco, California-based Yaga Inc.

This article presents Visa U.S.A. Inc. as the recipient of Premier 100 Information Technology Leaders 2004 Best in Class award in Foster City, California. When an inaccurate charge is listed on a credit card bill, it is not just the customer who sees red. Settling a disputed charge is one of the costliest components of a credit card company's business. At Visa, a new back-office infrastructure will reduce the time and labor required to handle a customer-disputed charge by creating an online, automated process. The Visa Resolve Online project is a Web-enabled application used to facilitate changes to the re-engineered disputes process. The greatest benefit of the project has been to simplify the process by eliminating most paper documentation, reducing the time required to resolve disputes and eliminating unnecessary steps in the process. The Web-based tool gives member banks, merchants and customer support representatives real-time access to transaction data through secure browser screens or private Internet Protocol network. Subsequent releases of Visa Resolve included the ability to create and transmit chargebacks, attach images and supporting documentation and transmit large volumes of images relevant to disputes.

A credit card that works only when it hears its owner's voice may become the new weapon against online fraud. A prototype built by engineers at Santa Monica, California-based Beepcard represents the company's latest effort to create a voice-recognition card of diminutive dimensions. The new version incorporates a microphone, a loudspeaker, a voice-recognition chip, and a battery. The owner pushes a button on the card that prompts it to ask for a password; once the password is confirmed the device uses its ID squawk to identify itself and an online server confirms it to permit a transaction. The only way thieves could possibly use the card is if they could copy the owner's voice with an extremely high degree of accuracy. Beepcard intends to use smaller chips to thin it down, as well as include a nonreplaceable battery to allow 10 transactions per day for two years.

Focuses on H&R Block Inc.'s plans to quit the credit card business by selling its WebCard Visa portfolio to Providian Financial Corp. of San Francisco, California. Ownership of $181 million in receivables; After-tax net loss of $15.4 million as a result of the sale.

Reports on the ruling of the Superior Court of California judge for VISA and Mastercard to pay refund fees charged for credit card purchases made overseas. Refusals of the companies to pay the refund fees; Contention over the violation of piracy rules; Specifications of the court's request for depositions.