The credit card industry has changed considerably in the last year since major provisions of the Credit CARD Act of 2009 went into effect, and CreditCardGuide.com correspondent Eva Norlyk Smith has followed the changes from the beginning.   In honor of Financial Literacy Month, I’ve combed through the CCG archive and put together a short quiz based on Smith’s reporting. Try it now and see how much you remember.   Quiz 1. True or False: If you overdraw your checking account, you will automatically be charged an overdraft fee, unless you opt out.

2. True or False: Most card issuers cap balance transfer fees at $75-$100.

3. True or False: Credit card issuers aren’t allowed to offer students tangible gifts, such as water bottles or T-shirts, in exchange for signing up for credit cards.

4. True or

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The mobile payment field has already grown dramatically just this year. Now The Los Angeles Times reports the major telecommunications companies have announced they intend to introduce their new payment system, Isis, at the start of next year.

Isis is a joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. The project was initially conceived as a challenge to the major credit card networks, but quickly scaled back to a simpler method of payment.

Isis aims to incorporate near-field communication, or NFC, technology into phones similar to the methods used in Google Wallet. These systems allow smartphones to communicate with card readers with a simple wave or tap, and software designed for these transactions can collect relevant information into a single location to speed up the process.

The Isis designers announced the program is set to launch at the beginning of 2012 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas. Read full article…

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Is your small business capitalizing on the power of video for both internal and external communications? A new study shows that while many companies do use video in some form or another, many are failing to take advantage of everything video can do.

The study, conducted by BurstPoint Networks, found that companies are using video to connect with audiences including employees, customers, partners and more.

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Aussies who love to go out on a spending spree with their credit cards to purchase the latest gadgets may be spending up to 50 per cent more than their US counterparts.

Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman told the Australian that one of the reasons for this is that vendors in the country have the second highest tenancy costs in the world.

“You have to ask whats the retailer paying his supplier for his goods in relation to what the retailer in the US pays his supplier,” he added.

Among the discrepancies in pricing identified by the publication were that of the Lenovo X1 computer, which can be purchased for US$1,191 ($1,130) from the US parent site, but will set Aussies back $1,979.

Apple was also found to have placed significantly higher mark ups on its products, with the iPad 2 selling for between $80 and $120 more for those using their credit or debit cards in Australian outlets.

Last month, Canons Digital Lifestyle Index showed that Aussies spent $6.8 billion on gadgets during 2008.

The Indiana Business Journal is reporting electric car maker THINK, which has a factory in Elkhart, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

The Journal reports the filing was made in Norway where the company is based.

THINK opened its factory in Elkhart last year and had hoped to produce 2,500 cars a year. The first 300 rolled off the assembly line at the end of 2010.

The cars were partially assembled in Finland, and then shipped to Elkhart where they were completed. 

The company had planned to fully produce the cars in Elkhart in the future.