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Start Fresh Today, already the one-stop source for consumer bankruptcy attorneys and petitioners, has added sections for consumers, Credit Counseling agencies, Debtor Education providers, and bankruptcy trustees.

Start Fresh Today provides a free means test and quick means testing tools; state bankruptcy exemption information; an active bankruptcy lawyers’ blog addressing consumer bankruptcy practice issues, case summaries, economic information and analysis, and much more. Consumer bankruptcy attorneys can order all due diligence products through them, and can now share those documents electronically with a participating bankruptcy trustee.

Consumers can purchase Credit Counseling and Debtor Education directly, or a bankruptcy attorney can set up accounts for clients to complete the pre-filing credit counseling requirement and pre-discharge debtor education requirement. Approved credit counseling agencies and debtor education providers can license a credit counseling briefing and debtor education course that meet all U.S. Trustee requirements, and provide an interactive, engaging and informative experience for their clients. Agencies also get access to a complete administrative platform for case management and tracking, electronic certificate delivery, customized reporting and more.

Trustees can create customized profiles that let local bankruptcy attorneys using Start Fresh Today know which documents they require, and can even set up two separate sets of requirements for cases with and without real property assets. If additional documents are required in a particular case, the trustee can use the their system to request the item, and attorneys can share those documents electronically when they’re received.

BAPCPA created additional burdens for everyone involved in the bankruptcy process, from the bankruptcy petitioner to the professionals who keep the bankruptcy courts running smoothly. Start Fresh Today eases those burdens with complete, convenient, centralized resources for consumers, bankruptcy attorneys, agencies, and trustees.

Heralding a pivotal shift in bank card systems, Risk IDS has released the industry’s first open source card fraud prevention system. The company says this move is set to shake up the way banking decision-makers view software licensing worldwide and has left competing system vendors nervous at the prospect of their revenues being eroded by a more feature-rich platform that is free to use.

“Not only is Risk IDS completely free for banks to use but there are many features that simply do not exist in competing fraud systems,” says Richard Churchman, the lead developer on the project. “Risk IDS provides a system for transaction fraud, application fraud and money laundering in a single integrated system. Fraud can be managed on different customer accounts yet brought together in a single customer view.”

The release of Risk IDS is a boon for the Oracle Corporation as the software is written to work only with its database and high performance PL/SQL language.

“Banks love Oracle! It is considered the industry standard owing to its scalability and uptime,” says Churchman. “This drove our decision to develop an open source fraud prevention product working so closely with Oracle. In doing so it has meant that we can leverage Oracle’s excellent workflow features, making our software really stand out from the competition.”

Risk IDS gets its revenue exclusively from banks paying for consultancy services and customization. There is also a forum at RiskIDS.com, which is aimed at academic users or those with a mere casual interest in the project. Uniquely, the consultancy services provide guaranteed return at rates that are around the same as expected from any large consultancy provider.

Currently the software is a Beta release for fraud prevention only, although the company has big aspirations about what the software may eventually do. “We have developed the framework so that the software can be expanded into full bank card processing,” Churchman says. “After all, there is so much duplication between fraud prevention systems and bank card processing, it seems silly not to take this approach.”

The software is distributed under the CDDL Open Source License, giving Risk IDS credit for the intellectual property while ensuring that the software remains free.

NetSpend, the nation’s leading provider of prepaid reloadable debit, gift and travel cards, today announced it is offering sports fans the Vince Young All-Access(R) Visa(R) Prepaid Card from NetSpend, through a new website, VinceYoungCard.com . Vince Young, quarterback for the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans, signed his first professional endorsement agreement with NetSpend in 2006.

The Vince Young Prepaid Visa Card is now available for $9.95. Fans can also visit http://www.netspend.com for purchase and load locations in Texas and Tennessee. The Vince Young Prepaid Visa Card is issued by Inter National Bank and MetaBank, members FDIC.

“NetSpend congratulates Vince Young for receiving the well-deserved ‘Offensive Rookie of the Year’ award. Now his fans outside of Texas and Tennessee can realize the benefits of prepaid through this unique financial vehicle,” said Rick Savard, CEO of NetSpend. “It is our goal to make our products widely accessible and easily manageable for our customers, many of whom prefer to initiate and access their account online, whether at home, work or community centers.”

The growing problems of global counterfeiting, piracy, identity theft and terrorism have created a compelling need to ensure the validity of vital government documents such as currency, passports, drivers licenses and identity cards. Also, companies the world over are increasingly under attack from counterfeiters who are stealing billions of dollars annually in revenue and profits, undermining public trust in valuable brands and in extreme cases causing injury and even death to unsuspecting consumers.

In this fight against fraud, governments and companies have increasingly come to rely on the use of authentication technologies as a first line of defense against counterfeits, in order to quickly and positively identify genuine products from fake products. Today, these authentication technologies are all around us, not just in money and credit cards, but in everyday products like clothing, footwear, computers, cell phones, video games, jewelry and software, and critical healthcare products like drugs and medical devices.

But even though authentication technologies are everywhere, their use is not well understood by many groups who can benefit from them.

The International Authentication Association’s primary objectives are to promote the use of authentication technologies as an integral part of an effective strategy to protect products, documents and their users from counterfeiting and fraud, and to educate government agencies, inter-government organizations and brand owners regarding the role and use of authentication. IAA members comprise both providers and users of authentication technologies and range from global multi-nationals to emerging companies.

Today, the International Authentication Association members’ technologies protect global products valued in the hundreds of billions, the majority of the world’s currency, and numerous passports, ID cards and other vital documents.

“Authentication technologies are on the front line of the war against counterfeiting every day, but many of us don’t realize it or appreciate the role they play,” said Ed Dietrich, Director, Americas for Reconnaissance International. “The IAA will change that, and build a better appreciation of the value of authentication in anti-counterfeiting strategy.”