Posts Tagged credit card
The Future Of Banking
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Banks, Favourites on September 2nd, 2010
The banking industry is always in a state of transition. Banks are also coming out with new products to attract customers. Over the past 20 years, we have seen direct deposit, online banking, banking applications, and automated tellers. All of these products were designed to save money and make banking easier for customers. So, what are banks working on now to improve operations?
Here are 3 ways that technology will make your banking life easier over the next few years.
1. Fewer Trips To The Bank
Remote-deposit capture is the new big thing in banking. Remote deposit capture allows customers to make a bank deposit without leaving their house. Customers can take a picture of a check at home. The computer receives the image and verifies the amount, check number, account number, and the bank’s routing number. A photo of the back of the check verifies that it’s been signed by the recipient. A clearinghouse then routes the funds from the check writer’s account to that of the recipient. Funds are available for withdrawal without ever setting foot in a bank.
2. Fewer Bank Tellers
Banks will always need tellers to address customers but tellers are being replaced by bank technology. First, there was the invention of Automated Teller Machines (ATM). Now, a few major credit unions are trying branches with very few tellers. The bank lobbies have no physical tellers. The teller transacts all business with the customer via a video camera. The teller can see and hear the customer but the customer never physically sees a bank teller. This cuts down on robberies and reduces the number of tellers needed. Read the rest of this entry »
How to Quickly Find Out if Your Identity Is Stolen
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Banks, Favourites on May 26th, 2010
Here’s a quick and free way to determine whether you’re a victim of identity fraud: check your “My ID score” at www.MyIDScore.com.
Here’s how the year-old tool works. At the site, enter information about yourself including your name, address, date of birth, telephone numbers and, if you choose, your Social Security number. The site then asks you a series of questions to verify who you are and then provides you with a score between 1 and 999 that measures the likelihood that others are misusing your personal information.
The free service is offered by ID Analytics Incorporated and is based on the same technology that the firm has offered companies for nearly a decade. The corporate scoring tool tells companies, from credit card issuers to mortgage lenders, how likely it is that people applying for a card or a loan, among other applications, are who they say they are.
The score is calculated by looking at anomalies in ID Analytic’s database of about 360 billion basic identity elements including names, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, birth dates and addresses, all of which is information from applications and change-of-address forms provided to the database by client companies. Anomalies that may increase an individual’s score would be, for instance, if three people with different names are applying for credit cards using the same Social Security number or from two different addresses on the same day. Read the rest of this entry »
Americans are regaining their lost wealth
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Trading Markets on March 19th, 2010
Americans are recovering their shrunken wealth – gradually. Household net worth rose last quarter, mainly because the healing economy boosted stock portfolios. But the gain was slight. And it was less than in the previous two quarters.
The Federal Reserve said Thursday that net worth rose 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter to $54.2 trillion. It marked the third straight quarter of gains. But economists say consumers would need a stronger and more prolonged increase in their wealth to persuade them to ratchet up spending.
Net worth had risen by a more robust 4.5 percent in the second quarter of 2009 and an even faster 5.5 percent in the third quarter. Net worth is the value of assets such as homes, checking accounts and investments minus debts like mortgages and credit cards.
Even with the gain, Americans’ net worth would have to rise an additional 21 percent just to get back to its pre-recession peak of $65.9 trillion. That illustrates Americans’ vast loss of wealth from the worst downturn since the 1930s. Read the rest of this entry »
How to Fix Your Finances in 2010
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on March 4th, 2010
Still mulling over your New Year’s financial resolutions? – David Laibson, a Harvard University economics professor, has one for you—one that many of us may wish we’d made last year.
“Promise that you’ll never try to time the market again,” he suggests, a not-too-subtle gibe at the many investors who sold their stock in the depths of the downturn early this year and then missed the huge rally that followed.
That’s not the only thing many of us could afford to improve. We would also like to save more, earn more and spend more wisely in 2010. But despite the fresh promise of a new year and a new decade, tackling all our goals at once can be overwhelming.
So to help you accomplish your many New Year’s ambitions, here’s a year’s worth of personal-finance aspirations, timed to major holidays to raise your chances of success: Read the rest of this entry »
Credit-Card Fees: the New Traps
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on February 26th, 2010
A new federal credit-card law that takes effect Monday could erase billions of dollars a year in fees and interest charges paid by consumers. But card issuers are already deploying new tactics that could prove costly for even the most cautious cardholder.
The law made some important changes. Card companies must now tell customers how long it would take to pay off the balance if they only make the minimum monthly payment. Customers can only exceed their credit limit if they agree ahead of time to pay a penalty fee. And unless a cardholder misses payments for more than 60 days, interest-rate increases will affect only new purchases, not existing balances.
Banning these and other profitable tactics is expected to cost the card industry at least $12 billion a year in lost revenue, according to law firm Morrison & Foerster. This has sent the industry scrambling to find new sources of revenue. So get ready for higher annual fees, higher balance-transfer charges, and growing charges for overseas transactions.
“There are countless fees that can be introduced and rates can go through the roof,” says Curtis Arnold, founder of U.S. Citizens for Fair Credit Card Terms Inc., a consumer-advocacy group.
Consider the new offer from Citigroup Inc. The bank will give cardholders a credit of 10% on their total interest charge if they pay on time. That sounds enticing, except that if you don’t pay on time, your interest rate is 29%. Read the rest of this entry »
Credit regulations aim to help students
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on February 23rd, 2010
A new credit card legislation that went in effect Monday could help prevent college students from falling prey to credit card companies, but the effects of these laws might not be seen for a while.
Along with the set of benefits for consumers planned in May 2009 came a number of changes credit companies made in order to continue earning profits after restrictions were applied, student legal services attorney John Connor said.
“These credit card companies had nine months to prepare,” he said. “And so that gave them an opportunity to decide where to increase their fees. I’m sure it will take a number of years to determine whether or not, in fact, it had any positive effect.”
Some of the changes in the credit card law are specifically aimed at colleges and students, banning credit companies from offering gifts in exchange for having students sign a contract with them. It also encourages universities to require credit companies to notify them of any location on campus they are marketing credit card plans. Read the rest of this entry »
Banks Apply Pressure to Keep Fees Rolling In
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Banks on February 22nd, 2010
For many households trying to improve their finances, tossing out pitches from the bank has become almost automatic. But in recent weeks, Chase has been fanning special letters out to consumers with an offer that it urges them not to refuse.
“Your debit card may not work the same way anymore, even if you just made a deposit. Unless we hear from you,” the message, emblazoned in large red type, warns. “If you don’t contact us, your everyday debit card transactions that overdraw your account will not be authorized after August 15, 2010 — even in an emergency,” with “even in an emergency” underlined for emphasis.
As the government cracks down on the way banks charge fees for overspending on debit cards, the industry is mounting an aggressive campaign aimed at keeping billions of dollars in penalty income flowing into its coffers. Chase and other banks are preparing a full-court marketing blitz, which is likely to include filling mailboxes with various aggressive and persuasive letters, calling account holders directly, and sending a steady stream of e-mail to urge consumers to keep their overdraft service turned on.
Starting this summer, banks must get consumers to agree, or “opt in,” to a service covering purchases on a debit card when there is not enough money in their account. The Federal Reserve has ordered the same restriction for banks that want to let people withdraw more than their balance at an automated teller machine. Many banks now automatically provide such coverage for fees of up to $35 or more. Read the rest of this entry »
Steps you can take to build credit, get a card
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Banks, Favourites on January 19th, 2010
Gone are the days when credit card companies barraged you like a lovestruck suitor. Today, bruised by economic losses and consumer defaults, many credit card companies are spurning the customers they once wooed.
And if you’ve got a dinged-up credit score or no credit history, getting a new credit card is next to impossible.
We know one young man – a recent college graduate with a decent-paying job and no major credit dings – who’s been turned down for a credit card repeatedly, even from department stores like Macy’s.
“Credit is still tight, so issuers are not approving as many people with no credit or bad credit as they did 18 months ago when the economy was good,” said Bill Hardekopf, founder of LowCards.com. “It is a very big challenge for them.”
Those with bad credit have long had trouble getting credit cards or finding cards with affordable interest rates. Read the rest of this entry »
Look Who’s Peeking at Your Paycheck
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget, Favourites on January 13th, 2010
You may think your income is private information. But the credit bureaus may have your number.
And starting in February, your income—as estimated by the bureaus—may be used to help determine whether you get a new credit card.
Tuesday, the Federal Reserve issued its final rules related to last year’s Credit Card Act, which, among other things, will require credit-card companies to consider an applicant’s income or assets and current debts before approving credit. To provide flexibility, however, the Fed said that issuers can use “a reasonable estimate” of income or assets based on “statistically sound models.”
In hopes of such a decision, the three big credit bureaus have been updating or rolling out products that seek to estimate consumers’ incomes, based on information in their credit reports, such as the size and age of their mortgages or the size of their credit limits.
The products also are responding to banks’ efforts to tighten credit standards in order to reduce losses and risk. “We look to fill in the blanks where they need the blanks filled in,” says John Cullerton, vice president, product management, for Equifax Inc., an Atlanta-based credit bureau. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Brand Loyalty A Thing of the Past?
Posted by Tetyana Matychak in Budget on September 25th, 2009
Nearly a year on, the financial crisis has changed the way companies and consumers view the brand names in their wallets.
But is this a temporary change, or will it stick?
Some consumers, including those who have had their credit cards canceled, limits lowered or mortgages left in standstill, all say the same thing: “I’m never doing business with company X ever again.”
But some consultants and financial institutions say they aren’t worried about consumer ire toward brands today. They say that consumers have short-term memories and are fickle. And when the economy turns around, people will drift back to brands that they once dismissed.
Robert Passikoff, founder of Brand Keys, a research consulting firm, disagrees. He says that in the past it was easier for companies to win back consumers, but thanks to the Web, it’s easier for more consumers to get more information about brands before they buy. “This is not going to be a forget-and-forgive society,” he says. Read the rest of this entry »
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