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Credit Scores and Loan Applications
Keep Your Credit History Clean - Remove A Negative Credit Record From Your Credit Report It can make a difference of up to 18% in loan repayment costs. For example, on a 30-year, $150,000 fixed rate mortgage, a borrower with the best credit score,...
Extending Credit in Your Home Based Business
Whether or not you will be extending credit to your customers in your home based business is a decision you will eventually have to make. Every business owner will have to write off between 3 and 5 percent of debt as bad, as long as debt is managed...
Increase Your Sales - Accept Credit Cards
Many people today simply prefer the convenience of paying by credit card. If you want their business, you must be able to accept their credit-card payments. In part one of this series we will discuss why you should accept credit cards, and the...
Personal loans for bad credit: Straightening deformed credit
You are looking for personal loans and what is the first question you face "how is your credit?" Alright it is bad. Personal loans for bad credit are an option but you feel like they are hard to find. There is good news for you. Personal loans for...
Swipe Age: What Is A Credit Card Machine?
Credit card machines nowadays come in various types and prices.
The kind of business a merchant is venturing on determines the
kind of credit card machine that he or she is going to use.
If a transaction should be typed in the machine for it...
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Debt Consolidation – How to Protect Your Credit Accounts from Theft
Last week, a security exploit at CardSystems Solutions, Inc, a credit card processor, may have allowed thieves to obtain as many as 40 million credit card numbers from unsuspecting victims. The theft was brought about though a virus introduced into the CardSystems that allowed external hackers to obtain access to the account information. Adding to the problem was the fact that CardSystems wasn’t supposed to have the account information at all. It appears that CardSystems “inappropriately” held onto the information after clearing the credit card transactions. At that point, the account information should have been deleted. CardSystems held onto the account information for supposed “research purposes.” Fortunately for those involved, the compromised information only included account numbers and not Social Security numbers, which would have assisted the thieves in identity theft scams. This latest security breach at a credit card processor outlines how anyone can be vulnerable to account or even identity theft. Is there anything that can be done about it?
The credit card companies largely dictate the relationships between the credit card companies and the credit card processors. They are supposed to keep tabs on the processors and make sure that the processors use secure measures to protect the data of customers. These issues are not governed by law, but the processors can be fined by the credit card companies for violations. So what can the average credit card customer do to make sure that their account information isn’t compromised? Not much, it would appear. The paper
transaction has long since been replaced almost universally by the electronic one, and anytime a customer uses a credit card, their account information is moved from one computer to another. Hackers continue to develop more sophisticated methods of stealing information, and their techniques are often ahead of the processing companies’ ability to develop comparable security measures. For the foreseeable future, credit card customers must consider that their accounts are vulnerable.
In time, the credit card companies and their associated processors will establish security guidelines that are more effective than the ones that are currently in place. In the meantime, the best thing cardholders can do is to simply minimize their exposure. The best way to do this is to have as few credit card accounts as possible and to use them sparingly. Granted, it is often difficult to avoid using credit cards, but there are times when people simply pull them out of the wallet out of habit when using a check or cash would suffice. This may sound inconvenient, but at the moment, the only way to make certain that your account numbers are safe is to avoid using them when possible.
About the Author
©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to debt consolidation and credit counseling, and HomeEquityHelp.com, a site devoted to information regarding home equity loans.
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| National Credit Union Administration - Home Page |
| An independent federal agency that supervises and insures 7152 federal credit unions and insures 4240 state-chartered credit unions. |
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| Credit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
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| The National Foundation for Credit Counseling |
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| FreeCreditReport.com | Free Credit Report and Credit Score Online ... |
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| The Credit Card Prank |
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| Credit magazine, corporate bonds, derivatives, structured credit ... |
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| CUNA: The Credit Union National Association |
| News and resource directory about credit unions. |
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| Credit/Debt Management - Tools and Advice for Managing Credit and Debt |
| Drowning in debt? Trying to improve your credit score? This is the place for you. Get real world information and tips, as well as the legal low down, ... |
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