Some people think having a credit card means spending freely with out any control. They do not bother to check their budget. But beware blindly using your credit card can leave you badly burned.
Most of us think credit cards are perfect solution for practically living paycheck to paycheck. We are available with funds whenever we want but there is a downside to having the ability to buy whatever you want, whenever you want.
If you are unable to pay your credit card bill, little fees for things like late payments and going over your credit limit and on top the interest will lead your balance to balloon size. You will be carrying load of debt the rest of your life if not able to clear you debt as early as possible.
Credit card interest is variable and can change unlike the fixed interest associated with savings accounts. Mostly credit card interest rates are higher at any time. On some cards if you miss a payment you might be charged high APR. On some cards bank give low APR as introductory offer but when this period is over the interest will probably be double. If your balance goes above your credit limit then also credit cards give problem.
It ‘s not that having a credit card only leads to problems it have positive points also. It can proof to be a useful tool in several situations like booking travel, paying for gas at the pump and shopping online. You also get additional benefits on credit cards like reward points and purchase protection plans.
If you want to build credit score especially when you are taking credit card for the first time then credit cards can help you in building a credit score. This helps when you want to borrow larger amounts of money to buy a car or home. This "score" is determined by one of three companies -- Equifax, Trans Union or Experian -- and basically tells a creditor how likely you are to pay back a loan on time. Use your credit card responsibly this will prove you’re worthy to creditors and will help you in getting loan easily.
Many people have ruined their lives by not paying their credit bills on time and have trapped into credit card debt. Not paying bills means you can no longer make the minimum payment therefore you’ll have to declare bankruptcy. Remember one thing bankruptcy show on your records for 7 to 10 years and you’ll find you are very limited in what you can do simple things like renting an apartment or insuring a car will become more difficult.
Make credit card your great companion from which you can get many benefits, but be smart to stay on top of your payments. Don’t let credit card become problem for your for rest of your life.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Delhi crime branch unearth credit card fraud targeting US users
The crime branch of Delhi Police unearths a major international credit card racket. Police arrested two former employees of a multinational bank for being allegedly involved in a major international credit card racket. Police has seized a machine used to commit the fraud from the accused.
The accused, identified as Manoj Gupta (24) and Saurabh Dwivedi (25), had an interesting technique of carrying out a fraud. The duo had contact at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Mohammad Hassan, used to befriend American tourists and make them swipe their credit cards in a machine which could read and store data from the magnetic strip. Then the information was passed on to the accused via email. On the other hand the accused used to secure credit cards in India using fake documents like PAN cards, etc. Then they used to replace the information of the Indian card with that of a genuine American credit card said the police.
The accused were able to get more people involved in the chain, particularly lower-rung employees who used to operate swipe machines at petrol pumps and shopping centers. These employees "agents" would use the credit cards, keep 5% of the amount, and hand over the rest of the money to the duo. The Malaysian contact got 40% of the share via Western Union money transfer. And the unlucky credit card owner in the US got an inflated bill.
As Anil Shukla, DCP, crime and railways, said: "The genuine credit card holder, back in US, came to know of the crime only in the next billing cycle. He would contest the claim and ultimately the loss would be borne either by the American bank or insurance agency. Since the fraud occurred in India, no one pursued the matter any further."
"They were clever enough to use Indian names on the cards to avoid suspicion. They got away as few shopkeepers bothered to check the credit card numbers," added the DCP.
As per police reports the gang started operations in around April and collected over Rs 10 lakh, said the police. Police from the accused has seized five forged PAN cards, 18 local credit cards loaded with data of American cards, a card reader machine and Rs 10,000. A machine used to rewrite data, which it seems that the duo had purchased online, has also been recovered.
According to police sources, Dwivedi and Gupta were working in a multinational bank when they came in contact with one Anand Mishra, a resident of Mumbai, who got them introduced to Hassan. Sometime back Mishra was arrested in a similar case. Sources stated from his possession also a machine has been recovered.
Gupta was a XII class pass out, Dwivedi was a graduate. During interrogation the duo told the cops that they possessed data of around 30,000 American cards. So far, cops have recovered 12,028 data entries from their computer. Cops said more arrests are likely in the case.
"Many petrol pumps and shops have actively cooperated with them. The people involved would be arrested. We are also in touch with Mumbai police to bring Mishra here on a transit remand. Efforts are on to trace Hassan in Malaysia," said the DCP.
The accused, identified as Manoj Gupta (24) and Saurabh Dwivedi (25), had an interesting technique of carrying out a fraud. The duo had contact at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Mohammad Hassan, used to befriend American tourists and make them swipe their credit cards in a machine which could read and store data from the magnetic strip. Then the information was passed on to the accused via email. On the other hand the accused used to secure credit cards in India using fake documents like PAN cards, etc. Then they used to replace the information of the Indian card with that of a genuine American credit card said the police.
The accused were able to get more people involved in the chain, particularly lower-rung employees who used to operate swipe machines at petrol pumps and shopping centers. These employees "agents" would use the credit cards, keep 5% of the amount, and hand over the rest of the money to the duo. The Malaysian contact got 40% of the share via Western Union money transfer. And the unlucky credit card owner in the US got an inflated bill.
As Anil Shukla, DCP, crime and railways, said: "The genuine credit card holder, back in US, came to know of the crime only in the next billing cycle. He would contest the claim and ultimately the loss would be borne either by the American bank or insurance agency. Since the fraud occurred in India, no one pursued the matter any further."
"They were clever enough to use Indian names on the cards to avoid suspicion. They got away as few shopkeepers bothered to check the credit card numbers," added the DCP.
As per police reports the gang started operations in around April and collected over Rs 10 lakh, said the police. Police from the accused has seized five forged PAN cards, 18 local credit cards loaded with data of American cards, a card reader machine and Rs 10,000. A machine used to rewrite data, which it seems that the duo had purchased online, has also been recovered.
According to police sources, Dwivedi and Gupta were working in a multinational bank when they came in contact with one Anand Mishra, a resident of Mumbai, who got them introduced to Hassan. Sometime back Mishra was arrested in a similar case. Sources stated from his possession also a machine has been recovered.
Gupta was a XII class pass out, Dwivedi was a graduate. During interrogation the duo told the cops that they possessed data of around 30,000 American cards. So far, cops have recovered 12,028 data entries from their computer. Cops said more arrests are likely in the case.
"Many petrol pumps and shops have actively cooperated with them. The people involved would be arrested. We are also in touch with Mumbai police to bring Mishra here on a transit remand. Efforts are on to trace Hassan in Malaysia," said the DCP.
Friday, June 13, 2008
International credit card racket busted with the arrest of eight persons
Hyderabad police busted a credit card fraud having international consequence and involving secret leakage of clients’ confidential data by arresting eight people in Yakutpura on Thursday. This incidence is likely to adversely impact on the call centers’ operations in Hyderabad, has got the credit of being a BPO hub in India.
Acting on a tip-off, Central Zone Task Force personnel apprehended Mohammed Mujtaba Ali, 23, of Santosh Nagar, Mohammed Imran, 19, of Baba Nagar, Mohammed Abdul Aleem, 19, of Yousafain Colony, Sheikh Azeez Ahmed, 21, of Old Malakpet, Mohammed Moulana, 19, of Wahed Nagar, Syed Mohsin, 22, of Malakpet, Mohammed Abrar Hussain, 27, of Moinbagh and Mohammed Mahboob, 22, of Chandrayangutta. Mohammed Mujtaba Ali runs Fast and Fast Internet Cafe in Yakutpura.
The accused using the American Express international credit card details of foreigners which were supplied by the call centre employees, used to pay power, water and property tax bills. The Commissioner’s Task Force DCP V.B. Kamalasan Reddy told in a press conference up to now, the gang had paid over 350 bills online involving a sum of Rs. 10 lakh.
Members of the gang would even approach individuals, who received huge water and other bills, assured them to clear the full bills even if half the bill amount was given.
After collecting the bill copies from the individuals, the gang members would pay the amount online using the credit card number and code of the foreigner they had acquired through their agents working in call centers. DCP told Mohd. Moulana, 19, working in Nirnay Technologies call centre at Chaitanyapuri, was one such agent of the gang. In a media conference held by police Moulana told, “I am not connected to the gang that fraudulently made the online payments. But I passed on one customer’s credit card data to one of them”.
The gang used to go to the individual with the payment receipt, collect half the bill amount and share it among themselves. This fraud has been going on for the past six months. Mohd. Abdul Aleem is one of the person among the eight arrested persons. Before also he was arrested on similar charge three months ago.
Police informed that there are chances that the fraud might be carried on a much larger scale all over the city. “There could be many persons like Moulana leaking vital data. We’re trying to track them,” the DCP explained. He said the persons who paid water, power and property tax bills through this gang too were liable for punishment and probe was on to identify them. No case has been registered because the fraud was committed using credit card information of foreigners.
Police sources told that they are writing to the American Express company officials about the fraud busted here. They had warned people to be alert and not to get lured by such gangs offering to clear civic amenity bills with less payment.
Acting on a tip-off, Central Zone Task Force personnel apprehended Mohammed Mujtaba Ali, 23, of Santosh Nagar, Mohammed Imran, 19, of Baba Nagar, Mohammed Abdul Aleem, 19, of Yousafain Colony, Sheikh Azeez Ahmed, 21, of Old Malakpet, Mohammed Moulana, 19, of Wahed Nagar, Syed Mohsin, 22, of Malakpet, Mohammed Abrar Hussain, 27, of Moinbagh and Mohammed Mahboob, 22, of Chandrayangutta. Mohammed Mujtaba Ali runs Fast and Fast Internet Cafe in Yakutpura.
The accused using the American Express international credit card details of foreigners which were supplied by the call centre employees, used to pay power, water and property tax bills. The Commissioner’s Task Force DCP V.B. Kamalasan Reddy told in a press conference up to now, the gang had paid over 350 bills online involving a sum of Rs. 10 lakh.
Members of the gang would even approach individuals, who received huge water and other bills, assured them to clear the full bills even if half the bill amount was given.
After collecting the bill copies from the individuals, the gang members would pay the amount online using the credit card number and code of the foreigner they had acquired through their agents working in call centers. DCP told Mohd. Moulana, 19, working in Nirnay Technologies call centre at Chaitanyapuri, was one such agent of the gang. In a media conference held by police Moulana told, “I am not connected to the gang that fraudulently made the online payments. But I passed on one customer’s credit card data to one of them”.
The gang used to go to the individual with the payment receipt, collect half the bill amount and share it among themselves. This fraud has been going on for the past six months. Mohd. Abdul Aleem is one of the person among the eight arrested persons. Before also he was arrested on similar charge three months ago.
Police informed that there are chances that the fraud might be carried on a much larger scale all over the city. “There could be many persons like Moulana leaking vital data. We’re trying to track them,” the DCP explained. He said the persons who paid water, power and property tax bills through this gang too were liable for punishment and probe was on to identify them. No case has been registered because the fraud was committed using credit card information of foreigners.
Police sources told that they are writing to the American Express company officials about the fraud busted here. They had warned people to be alert and not to get lured by such gangs offering to clear civic amenity bills with less payment.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Courier staff held for stealing credit cards
The South district police arrested two courier company employees for allegedly stealing credit cards being sent to users through courier. Police said they have been able to bust a gang of credit card thieves; the gang's mastermind was a school dropout, Birendra Kumar (26), who worked in Elbee Express courier firm. The accused used to steal the credit cards being sent to users through courier and made hefty purchases through them. The gang even bought a Maruti Alto car using a stolen card.
The technique used by gang's exposes the carelessness in security norms followed by banks in dispatching credit cards to users, many of whom don't even ask for it.
Police told Kumar used to collect bundles of envelopes containing credit cards from ICICI Bank in Noida for delivery to the courier office. The gang would take out credit cards from certain envelopes, like those addressed to business executives. These cards would be then replaced with thick paper cards, police said. The gang used to create fake identity proofs matching the names in the credit card and did the high-value purchasing with the cards.
The technique used by gang's exposes the carelessness in security norms followed by banks in dispatching credit cards to users, many of whom don't even ask for it.
Police told Kumar used to collect bundles of envelopes containing credit cards from ICICI Bank in Noida for delivery to the courier office. The gang would take out credit cards from certain envelopes, like those addressed to business executives. These cards would be then replaced with thick paper cards, police said. The gang used to create fake identity proofs matching the names in the credit card and did the high-value purchasing with the cards.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Four persons arrested for buying credit card numbers
The MIDC police arrested four persons in Mumbai for allegedly shopping online using credit cards numbers fraudulently. According to police report Ayaz Pansari, 26, expected to be key player of the fraud, was arrested on May 24 and he led the police to the other three accused — his wife Sania, 19, and their two accomplices Mohammed Taki, 36, and Ramesh Chaudhari, 40. They were arrested from Bhayandar on June 3.
During interrogation, the couple told the police that they are having a list of credit card numbers which they got through an “unknown person” by paying him Rs500 for each number.
They told the unknown person claimed to be a bank employee.
Senior inspector Pradeep Sonawne of MIDC police station said, Pansari was a former employee of a Direct Sales Agent (DSA) that gets contract from banks for getting customers for credit cards. “Two years ago Pansari left the job, but he had the list of credit card numbers and the pin numbers of the customers”.
The accused purchased a mobile phone worth Rs24, 000 from a shopping mall online using a credit card number that belonged to a 47-year-old businessman; here his luck went against him. On March 19 Chandra Prakash Awasthi, registered a complaint in which he said he was shocked when he received the credit card statement in March which showed that he had purchased a mobile phone.
Sonawne informed so far, four cases of fraudulent shopping have been noticed. “The couple used to stay on lease and vacated the place after every two-three months,” said a police officer.
The accused have been booked under Sections 34 (common intention), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 420 (cheating) of the IPC. They have been remanded to police custody till June 7.
During interrogation, the couple told the police that they are having a list of credit card numbers which they got through an “unknown person” by paying him Rs500 for each number.
They told the unknown person claimed to be a bank employee.
Senior inspector Pradeep Sonawne of MIDC police station said, Pansari was a former employee of a Direct Sales Agent (DSA) that gets contract from banks for getting customers for credit cards. “Two years ago Pansari left the job, but he had the list of credit card numbers and the pin numbers of the customers”.
The accused purchased a mobile phone worth Rs24, 000 from a shopping mall online using a credit card number that belonged to a 47-year-old businessman; here his luck went against him. On March 19 Chandra Prakash Awasthi, registered a complaint in which he said he was shocked when he received the credit card statement in March which showed that he had purchased a mobile phone.
Sonawne informed so far, four cases of fraudulent shopping have been noticed. “The couple used to stay on lease and vacated the place after every two-three months,” said a police officer.
The accused have been booked under Sections 34 (common intention), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), 420 (cheating) of the IPC. They have been remanded to police custody till June 7.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Spending with credit card is a concept of mental accounting
When doing shopping have you ever thought why you find easier to shop with credit or a debit card than actual cash? Why is it much easier to spend with plastic money?
You will get answer for your question in a concept called mental accounting, a term coined by Richard Thaller, a pioneer of behavioral economics.
According to Thaller the term can be defined as “the inclination to categorize and treat money differently, depending on where it comes from, where it is kept and how it is spent.”
As Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich mentioned in their book, Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them, “In fact, credit cards and other types of revolving loans are almost by definition mental accounts, and dangerous ones at that. Credit card dollars are cheapened because there is seemingly no loss at the moment during the purchase, at least on a visceral level. Think of it this way: If you have $100 cash in your pocket and you pay $50 for a toaster, you experience the purchase as cutting your pocket money in half. If you charge that toaster though, you don’t experience the same loss of buying power that your wallet of $50 brings.”
In other words spending cash to buy things give more pain to individuals. “In fact, the money we charge on plastic is devalued because it seems as if we’re not actually spending anything when we use cards. Sort of like Monopoly money,” Belsky and Gilovich add.
But one thing that every card holder does not keep in mind is that money spent through a credit card is more expensive in case of failure to repay the amount during the credit period because high interest is charged for on the payments.
Moreover, individuals paying with credit card cannot see the money they are spending so they end up spending more. As Belky and Gilovich point out, “But you may be surprised to learn that by using credit cards, you not only increase your chances of spending to begin with, you also increase the likelihood that you will pay more when you spend than you would if you were paying cash.”
Therefore next time going for shopping and do not have enough money leave the credit card at home pay shopping bills in cash.
You will get answer for your question in a concept called mental accounting, a term coined by Richard Thaller, a pioneer of behavioral economics.
According to Thaller the term can be defined as “the inclination to categorize and treat money differently, depending on where it comes from, where it is kept and how it is spent.”
As Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich mentioned in their book, Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them, “In fact, credit cards and other types of revolving loans are almost by definition mental accounts, and dangerous ones at that. Credit card dollars are cheapened because there is seemingly no loss at the moment during the purchase, at least on a visceral level. Think of it this way: If you have $100 cash in your pocket and you pay $50 for a toaster, you experience the purchase as cutting your pocket money in half. If you charge that toaster though, you don’t experience the same loss of buying power that your wallet of $50 brings.”
In other words spending cash to buy things give more pain to individuals. “In fact, the money we charge on plastic is devalued because it seems as if we’re not actually spending anything when we use cards. Sort of like Monopoly money,” Belsky and Gilovich add.
But one thing that every card holder does not keep in mind is that money spent through a credit card is more expensive in case of failure to repay the amount during the credit period because high interest is charged for on the payments.
Moreover, individuals paying with credit card cannot see the money they are spending so they end up spending more. As Belky and Gilovich point out, “But you may be surprised to learn that by using credit cards, you not only increase your chances of spending to begin with, you also increase the likelihood that you will pay more when you spend than you would if you were paying cash.”
Therefore next time going for shopping and do not have enough money leave the credit card at home pay shopping bills in cash.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Chennai police busted fake credit card racket
Chennai police busted another fake credit card racket by arresting four people and search is on for 11 more people in connection with the case. Earlier police had arrested seven persons for using fake credit cards and cheating banks.
Police told that gang had cheated banks to the tune of Rs 65 lakh. The gang members obtained credit cards from leading private banks by presenting fake documents.
Police recovered three cars, a lap top, two LCD Tvs and 17 credit cards from the accused.
Central Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner D Vijaya Kumari said there are many loopholes in the existed credit card processing of leading private banks, which had outsourced 75 per cent of the process to private parties.
"We had asked the banks to ensure that they provide cards only to genuine customers after perusing applicant's profile in detail," she added.
In the earlier case, in which seven persons were arrested from them police had seized over 70 credit cards, which the gang had availed from various leading private banks after presenting fake documents. They had duped the banks to the tune of Rs 65 lakh.
Police told that gang had cheated banks to the tune of Rs 65 lakh. The gang members obtained credit cards from leading private banks by presenting fake documents.
Police recovered three cars, a lap top, two LCD Tvs and 17 credit cards from the accused.
Central Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner D Vijaya Kumari said there are many loopholes in the existed credit card processing of leading private banks, which had outsourced 75 per cent of the process to private parties.
"We had asked the banks to ensure that they provide cards only to genuine customers after perusing applicant's profile in detail," she added.
In the earlier case, in which seven persons were arrested from them police had seized over 70 credit cards, which the gang had availed from various leading private banks after presenting fake documents. They had duped the banks to the tune of Rs 65 lakh.
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