5 WAYS TO GET TAKEN BY FAKE CHECKS

Fake check scams are the most pervasive fraud in America, hitting virtually every demographic group with some permutation of the same clever con, according to the National Consumer's League. "Fake check scams are an equal opportunity fraud," says John Breyault, director of the National Consumers League Fraud Center. "Scam artists are savvy, networked and know every button to push to get consumers from all walks of life to fall for their schemes."


There are multiple permutations of the same con. But the basic way it works is this: You get a check for a relatively large amount of money and are asked to refund or pass on a portion of the amount to the sender or a third party. By the time you find out that the check is fake, your money is long gone.


The typical victim loses between $3,000 and $4,000 in the scam, says Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. "Once you send money to a crook, it's almost impossible to get back."


Tragically, the scam works partly because of common misunderstandings about how banks clear checks. Financial institutions are required by federal law to give you credit for checks deposited in your account within a set number of days. The precise timing depends on whether the check issuer is local, national or international. Most consumers assume that when the bank makes the funds available, it has determined that the check is good. But that's not the case.


It can take weeks to discover a good forgery. At that point, the bank will reverse the credit it gave you for the fake check and you're on the hook for any checks you wrote against it. Worse, many banks will consider you the crook, close your account for "suspicious activity" and enter your name into a database that will make it more difficult to open another bank account, says Grant.


Consumer experts have been warning about this growing con for years. And yet, the crooks are so clever and convincing that they are believed to have conned more than 1.3 million people. Here are the five most common ways that they do it, and the tip-offs that help you know it's a scam:


Mystery Shopper


You're looking for a job and answer an advertisement for mystery shoppers. The company sends you a check supposedly to cover the items you'll be buying and to "test" Western Union's services. You get to deduct your pay from the check too.


Tip-offs that this is a scam?


1. The check is for more than $1,000 and the company says you can keep a $200 or $300 fee for the job. Real mystery shoppers get paid $10 to $25 per job.


2. They paid in advance. Legitimate mystery shopping jobs pay only after you've turned in your review.


3. Review Western Union? If the con artists were to be believed, Western Union would be the most mystery-shopped company in the world. They want you to use Western Union because sending this draft is the same as sending cash. Once it leaves your hands, it's gone.


Sweepstakes


You have won an international lottery! Congratulations! Here's a $20,000 check for just a portion of your winnings. To claim the additional hundreds of thousands of Euros or dollars that you've won, all you have to do is send a personal check for the taxes due on your winnings.


Tip-offs?


1. You didn't enter an international lottery. (I swear, you would remember if you did.)


2. Taxes are collected after you receive income, not before.


3. Governments collect taxes, not lotteries.


Account Manager


You've been hired as the account manager at a major international distributor. You can work at home. Your only responsibility is to handle remittances. You get checks, deposit them into your own account and pass them on, subtracting your fee. Your fee is substantial.


Tip-offs?


1. International corporations have no problem opening their own bank accounts. Why do they need you to use yours? Oh ... because they're not an international corporation and if they used their own accounts, they couldn't steal your money.


2. Jobs that require very little work for high pay don't exist unless you're a corporate Chief Executive Officer. And to get a job as a CEO, you need to know how to golf.


Overpayment


You are selling your car/puppy/chest-of-drawers and have placed an advertisement on the internet. You get contacted from somebody who just loves English Bull Terriers (or whatever you're selling) and is desperate to pay full price. Just one problem. The buyer is from overseas; hasn't yet opened a U.S. bank account; and can only pay with a third-party check -- maybe even a paycheck. If you take that check and deposit it, you can pay yourself and just give them cash for the overpayment, right?


Tip-offs?


1. Opening a bank account with a paycheck is pretty dang easy. It might take a few hours, but the Bull Terriers can wait. If you cash this check, you are the bank and you have your first bad debt. (Congratulations. Maybe you can apply for a government bail-out.)


2. Your Bull Terriers are clearly the cutest in the world, but there are others in the world -- even others in your state/city/county. Your buyer is generating a sense of urgency -- I've got to have one and I'm afraid they'll all be sold before I get my account opened! -- just to scam you. Tell them to let you know when their account is opened, and you'll put them on the list to have first pick of the next litter if this litter is, indeed, all spoken for by the time their bank account is opened.


Grant


You get an official looking letter saying that you have won a $100,000 grant from the government or some foundation. But to claim the grant money, you need to send a "processing fee."


Tip-offs?


1. You didn't apply for a grant.


2. You are not a scientist.


3. Government agencies and foundations that provide grants send you money. They don't ask you to send them money (unless they're soliciting donations ... and that's not the kind of letter you got).

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An Off The Wall Way To Manage Your Credit

Meet the world's most financially self-controlled man. Pete D'Arruda says he has more than $300,000 in available credit, thanks to some 25 Visas, Mastercards, and individual store, airline and gas cards -- about $12,000 a card.

"It's not taboo to have a bunch of credit cards," says Mr. D'Arruda, a personal-finance consultant who has been building his credit trove for about five years. "It's about how you manage them."

Mr. D'Arruda, the founding principal of Capital Financial Advisory Group in Cary, N.C., and author of three personal-finance books, is testing the more-is-better theory: The more cards and available credit one has, the better one's score -- assuming the bills are paid promptly.

With a FICO credit score in the 810 to 815 range, it's working for him. But credit experts say it's unnecessary and could create a financial maelstrom for those less diligent.

"For many people, they would end up with $350,000 in debt and that would not be a very good thing," says Rod Griffin, director of public education for Experian.

Mr. D'Arruda charges everything from coffee to his office rent. He prides himself on his ability to manage all the cards and to pay promptly, avoiding a debt spiral. "I like to pay my bills on time," he says.

In return, he has earned hundreds of thousands of miles and points, numerous discounts and freebies from stores and vacation spots, and better interest rates on insurance and car and home loans. Typically, the higher the credit score, the lower the interest rate. What's more, his credit-card statements provide a running tally on where he's spending his money.

He has accumulated enough points on his Disney Visa card from Chase to pay for a Disney cruise this Thanksgiving. His platinum American Express card points will cover the airfare to Orlando.

Even cards with fees aren't a problem: Mr. D'Arruda has a Visa Black Card, a new elite card with concierge service, access to airport lounges, cash-back rewards or airfare on any airline with no blackouts. He's assessing it for a year to see whether he'll use the rewards programs enough to cover the $495 annual fee, but he got the fee waived to do so. "They pulled my credit score and saw that I was a good risk," he says.

Credit scores are calculated through complicated and proprietary algorithms that differ among scoring agencies. However, there are generally three major pieces.

The most important: your bill-paying history. It accounts for as much as 35% of your total score. Pay all your bills on time. Even if it's just the minimum payment, make sure that bill is marked paid on the designated date, or sooner.

Next, your "utilization rate," or debt-to-available-credit ratio, counts for about 30% of your score. Mr. D'Arruda says his is usually about 10% to 15%. Creditors don't want to see the ratio over 30% and consider it an important sign of your financial acumen and any money challenges you are facing.

"You don't need a lot of credit cards to have a good utilization rate," says Barry Paperno, consumer operations manager for myFICO.com, the consumer arm of credit scorer FICO. "Obtaining 25 credit cards for your score is overkill. Utilization looks at percentages more than dollars."

If you have $300,000 in available credit and a $30,000 balance, your utilization rate is 10%; if your available credit stands at $3,000 and you owe $300, your utilization rate is the same.

Be wary of your per-card rate, too. If you have a credit card with a $5,000 limit and you charge $4,750 for a home-theater system, your utilization rate on that card may set off alarms.

"It's a good idea to try to keep the balance on each card under 30% of the limit," says Steven Katz, senior director of operations for credit-management company TransUnion.

Having access to credit but not using it won't improve your score, but that doesn't mean you have to carry a balance each month. You simply need to use the card and pay it off to maximize your credit score.

"The ideal place to be is under a 10% utilization rate but over 0%," FICO's Mr. Paperno says. "There needs to be some kind of recent activity" to activate a score.

Your credit mix and history contribute about 15% to your score. Creditors like to see how you handle revolving credit, or credit cards, and installment loans, like mortgages and car and student loans. They average the age of the account divided by the number of accounts.

Opening new accounts can affect about 10% of your score. "Taking on new credit has been shown to indicate a higher level of risk," Mr. Paperno says. "People who go into default tend to have added new credit more recently than those who haven't."

Mr. D'Arruda says he only chooses cards that will help him with points, miles, cash back and other perks. He likes the 30% discounts he gets at Kohl's and the special sales offered to Home Depot and Best Buy cardholders. He likes the Capital One card because it offers double miles. He's got an American Express card that has no limit, though he's not willing to test what that might mean.

"This is a lesson in discipline," he says. "When you get the credit card, it's like free money.... It all comes down to not overspending because it's not your money."

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Different Types Of Credit Card Terminals

Credit card terminalsare devices that do transactions with a credit card or debit card. These devices have become a very common sight in almost all retail stores and restaurants. They letcredit card processing to be done in an effective and secured way.





Millions of terminals are being shipped each and every year. Although it is true that they are relatively a small purchase in terms of dollars, their impact on a business can be huge. Merchant account providers usually charge half percent more for keyed-in transaction than for swiped charges. Thus if you find your old credit card machine not reading cards as it used to earlier or is not able to support transactions with debit cards, purchase a terminal soon for smooth operation of your business. You might also need these machines because your business has grown substantially.





Whatever be the reason for your purchase of credit card terminals, there are different kinds of these machines available in the market from where you can make your choice.  Software-based or virtual terminals, wireless terminals and traditional terminals are the three different types of credit card machines. Here is a brief introduction of each of these machines.





Traditional terminals:





Traditional credit card terminalsinclude a keypad for entering the prices and any other kind of information for transaction, a magnetic stripe reader and a small display. The printer can either be available as a separate unit or be built-in. When you make your choice between a built-in printer and a machine with a separate unit, always remember that it is always easier to deal with a single device than two. When it comes to displays, buying the ones having larger displays is a wise idea because that would enable you to see more information. Getting a backlit display will let you use the machine in low light conditions and this is a good idea. Keypads generally vary in size.  Number of keys may also vary in a keypad. More the number of keys better is the functionality.





Software-based terminals:





You might not need any physical credit card machine at all if you do your business exclusively over Internet or phone. In such a case, the merchant account provider generally provides software, which handles the monetary transaction. Here only the credit card number needs to be typed for the software to handle the authorization.





Wireless terminals:





Wireless credit card machines can be of great advantage for some businesses. For instance, seasonal businesses having temporary locations, taxi drivers and a lot of other businesses can increase their efficiency by accepting cards wirelessly. But one thing is that these wireless machines for credit card processing are of no use or are simple a needless expense for businesses that would never leave their counters—the wireless feature are of no use to them. They have printers built-in. However, if your business needs a wireless terminal, ensure to buy one evaluating its battery life, weight, shock-resistance and range.

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Fall In U.S. Credit Rating: What It Means For Small Businesses

Standard and Poor's recent downgrade of U.S. government debt may seem too remote from small businesses to have any impact. But what really are the factors that the downgrade raises, and how can small businesses adapt to the change?

If your small business depends on federal funding, Standard and Poor's recent downgrade of U.S. government debt may affect you directly.

The U.S. government has sought to boost the economy out of recession by borrowing on the international wholesale markets and spending on a range of job creation, welfare change, and capital spending projects. A cut in the credit rating from AAA rating to AA+ by Standard and Poor's raises the potential risk of a default on debt payments, and lenders to the U.S. government will seek an additional few basis points of interest to compensate for the risk.

How Credit Grades Change Fiscal Dynamics
Now a few basis points may not seem much compared with the rates a small business borrows at, but imagine the impact of any increase, no matter how small, on the $14 trillion dollar debt burden and you can see that less money will be available to prime the U.S. economy. Apart from the prestige of having the best credit rating, there is a real knock-on cost on the existing as well as new debt.

It may well be the case that some international lenders will not buy U.S. bonds due to the downgrade. That means borrowing may become more difficult in the near future, and the government may be required to consider even further cutbacks in spending.

What Can Small Businesses Do?
Secure any existing funding lines now before the effect ripples through the market. Do a thorough financial review and develop a detailed cashflow plan. Talk to investors and bankers about getting the business funded in the most appropriate way.

If your business depends on federal funding, then start to look hard at how to streamline your business even further to save on costs. You may come under pressure to retender for contracts as projects get closely evaluated for cost effectiveness in these tight fiscal times.

Know How Much It Costs to Borrow
If your business has any borrowings at all, then make sure you know the interest rate charged and the way the charges are actually worked out. Use a loans calculator to see how small changes in interest rate can affect what you may have to pay and see how changing the term can reduce monthly cashflow needs.

Armed with this information, go and talk to your lenders or investors and negotiate a secure fixed-rate core lending line with a flexible working capital facility big enough to cover the greatest periods of need.

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Reasons To Use A Business Credit Card

There is no doubt that credit cards are rapidly becoming a business requirement. They are flexible, convenient and easy to use and offer users the facility to make purchases right away, all around the world.


There are numerous reasons of using a business credit card and following are some of the top reasons of using a business credit card:


1. Using credit cards to buy the business makes it easier to track expenses. Most providers offer integrated credit card expense reports, which can save you countless administrative expenses and a lot of hassle.


2. Cash in hand before the most popular payment method for small, incidental purchases, but the days of small tin of money well and truly over. Nowadays it's more common for companies to make purchases online or by phone. Providing key employees with a credit card that is attached to the business account means that you can make instant purchases and reconcile expenses quickly and easily.


3. One of the most important reasons for applying for the business credit card is to build your business credit. This is useful if you need to take a business loan in the future. Responsible use and consistent payment history will be a great asset credit rating.


4. Most business credit card programs offer rewards and incentives for users. Organizations can save money on various goods and services from gasoline to air travel, insurance and other professional services.


5. If you're a small business owner, you'll know how important it is to separate business and personal finance. The presence of a business card credit helps with this division and will come in especially handy around tax time. Do not forget to keep your accounts separate and do not be tempted to make personal purchases on your business credit card.


6. There may come a time when you need to buy products that make a single payment or pay a big bill. Corporate cards can help you make these one-time payments quickly and more convenient than the use for a business loan.


7. Cash flow is a major issue for all businesses, and especially if you have employees or creditors, who rely on their payments. Business cards credit can help you cover normal times and the seasonal lull.


With money in place or holding it around with you it's not a good idea. Business credit cards reduce the need for cash to make the business less a target for theft or loss.

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The Best Way To Ensure You Gets The Credit You Deserve

Always getting a loan at the prime rate of today is the most impossible thing in this world today. If you do wish to get an interest rate that is more or less like the prime rate of today’s world, you should always consider getting the free credit report gov just so that you can understand where do you stay in this issue. Always getting a free credit report is the best thing that one should do so that they can have knowledge about what you should do and what should you get in order for you to get a loan in the current market. This can lead to your getting the knowledge in the amount of loans that can be incurred in this loan. The original prime rate is actually the rate of interest for customers by the bank who favor them in case of their high fiscal credibility and their good loan rate.

You can always get a free annual credit report that can be got from the bank. They should and always provide this report at you at no cost of yours. They should let you do that at the prime rate that is prevalent in the market as well. Once you have all the necessary information at hand, they should then be available for you to take a guesstimate in the regard of getting loans. If you do not have the necessary skills to decipher the annual report, you should then get the help of an expert and they should be able to get the full details for you and make sure that they get the whole amount of money that you can get in terms of loans is very helpful and essential in terms of money. If the figure is not at all enlighten then you cannot do anything as you would have to live with this only.

You could also get an amazon credit card for your benefit. This credit card can also be very good for your loans and they can help a lot in getting the necessary loans and also be of a huge benefit to you as you would not have to resort to getting the help of banks worldwide just so that you could get the loan amount in a jiffy. They help in you getting some extra cash in hand whenever you need it and easy repayment options are available in this credit card.

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Finding The Best Rewards Credit Cards

Great deals on credit cards are now on sale at your nearest dealer credit cards or in your mailbox. Because of competition, the company's credit card has now decided to give something in exchange for your payments - on credit card rewards and incentives can be very attractive. Just about anything goes - from cash back, air miles, or office equipment for your business. Let's take a quick look to see what some of the features and some tips on how to choose the best rewards credit card for you.


Rewards credit cards offer virtually all the credit card company now - simply because they see that it really draws people to their transactions. Benefits now, the day when gas prices really feel the pump, may be especially attractive. Awards are generally based on two things: when you make your first purchase, and depending on the volume of purchases made within a certain period of time.


Rewards credit cards offer benefits based on how much you spend over a certain period of time. In general, you can earn points on your rewards with every purchase, while the number of points per dollar value and the points vary from card to card. The points can then be used to obtain rewards such as gas rebates, airline miles, cash back, and gift cards to stores or goods at a discount, depending on the program.


Cash Back is widely regarded as one of the best rewards credit cards on the market. If you choose this type of card you get from 1% to 20% cash discount on virtually all accredited purchases made by credit card. This is the most popular type of stimulus, provided that, however the cardholder must admit that not every purchase they make will comply.


To find the best rewards credit cards to meet your current needs, be sure to focus on what each credit card can do for you personally. If you want to get more bonus points, designed for travel, look at the map of bonus miles. Persons who wish to cash back rewards should focus on credit cards that offer cash or money can be gift cards for qualified expenses. No matter what you need, you'll find a bonus card rewards are for you. When choosing the best card credit reward, make sure you compare the benefits of one other similar card. There are lots of chances that one may be far ahead of others, which could mean a lot more benefit to you.

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