Conversations with security experts often leave me paranoid, and my recent chat with Gartner’s Avivah Litan was no exception. We were talking about how banks try to spot fraud with credit and debit cards, and she tossed in an aside about how easy it is for bad guys to swipe data from gas pumps.
Apparently, many older gas pumps don’t encrypt the PINs you enter when you use your debit card. If a criminal can get a key to open the pump—not all that hard to do if you have a disgruntled or otherwise cooperative gas station employee to help—then a card-skimming device can be installed inside to scoop up the PINs along with the information contained on the magnetic stripe.
So far from being safer to use at the pump, as this horribly incorrect Yahoo! Answers entry contends, debit cards can be far more vulnerable than credit cards. A bad guy with your debit card info and PIN can swipe money directly from your bank account. (The criminal gang that compromised debit cards at Michaels recently did exactly that.) With a credit card, on the other hand, you don’t have to pay bogus charges. Those are
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Ebates is celebrating their 12th anniversary of being in business by offer 12% cash back or more at over 100 stores. They are also offering a $5 sign-up bonus to new members as they usually do. Mr. Rebates remains my favorite cash back online shopping portal but I do have memberships at Ebates and a couple of other cash back shopping portals. Mr. Rebates usually offers the highest cash back percentage but sometimes you might find a higher percentage at a different site or a store that isn’t on Mr. Rebates. In that case it makes sense to use the other cash back shopping portal. You can join either Mr. Rebates of Ebates and get a $5 sign up bonus by clicking on their respective links below.
About two years ago, I bought a new car but was lied to about how much it would cost. After a year I simply could not afford the car and could not refinance as I was incredibly upside-down. The auto lender wasn’t willing to help, so I did a voluntary repossession. Nissan came after me for the balance remaining after auction but eventually wrote it off as a bad debt (this shows on my credit report). The debt has been sold twice to collection companies that call me on my cellphone and at work but don’t leave messages. I can see they’re checking my credit but they haven’t reported the debt on my credit report. Is this legal? I feel if Nissan wrote the debt off (and I am suffering from that via credit reporting), there should no longer be debt to collect.
Answer: When a lender charges off a bad debt, the debt itself doesn’t disappear. The lender is simply declaring that it doesn’t think it will be able to collect. The debt ca
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The First National Bank of Sedan has a goal of assisting all members in meeting their financial goals. With a wide range of banking products and services, The First National Bank of Sedan boasts competitive interest rates that help members earn more. Today, The First National Bank of Sedan is offering a checking account rate of up to .50% APY.
Please contact The First National Bank of Sedan for checking account eligibility requirements like the minimum deposit and daily balance. Please note that rates are subject to change at any time at The First National Bank of Sedan’s discretion.
The First National Bank of Sedan, Kansas was founded in 1874 with the mission of “serving the needs of individuals, families, ranchers, farmers, businesses and the oil industry in the southeast Kansas area, including northern Oklahoma.” The staff and directors of this bank have always understood the prosperity of the bank is directly related to the prosperity of its customers, which is why customer service and financial assistance is so important. The bank branch is located on Main Street in Sedan, Kansas and features a 24-hour ATM. You a
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You can receive a $25 bonus when you open an account with Betterment.com. Betterment is a personal investment account that aims to blend the simplicity of an online bank account with the higher long-term returns associated with investing in stocks and bonds. The offer is valid only for new individual accounts with Betterment. To qualify for the bonus, you must make an initial deposit of $250 within 60 days of sign up and not withdraw that initial deposit for 60 days. Your participation is subject to the following terms and agreements: This promotion is not valid with any other offers and is non-transferable. Offer available to U.S. Residents only. Betterment reserves the right to terminate this offer at any time, to limit account bonuses you are eligible to receive, and to refuse or recover any promotion award if Betterment determines that it was obtained under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that inaccurate or incomplete information was provided in opening the account, or that any terms of the Betterment Account Agreements have been violated.
— Phoebe Santo @ 2:31 am — 
May 17, 2011