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A warning for frequent debit card swipers

by Kim Fusaro, Little Miss Fortune, Glamour, on Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:02am PDT

It may be time to defrost my frozen credit cards.

It turns out that using a debit card for every purchase—which I’m so guilty of!—is a bad idea.

From the smarty-pants over at ShopSmart, here are the do's and don’ts of using a debit card:

DON’T use debit cards for big purchases. They don’t offer the same protection that credit cards do. Credit cards allow you to reverse or dispute charges, and some will even extend the length of warranties.

DON’T use a debit card online. If you use a credit card, your liability for unauthorized charges is capped at $50, no matter what. If your debit card is lost or stolen, it must be reported within two business days to limit liability to $50. If a lost or stolen debit card is reported within 60 days, liability can go up to $500. If an unauthorized transaction is not reported within 60 days of the statement date (and the card hasn’t been reported lost or stolen), you’re on the hook for charges made after the 60th day until the report is made.

DO click on “credit” and sign for payments instead of giving a PIN. Card companies might extend the same zero-liability protection to debit cards as they do to credit cards if the debit cards are processed like the latter, but PIN transactions might not have that protection.

DON’T link your debit card to an account with a lot of money. Thieves can empty your debit-card-linked checking account, so keep just enough in the account to cover current purchases.

Eek! I’m guilty of all of the above! Regularly!

How ’bout you guys? Who else has broken these rules? I better not be the only one!

Top 9 Companies With The Best Job Security

by Michael Kling

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

With unemployment reaching and expected to surpass 10%, job security is one of the top desires of employees today. Along with good pay and benefits, people want to find a company that's not going to give them a pink slip any time soon.

Here's a group of companies that earn high marks in that regard. Nine companies on Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list for 2009 have never undergone layoffs - ever.

1. Nugget Market
This company has avoided layoffs because of careful job placement and shrewd labor management. Instead of laying off workers, the 81-year-old grocery store refrains from replacing employees who leave. Its stores are 15 miles from each other, making it easier to fill positions, and employees are trained to fit various roles. The Woodland, Calif.-based supermarket chain filled 173 jobs, for a 22% job growth in the year before the list was released in February.
Sandwiched between Goldman Sachs and Adobe Systems, the store ranked number 10 on the overall list. Store directors make an average of $116,440 in annual salary, and checkers, the most common hourly workers, earn $34,490. The store also offers 100% health care coverage.

2. Devon Energy
An oil and gas producer headquartered in Oklahoma City, this company takes a conservative approach to its finances, yet still treats its employees well. Ranked 13 on the overall list, it started a 401(k) retirement plan featuring company contributions of 11-22%.
Flexible and prudent management helps avoid layoffs. The company, which cut its operating budget before the recession, withholds raises in bad years but gives midyear pay increases in good times.

3. Aflac
Known for its quacking duck ads, this company sells supplement insurance. The company, based in Columbus, Ga., keeps its eyes on its budget and ears open to employees. Employee suggestions like telecommuting and flex schedules have saved it millions of dollars. Other company benefits include an onsite fitness center, subsidized gym membership and the largest onsite corporate child care center in Georgia.

4. QuickTrip
Because this 24-hour convenience store is privately held, it can send profits back to its stores and workers instead of shareholders. Smart financial management has helped it thrive in the downturn. It offered over new 1,400 jobs last year. Wages and benefits are so good that over 200 employees have stayed with the company more than 20 years.

5. The Container Store
The storage retailer, based in Coppell, Texas, froze salaries and watched spending to avoid layoffs. Still, it kept expanding last year, opening four stores and adding 70 employees. Extensive employee training makes the company stand out.

6. NuStar Energy
Considering layoffs harmful to company productivity, NuStar management avoids them like the plague. The San Antonio-based pipeline and refinery operator also offers bonuses that can exceed $10,000 and 100% 401(k) matches for up to 6% of pay.

7. Stew Leonard's
Known for flashy store displays, this privately-held grocery chain focuses on customer service and long-term sales rather than short-term earnings. CEO Stew Leonard Jr. says selling groceries is a stable business, which helps avoid layoffs. No matter how the economy is faring, people still have to eat.

8. Scottrade
This privately-held online discount brokerage has cut bonuses instead of cutting employees. A conservative growth strategy has also helped it avoid layoffs.

9. Publix Super Markets
A strong balance sheet with no debt helped this grocery chain acquire 49 stores and hire over 1,250 people last year. In its 79 years, it has never had layoffs. No wonder - it's entirely owned by employees.
Besides never laying off employees, at least as of early this year, companies on the list are also some of the best to work for. Treating employees well means good pay and benefits - two factors that are attracting all the right workers. (Preparation can help you land on your feet after getting the "old heave-ho."

5 Evil Things Credit Card Companies Can (Still) Do

by Julianne PepitoneSaturday, October 24, 2009

provided by CNNMONEY.COM

The credit card reform bill tries to help cash-strapped customers, but companies are coming up with new ways to boost profits.

The Bill

Credit card companies are socking it to consumers left and right.
They're hiking interest rates to as much as 36% and doubling minimum monthly payments, frustrating customers who are already cash-strapped and credit-crunched.
In an effort to curb these abusive practices, President Obama signed into law a credit card reform act in May that's rolling out in three parts over 12 months.

At the same time, credit card companies have been hard at work coming up with new ways to boost profits while sidestepping the reforms.
"Card issuers are making sure they can make up the lost money in new ways," said Bill Hardekopf of Lowcards.com, a research company funded by a commercial debt collector.
The first part of the law, which took effect in August, requires banks to give customers more notice ahead of major changes to their accounts, like rate hikes. Starting in February, limits will be imposed on when issuers can raise rates on existing card balances, and on new cards. In August 2010 some credit card penalty fees will be will reined in.

But no legislation can fully shield consumers from the credit card industry's ongoing efforts to boost the bottom line.
The worst part? "All of these hikes are taking place simply because they can," Hardekopf said.

1. Rate Hikes
Interest rates are out of this world. "They've increased steadily over the past 5 years, and in general are higher than they've ever been," said Josh Frank, senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), who says he's seen annual percentage rates as high as 36%.
No current laws cap credit card interest rates, according to Pamela Banks of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, so technically the sky's the limit.

But the CARD act will help curb abusive practices. As of February, issuers won't be able to arbitrarily raise rates on existing balances. But cardholders will still be subject to interest hikes for late payments and various other infractions.
And card companies will be able to raise their rates as high as they want, whenever they want, on future purchases even after the reform bill kicks in completely.

The act will bring protections for new customers; issuers will no longer be able to hike rates on new accounts in the first 12 months, unless the borrower is delinquent by more than 60 days or the increase is stated in the contract.
Keven Vallance recently saw the rate on his Sears card increase from 9.99% to 13.99% for no apparent reason. When Vallance called Sears Credit, which is owned by Citibank, a rep told him every cardholder's rate is increasing by 4%.
Citi spokesman Samuel Wang said in an email that the company has "adjusted pricing and card terms for some customers as part of our regular account reviews."
Consumer outrage is boiling over. Last month, a disgruntled Bank of America customer posted a YouTube video complaining her bank "jacked up my interest rate to a whopping 30% APR." Her rant went viral, and BofA dropped her rate back to its original 12.99%.

2. New Fees
Fees aren't just rising -- they're multiplying. Cardholders are getting slapped with fees they've never seen before.The hitch: New laws can address only existing fees and business practices; they can't predict what credit card companies will do in the future.
"Theoretically, they could create a fee for names that begin with 'J,'" said Lowcards.com's Hardekopf.

In reality, customers are seeing new annual fees, inactivity charges and more. Not of these charges are unheard of, but many fees that were unusual are becoming commonplace.
Earlier this month, for instance, some Bank of America customers were shocked to learn that their no-fee credit cards would be subject to a new annual fee.
BofA spokeswoman Betty Riess said the fees are part of a company test that affects 0.5% of all consumer accounts, and that the fees range from $29-$99.
The charges will be levied in February, and Riess said customers were chosen "based on risk and profitability" but have the option to reject the fees by canceling their accounts.
Fifth Third Bank recently introduced a $19 inactivity fee for customers who don't charge anything for 12 months, and Citibank is hitting some consumers with a fee if they put less than $2,400 on their card annually.

To address this problem, House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has proposed a new regulatory body, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would approve new credit card fees. While the House Financial Service Committee approved the agency, it remains to be seen whether legislation will pass; lawmakers are battling over this and other reform proposals floating around Washington.

3. Higher Minimum Monthly Payments
Banks are also demanding bigger and bigger minimum payments. Chase has bumped up the minimum payment for some consumers to 5% of the monthly balance from 2%.
For someone who carries a $5,000 balance, that means the monthly payment of $100 skyrockets to $250 -- a whopping 150% increase.
Consumer Union's Pamela Banks says her organization has compiled a wealth of anecdotal evidence that indicates such increases in minimum monthly payments are widespread.
"This is making payments virtually impossible for some people," she said. "It's throwing people off when they were living on a tight budget anyway."
Some good news is on the way, however. After February, card companies won't be able to increase monthly minimum payments by more than 100%. For example, a bank cannot increase a 2% minimum payment to any higher than 4%. And this so-called "doubling" will be allowed only once during the life of the card.

4. Fewer Rewards
Say goodbye to beach vacations and new iPods just for swiping your card.
Rewards programs have been enticing shoppers to charge a purchase rather than paying cash -- but card issuers are cutting back those perks.
"This is happening with a significant amount of cards," Hardekopf said, adding that many consumers are now receiving 1% cash back instead of the 2% or 3% they once enjoyed.
American Express recently cut its Blue Card's cash back policy from 1.5% to 1.25%. And all AmEx customers who make a late payment will no longer accrue points on their purchases -- however, those points can be reinstated with a $29 fee.

5. Slashed Credit Limits and Canceled Accounts
Without so much as a call from the bank, some customers are learning their credit limits have been slashed by as much as 75%, or that their accounts have been closed altogether, according to the Center for Responsible Lending's Josh Frank.
Citibank recently closed what a spokesman called a "limited number" of MasterCard gas cards co-branded with Citgo, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Shell.
"People go to make a purchase, and they find out about these huge changes only when they're denied," Frank said. "It's a shock, and it's been happening a lot."
Even cardholders who don't charge anything might find their accounts abruptly closed, Frank said. With credit losses at a record high, companies see inactive cards as a red flag and close the accounts to avoid the worry of future writedowns.
"Usually cardholders have this credit line available for an emergency, for this kind of current economic situation," Frank said. "But now they're turning to it when they need it, and it's gone."

What's a Cardholder to Do?
Consumers must pay close attention to the terms of their contracts, staying alert to any changes.
"It's boring reading, and it can be hard to understand, but that's where everything is spelled out," said Lowcards.com's Hardekopf.
Of course, while there are laws aimed at helping consumers, legislation can't do it all.
"As we close the loopholes on some things, they open up elsewhere," said Consumer Union's Banks. "Reform acts don't cover everything, and cardholders have to watch out for their own accounts."
And if you don't like your credit card's new terms? "Shop around -- you are not married to your card," Hardekopf said. "It's a partnership, not a lifelong contract."

AlertPay Program

First I thought it’s just a hoax so the first invitation that I received, I just disregard it.

Then I came across this bulletin about the same program with AlertPay, it was so convincing I just figured “What the heck!” $12 is just a small amount compared to how much I spend playing the Lottery which is by the way an average of $20 a month for 15years and I haven’t won yet. So I immediately transferred the amount as indicated and fallowed all the instructions.

First 3 weeks was kinda slow because I just posted to very few social networks like Friendster and Facebook.

Then I got a tip that I should post to social networks or any group of bloggers with the same interest which is “Money” which I did then money just keep on coming.


I’ll keep you posted for more tips on how to earn BIG TIME!!!