All posts tagged US

Skye Bank Customer Alert – Beware Of Hackers

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One of the features of online/Mobile banking is SMS banking services which are operated using both push and pull messages. Push messages are those that the bank chooses to send out to a customer’s mobile phone without the customer initiating a request for the information. For example push messages could be either Mobile marketing messages or messages alerting an event which happens in the customer’s bank account, such as a withdrawal of funds from the ATM or a payment using the customer’s credit card, etc.

Pull messages are those that are initiated by the customer, using a mobile phone, for obtaining information or performing a transaction in the bank account. Examples of pull messages for information include an account balance enquiry, or requests for current information like currency exchange rates and deposit interest rates, as published and updated by the bank.

The bank’s customer is empowered with the capability to select the list of activities (or alerts) that he/she needs to be informed. This functionality to choose activities can be done either by integrating to the internet banking channel or through the bank’s customer service call centre.
It is however sad to note that fraudsters and internet hackers have capitalized on this laudable innovation to rip people off their money. So it is important that as a bank account holder or intending holder you should be aware of this trend and choose the right bank to bank with where your money will be properly secured through adequate online security tips.

Skye bank as a customer friendly bank knows about the activities of these fraudstars and has developed security measures to protect its customers finances. If you are a Skye bank account holder, you might receive emails that seem to emanate from the bank.The mail might even carry the names of Skye bank top Management staff or Director. Some of them may require you to send in information on your Bank details, Pin codes and even your personal information as contained in the bank’s database of you. They might also claim to have access to large sums of ($)US dollars for you domiciled with the bank. Please note that these are scam mails and you should be very careful to avoid being a victim to fraudsters.

As part of its commitment to online security, Skye bank has developed some security tips for all its customers to recognize when they receive emails or letters from potential fraudsters.

Please note that Skye Bank would never ask you to disclose your account number or Pin code on the internet. Also Skye Bank would never ask you to disclose personal information on the internet.

You should also note that Skye Bank site would always carry a security certificate which would be visible on access to the bank’s site and be sure that the site you are on is a genuine Skye Bank site.

In addition Customers should not open attachments or follow Web links in unsolicited emails from unknown parties or from parties with whom you do not normally communicate, or that appear to be known but are suspicious or otherwise unusual.

The official Skye Bank web address is www.skyebankng.com. If you are still in doubt, please get in touch with your nearest branch or call us on (000 234 1) 8531655, 8948103, 07028390633-5

Some Tips To Prevent Identity Theft

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It is estimated that more than ten million people are affected as a result of identity theft in the US. Identity theft is a distressing activity in which thieves use your personal information including credit cards, debit cards, drivers license, social security number, and ATM cards in order to commit crime, that may be simple to critical which may even sometimes lead to the loss of your job or reputation. From conventional yet common ways like pickpocketing your wallet and purses and phone spam to dumpster diving and skimming that is cloning your sensitive information using a kind of special device, a variety of options is adopted by thieves to retrieve your personal information in order to gain personal benefits. Whatever the method used for identity theft, the after effects of identity theft is quite upsetting, and can create serious issues in the victims life. Listed below are some important tips that help you to prevent identity theft.

About 50% of identity theft occurring in the nation is obtained through stolen wallet. Hence, never carry more than one credit card or debit card in your wallet. Further, unless necessary, never carry such valid information as social security card in your wallet.
Be careful when you insert your ATM card and enter the PIN number at the ATM counter. In other words, ensure that no one is peeking at PIN number while you type it.
A criminal may sometimes search your mail box in order to access your most important information. Hence, consider using a post office box.
Likewise, be careful when you throw your bills, as criminals may use a practice namely dumpster diving in order to retrieve your most valid information. Hence, check several times prior to throwing a bill or a piece of paper.
With the introduction of the internet, more and more people become victim of identity theft online. It is therefore recommended to install the latest anti virus software. Further, never reply to emails asking for your credit card information or other personal details.
Equally important is to be careful while you receive phone calls requesting for your credit card or bank account details, as a legitimate financial institution never makes a call out of the blue asking for your personal details.
Track your bank account as well as credit card statements regularly. This would help you to easily trace out unscrupulous transactions, if any.

Above all, the usage of such options as iWallet can also help you prevent identity theft. With biometric scanner, iWallet is a high tech cash and credit card wallet, whose specialty is that it could be opened only if it recognizes your finger print.

How Online Shopping And Shipping In Us Facilitated

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While purchasing on-line any services or any products from a retailer based anywhere in America from outside countries, you will be allowed to go forward in getting your favourite articles or a fabulous car and the likes till the shipment provided you are paying them through a US credit card only. This kind of deprivation of foreign money inflow to the US treasury that impedes the growth of on-line shopping and shipping businesses in the US has been outdated by the help of mid-agents based in the country who take responsibility of paying the sum for the on-line purchased items on behalf of their account holders and shipping them anywhere in 220 countries within 2 to 5 working days.

The US retailers seem to be conservative in the case of disallowing payments through non-US credit cards for some viable reasons like delaying of payment and also barring purchasers get the facility of being shipped their articles to their given addresses due to the intricacies of international shipment. More so, those retailers believe that by allowing this they could not help but embrace chances of getting stains on their business reputation.

No wonder this kind of impediment has been tided over and in this case, a number of shopping and shipping agencies who are assigned with payment and shipment responsibilities on behalf of their clients in abroad who need to have an account with these agencies has come forward to the salvage of foreign clients. They allow foreigners to create accounts with a virtual US address which those foreigners can use while giving US retailers details for shipment of their purchased items after having paid the sum from the deposit with those US shopping and shipping agencies. They also guarantee fo shipping the purchased articles of whaterever size and shape to the given address anywhere in 220 countries within 2-5 business days.

First Job: Clients in abroad who are interested in online shopping and getting their purchased articles shipped to the given addresses need to create an account such as Personal Shopper account which alleviates them from facing problems while shopping on-line in the US. Retailers also are known to refuse direct payment through wire transfer. They ask generally for payment by any US medium.package forwarding

Second Job: As soon as any client puts forward any request of shopping to these package forwarding agencies, they complete your request subsequently and then your Personal Shopper account will be duly billed the actual cost in addition to the personal shopper fee.

Third Job: Clients are given an opportunity to mention of real shipping addresses of the agencies so that those clients can fill out prerequisite forms with details before checking out while purchasing online.

While purchasing on-line any services or any products from a retailer based anywhere in America from outside countries, you will be allowed to go forward in getting your favourite articles or a fabulous car and the likes till the shipment provided you are paying them through a US credit card only.As the clients complete the job of supplying all details, these agencies engaged in the US shipping service wake up to perform all the necessary jobs up to shipping the items to the any international address.

Student Credit Cards And Cashless Lunch Payments

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Students apply for a student credit cards primarily for one purpose to enjoy convenience and ease in their transactions. Today, the concept of quick and easy transactions is now being introduced in schools and colleges in the US through the cashless payment systems.

If youre not familiar with cashless payment systems, you may be surprised that this mode of payment does not involve cash at all. Students do not need to fall in a long anymore just to wait for their turn to pay. With this new payment system, students simply have their fingerprints scanned and check out with their lunches.

This new system uses biometric fingerprint scanners to identify and pull up the students account. Afterwards, the amount of purchase will be automatically debited from the students personal account so theres no need to fumble for cash and wait for a change.

Other schools also use other devices such as credit card readers and bar-code readers just like the ones used in department stores and groceries. As a result, each transaction does not need to take longer than a minute or even just a few seconds.

According to the May 2007 survey conducted by the School Nutrition Association,- a non-profit group that represents 55,000 school lunch providers in the US, about 62% of 1, 200 nutrition directors reported that theyre already implementing the automated lunch payment system in their schools or a variation of the cashless payment system.

In the same survey, 4% said they would be implementing the automated lunch system within the next 12 months and almost 11% said they are planning to convert to the new system. Because of the positive response among school administrations and students, automated lunch payment systems are expected to become a part of the industry.

Automated lunch payments and Students

What are the advantages of using an automated payment system? For one, this new system hopes to decreases cases of theft among students. Since students wont have to bring cash with them, lost-money incidents can be prevented.

Students can also enjoy eating their lunch or relaxing during their lunch break instead of spending precious minutes on the lunch line. The new cashless payment system also encourages parents to go online and check out what their kids are eating for lunch.

By logging in into the students account, a parent can track what his kid bought for lunch, what time he had lunch, and how much the meal cost them. Parents also have the option to transfer funds to their childrens account using through the internet.

Get Rid of High Interest Credit Card Debt Now

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Credit card debt is spiraling out of control and now accounts for $1 trillion worth of US consumer debt alone, so how can this debt be tackled. Firstly, the use of credit cards must be stemmed; millions of Americans are using their cards to pay for groceries and household expenses and treat their card as their wallet rather than a source of emergency funds. The credit card companies have been prolific in their encouragement of this type of card use and the end result has been that many Americans are paying minimum payments every month and will never clear their credit card balance.

Personally I don’t like the idea of paying $100 for a 50c can of pineapple chunks, sounds like an exaggeration doesn’t it? But, the truth of the matter is that you will eventually pay well over the odds if you do not clear your credit card balance in full.

If you are one of the millions of Americans facing an uncertain future because of potential employment issues or the economic situation then it is probably wise to look into methods to reduce your outgoings and gain control over your credit card debt. One of the best methods of doing this is to consolidate credit debt by applying for one of the many consolidation products currently available.

Debt consolidation companies offer loans that will normally equate to the sum of your total debt therefore allowing all of your debts to be paid off and leaving you with just one loan repayment a month to worry about. The end benefits of credit card consolidation are control and much lower interest rates.

There are methods however, that the financial institutions do not want the general population knowing and using about, as it would cause them to lose millions of dollars every year in unpaid interest. These methods work brilliantly when used with a consolidation loan and are both legal and ethical and will allow you to pay your debt off in a much shorter period of time, so before applying for a consolidation loan you really need to check these methods out.

You could also look into applying for a piece of the $10 billion bail out fund that the US government has provided to help those in debt. If you visit you should be able to acquire the information required to apply for a grant; the secret to getting these grants is perseverance, if you get turned down, don’t worry, keep trying until your grant application has been approved.

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