| Woman Reports Illegal Charges on Gas Card | | Posted Monday, January 29, 2007 2:51:49 PM by Blog57 Team | | Newhall resident Rikki Kirchner prides herself on being cautious and monitoring her credit reports to ensure she's safe from fraud activity. However, Kirchner was shocked and enraged when she learned that someone had been using her gasoline credit card number to purchase gas and car washes at several ExxonMobil stations throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. Kirchner's gas card was never stolen, but upon opening her monthly bill on Jan. 11, she noticed nearly $400 worth of purchases made since Jan. 1 at ExxonMobil stations in Newhall, Canyon Country and the last made at a station on La Cienega Boulevard in Inglewood. She immediately filed a report at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station and contacted her credit companies. Though no suspicious activity was noticed related to her checking accounts and other credit cards, Kirchner was concerned about identity theft as these events unfolded.... | |
| |
| | | Vigilance key in data-theft cases, consumers warned | | Posted Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:52:24 PM by Blog57 Team | | Afraid your credit card number or other personal information may be in the wrong hands because of security breaches involving CIBC's Talvest Mutual Funds and the company that owns HomeSense and Winners retail outlets? Stay calm, say experts -- but stay vigilant. The Talvest customers may be at the greatest risk, because the missing information could include names, addresses, signatures, dates of birth, bank account numbers, beneficiary information and social insurance numbers -- details that could allow identity thieves almost free rein with their victims' finances. CIBC has not released details about what happened to the data involving more than 470,000 customers, saying only that a backup computer file "had gone missing" in transit just before Christmas.... | |
| |
| | | Yen May Weaken Even as Rates Rise, Credit Suisse Says (Update4) | | Posted Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:54:29 PM by Blog57 Team | | Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The yen may weaken as prospects for a Bank of Japan interest-rate increase next week will fail to deter investors from seeking higher returns abroad, said Satoru Ogasawara, foreign-exchange analyst at Credit Suisse Group. Japan's borrowing costs are the cheapest among major economies, encouraging investors to take out loans in yen and to use the money to buy higher-yielding assets abroad. They were lured by the so-called carry trade last year as the European Central Bank lifted its key rate six times to 3.5 percent and the Bank of England increased its benchmark twice to 5 percent. ``Global investors will still focus on absolute interest- rate differentials, prompting yen-selling,'' said Tokyo-based Ogasawara. ``Japan's rates will remain low.'' The yen traded at 154.91 per euro as of 4:14 p.m.... | |
| |
| | | Sento Reports Results for Second Quarter of Fiscal 2007 ... | | Posted Thursday, December 28, 2006 12:50:03 PM by Blog57 Team | | Sento Corporation (Nasdaq: SNTO), a right-channeling solutions leader, today reported financial results for the second quarter and six months of fiscal 2007 ended September 30, 2006 and announced $3 million of additional financing as well as amendment of its Credit Facility with Silicon Valley Bank. The Company noted that it is also filing today its Form 10-Q quarterly report with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The 10-Q includes further detail on the matters discussed herein. FINANCIAL RESULTS Consolidated revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2007 were $13.6 million, a 39% increase from the $9.8 million reported in the second quarter of fiscal 2006 and ahead of the Company's earlier forecast of $12.0 to $12.5 million. The better-than-expected revenue growth was achieved despite the previously reported wind-down of one client program handled through the Company's Albuquerque customer contact center.... | |
| |
| | | SCANA, subsidiaries get $1 billion in credit | | Posted Sunday, December 24, 2006 2:51:36 PM by Blog57 Team | | SCANA Corp. has closed on a new revolving credit facility and amended its existing revolving credit facility for three of its subsidiaries totaling $1.1 billion. Shares: +3 cents; $40.80. • Kemet Corp. creates in-house incubator GREENVILLE — Kemet Corp. has created an Advanced Technology Group to act as an incubator to identify and develop new electronic capacitor technology and to evaluate alliances and acquisition prospects. Shares: -8 cents; $7.10. • Denny's refinancing to save millions SPARTANBURG — Denny's Corp. will refinance a credit facility of two of its units by entering into a credit agreement of $350 million, and expects to make savings in cash interest. The company expects to save about $5.5 million a year in cash interest from the refinancing.... | |
| |
| | | NYers Can Place Security Freeze On Credit Reports | | Posted Monday, November 27, 2006 12:55:50 PM by Blog57 Team | | ALBANY---The New York State Consumer Protection Board announced that starting Nov. 1, New Yorkers can request that a security freeze be placed on their credit files. A security freeze can aid in the prevention of Identity Theft by thwarting someone from opening credit cards or lines of credit in another persons name. "Thanks to Governor Pataki, this new law will give New Yorkers a way to help prevent Identity Theft because it will block access to your credit history," said CPB Chairperson Teresa Santiago. "Blocking access to your credit files, in most cases, will prevent someone from using your name and credit information to establish a new line of credit." "When phony credit accounts are created - and the subsequent bills are not paid - it can ruin your credit history, resulting in harassing calls from collection companies and making it extremely difficult for you to buy a home, borrow money or obtain a credit card," said Chairperson Santiago.... | |
| |
| | | Some states allow a freeze on credit report | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 2:55:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | To combat the identity-theft epidemic, a number of states are enacting credit-freeze laws that allow consumers to block businesses from reviewing their credit reports. The laws permit consumers, often for a small fee, to stop a credit-reporting agency from releasing their file to almost anyone without explicit authorization. A freeze affects everything from opening a credit card to setting up cell-phone service. Consumer groups support the laws, saying they are among the most effective deterrents of financial-identity theft. But credit agencies, retailers and financial-services companies say there are less cumbersome means of preventing fraud. At least 25 states, including Rhode Island, recently have passed or are considering security-freeze laws.... | |
| |
| | | Cancel a card, hurt your credit score | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 3:00:01 PM by Blog57 Team | | Everyone knows that your credit score is important to your financial life, affecting the rates you get for mortgages, credit cards and insurance. Improving your score may save you thousands of dollars in interest. So would it help your score if you got rid of a credit card? "Pay your bills on time and keep your credit expenditures under control, and you won't have to worry about your credit rating," says Craig Watts, spokesman for Fair Isaac Corp., which calculates the FICO score for consumers. "If you're having trouble doing that, sometimes canceling a credit card in an effort to get your credit behavior under control is more important than your credit score." That's the short answer. But since virtually everything that makes up your credit score depends on something else -- depends on your credit mix, the number of cards you carry, the length of your credit history, your rate of credit utilization and myriad other things -- there is a longer answer.... | |
| |
| | | SUZE ORMAN: Adviser must serve you, not self | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 2:50:38 PM by Blog57 Team | | A recent survey conducted by Fair Isaac, the company behind the FICO credit score, reports that 79% of respondents said financial professionals were their most-trusted source for personal finance and credit information. That didn't really surprise me, but it concerned me. There are plenty of financial professionals who sell clients financial products that put a lot of money in the adviser's pocket regardless of whether they are the best choice for the client. I am not making a blanket statement that all financial professionals are bad. Hey, I got my start as one in the 1980s. But you really need to do your homework to make sure anyone giving you financial advice is giving you good advice. Go to a bad hairdresser and your cut grows out in a few weeks. Go to a bad financial adviser and your financial life could be ugly for a long time.... | |
| |
| | | Credit score alternatives can fatten 'thin files' | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 2:56:16 PM by Blog57 Team | | Picture this scenario: You've lived in this country for the past 15 years, earned a decent wage, raised a family, always paid your rent, utilities, cell phone bills and other expenses on time, month after month. But you made little or no use of the conventional banking and credit systems - avoiding bank loans, credit cards and debts in general. .... | |
| |
| |
|
|
