Whan it comes to credit card applications, charging it to the Plastic is a term which although prevalent doesn’t do justice to the service a credit card supplies. Generally speaking, it is the ease with which we can all now obtain credit which has helped fuel the economy all around the world. That’s why a lot of businessmen, young professionals, big bankers and even well-off students are lining up inside their trusted banks, credit card application in one hand and the need to have instant credit on the other.
Who can really be blamed when this is now the norm in society to have at least one credit card even though it means that eventually, cash will become extinct. Great care is required when you have a credit card as it is an easy service to misuse and misunderstand.
source : http://www.google.co.uk/news?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Visa Piloting Electronic Alert Program to Help Identify Suspicious Transactions
Visa announced yesterday the launch of a pilot program for delivering real-time alerts to consumers based on triggers that may indicate when a credit card transaction is fraudulent. The alerts identifying potentially suspicious activity would be sent to consumers via e-mail or cell phone text messages.
Visa will be working with a number of major banks during the testing of the system, including PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo in the United States, and Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity in Canada. The test will include up to 2,000 total credit card customers who will receive the alerts.
The program would not alert a consumer after every credit card transaction, but only after those meeting certain criteria that might raise suspicion. Those criteria could include transactions that exceed an amount the card holder has chosen as a “trigger”, transactions from outside the customer’s home country, Internet or telephone transactions, or a cash withdrawal from an ATM machine.
Customers receiving an alert could then either verify the transaction in question or contact the bank to stop further transactions on the card.
Source : www.news.google.com/Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Target to Slow Expansion as Net Falls
Discount retailer Target Corp. will curb store expansion and tighten credit-card terms after reporting fiscal-second-quarter net income fell 7.6% because of credit-card write-offs and weak sales.
The Minneapolis store chain said profit from credit-card operations fell sharply for the fiscal quarter ended Aug. 2 as a result of write-offs and the sale earlier this year of a half-interest in its credit-card receivables.
The operation, which had been delivering strong profit, reported income tumbled 65% to $74 million, from $213 million a year earlier. In May, Target sold a half-interest in its card receivables to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. for $3.6 billion.
The company said it is slowing the growth of its credit-card portfolio and revising credit terms to counter higher bad-debt expense. Credit losses this year will run between 8% and 9% of loans, higher than its spring forecast, and higher than the 5.9% of loans in the last fiscal year.
It said growth in credit-card receivables, which increased at an about 27% rate in the second quarter, will moderate into the teens by the fourth quarter.
Target has successfully managed inventories and labor expense controls to avoid profit-sapping mark downs and expenses, Gregg Steinhafel, chief executive, told investors Tuesday. Retail gross margin, a measure of profitability, rose slightly in most areas, he said.
Net declined to $634 million, or 82 cents a share, from $686 million, or 80 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Per share profit increased as a result of stock repurchases that reduced the number of shares outstanding.
Revenue rose 5.8% to $15.47 billion. Retail sales, excluding credit-card revenue, rose 5.6% to $14.97 billion, from $14.17 billion boosted by new store openings. Sales at stores open at least a year, a measure of retail-market share, declined 0.4% in the quarter.
source : http://www.google.com/news?
The Minneapolis store chain said profit from credit-card operations fell sharply for the fiscal quarter ended Aug. 2 as a result of write-offs and the sale earlier this year of a half-interest in its credit-card receivables.
The operation, which had been delivering strong profit, reported income tumbled 65% to $74 million, from $213 million a year earlier. In May, Target sold a half-interest in its card receivables to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. for $3.6 billion.
The company said it is slowing the growth of its credit-card portfolio and revising credit terms to counter higher bad-debt expense. Credit losses this year will run between 8% and 9% of loans, higher than its spring forecast, and higher than the 5.9% of loans in the last fiscal year.
It said growth in credit-card receivables, which increased at an about 27% rate in the second quarter, will moderate into the teens by the fourth quarter.
Target has successfully managed inventories and labor expense controls to avoid profit-sapping mark downs and expenses, Gregg Steinhafel, chief executive, told investors Tuesday. Retail gross margin, a measure of profitability, rose slightly in most areas, he said.
Net declined to $634 million, or 82 cents a share, from $686 million, or 80 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Per share profit increased as a result of stock repurchases that reduced the number of shares outstanding.
Revenue rose 5.8% to $15.47 billion. Retail sales, excluding credit-card revenue, rose 5.6% to $14.97 billion, from $14.17 billion boosted by new store openings. Sales at stores open at least a year, a measure of retail-market share, declined 0.4% in the quarter.
source : http://www.google.com/news?
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