Credit Card debts: cause and prevention

Credit card is a card issue for issuer leads money to the consumer to pay later to the merchant. When it is used properly is convenient. However, if abused, credit card can be the start of a years-long nightmare and stress.

Causes

Credit card debt can be causes by carrying a balance, though, is very costly. There will have high interest rate and minimum payment rate per month (usually about 2% of the balance).

Second causes are having a poor money management. Holders might have debt with the card issuer which is over their ability to pay. A monthly spending is essential to acknowledge holders where the money is going. They may be spending some unnecessarily money each month and end up having to charge purchases on which should have spent that money.

Beside this, saving too little or not at all also is one of the causes of credit card. The simplest way to avoid unwanted debt is to prepare for unexpected expenditure by saving three to six months of living expenses. With saving, job layoff, illness and so on will not cause immediate financial strain and increase of debt.

Prevention

The prevention for credit card debt is establishing a budget and follows that budget. For instance, don’t be tempted to charge plasma TV to credit card when haven’t budgeted for it this months.

Carry a credit card balance for no longer than six months. This is due to simple interest can produce a very expensive balance to pay off. It is help credit card balance getting more.

Beside apply a credit card, when you credit card interest rate is excessive try to get a low interest credit card. The better the credit card, the lower the rate for which you will qualify.

Application of Pre-paid Cash Card for consumers

What is a pre-paid card? Actually, pre-paid card is like a credit or debit card. The pre-paid cash card is a card that you can use to make purchases by just swap the card on the counter.

Since it is a prepaid card, you need to put money on the card which you can reload at the retail location where you pruchared the card or directly deposit of your checks. Besides, some of the pre-paid cash card can do over the phone or online before you using the card to do any purchases. You can continually put money onto the card if you want to, but you cannot spend more than the balance you have left.

Pre-paid cash cards provide a lot of benefits to the consumers. Pre-paid cash cards applications are best used by consumers who have a poor credit record or by young children. This is because, if the consumer has a poor credit record, the consumer may not be eligible for a credit card, as the credit card companies will not want to take the risk on lending money.

As for younger people, parents can get their kids used to using financial products by getting them pre-paid cash cards and putting money on it, however only in a small increment, which allows them to manage their money and use a cash card from a young age with no danger of getting into debt as you are not allowed to spend more than the balance you have on the card.

Besides that, by using pre-paid cash card consumers can bring less cash to shopping. With this, they no need to worry that the cash being stole by others. With pre-paid cash cards, you are protected from unauthorized transaction if the card is lost or stolen. Furthermore, the cards can be replaced if lost or stolen.


There are few example of the pre-paid cash card, such as, Touch n Go which normally use in major public transports, highways and selected parking sites in Malaysia. EZ-Link cards are another example which is used in Singapore. Another example is Octopus card that used in Hong Kong. It like Touch n Go card, however it can be used in more area compared to Touch n Go. So, most of the Hong Kong person are using this card because it very convenience.

Electronic Currency - Beenz.com

Electronic currency also known as electronic money which refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, internet and digital stored value system

Beenz.com was a web site that allowed consumers to earn beenz, a type of online currency, for performing activities such as visiting a Web site, shopping online, or logging on through an Internet service provider. The beenz e-currency could then be spent online with participating Web merchants around the world. Beenz.com, originally founded in 1998, will close offices in Europe and Asia, but will keep its New York offices open in order to manage the sale of its assets.At the height of its operations in 2000, Beenz employed 265 in offices worldwide.

There are some hints over beenz will not stay long as two of the company's top executives - CEO Charles Cohen and president Don Maguire quit their post and joint venture operations in Japan, China, Korea and Italy were shuttered.

When beenz is closing down, the company is giving its customers a 10-day notice. The Beenz.com home page says that any beenz remaining in a member's account after 12:01 am (EST) on August 26th will be invalidated and the member will not be entitled to any compensation of the invalidated beenz.

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers’ adoption strategies.

One of the few mobile payment systems in Malaysia is from the collaboration of Nokia and Visa whom jointly released the world's first credit card payment pilot system in Malaysia, allowing consumers to shop and pay using their mobile phones. It builds on the Visa Wave smart card technology that uses radio frequencies to eliminate the need to swipe credit card into a reader. Customers wave cards or phones in front of the reader to make payments. Prototype phone to be used in the Visa pilot project is embedded with a chip using the latest cryptography, security and smart card technologies, making it highly secure and difficult to counterfeit.


Besides that there is a mobile payment system that from Malaysia for Malaysians, namely Mobile Money. Mobile Money provides merchants and consumers with mobile payment and mobile commerce platform. It has a lot of product and services, for example paying bills, topping up a whole range of prepaid, and shopping with your mobile phone. MM Mobile Payment platform allows everyone to pay anyone, at anytime from anywhere with just one SMS. It also allows one to receive money from anyone, from anywhere, at anytime.
In order for these mobile payment systems to be successful, consumers need to be exposed to the benefits of using such services. For example the benefits of not carrying cash around anymore if the consumers practice such systems. Besides that, advertising should be more extensive in order to introduce these systems to more people. Mobile payment system has great potential for growth as it will eliminates the use for cash or reduce the use of cash in the future.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

There have many ways to safeguard our personal and financial data. One of the ways is password. Password is a code you create to control people enter in your software or data. It is keeping unauthorized users off the network. The password can consist of numbers or letters (or a combination), up to eight characters in length. The longer the password the more secure the data.

Encryption key also is a way to protect our personal and financial data. The encryption key is a special code we can create that is used to decode our financial data, making it reliable again to those receiving it at the other end. Both we and the receiver must know the encryption key, because it is the only way that you transmitted data can be read. Encryption key is similar with password, it also consist of letter or number (or combination), up to eight characters in length. The longer the code, the more secure your data.

Beside this, we also can install a firewall to safeguard our personal and financial data. A firewall is a software program running on computer, which inspects network traffic passing through it, and denies pr permits passage based on a set of rules. Most computers come with firewalls integrated into their operating system. A firewall’s function within a network is similar to firewall with fire doors in building construction. It is use to prevent network intrusion to the private network.

In addition, install and update antispyware and antivirus program is anther way to safeguard our personal and financial data. Antivirus software are computer program that to identify, neutralize or eliminate malicious software. Nowadays, antivirus software is designed to combat a wide range of threats, including worms, phishing attacks, rootkits, Trojan horses and other malware.

Physical protection is also very important to safeguard our personal and financial data. We need to stop a thief from taking our Mac and browsing its contents. This is where the need for Hardware protection comes in and fortunately it couldn’t be easier to do this. Kensington’s MicroSaver is used to anchor down our Mac and need used with any Mac.

Phishing

Phishing is an act that trying to obtain sensitive information such as credit card number,password , personal information and etc, by imitate legistimate companies in sending false e-mail or link to user. Many cases had happen in pass 10 years which including eBay , PayPal, Citi Group and etc. Phishing is mainly target on financial institute.

Below are some example of phishing e-mail:-

Example of Phishing on HSBC Bank Malaysia.

By clicking the link it will direct customer to the phishing website, as below:

The phishing website is imitate the legistimate companies website ,so when the link direct to the page, if the customer does not aware about the threat and key in the info and summit it. Their infomation will be stolen.

Example of Phishing mail of Maybank.

Maybank has make a security alert to their customer on net during 10/06/08.

Although, phishing scam is always around , but if we make extra alert on the situation we might not be the victim. Prevent on the scam is necessary as it threat to our sensitive info .The following can use as method of prevent phishing:


1. Do not trust any online communication ( eg. e-mai, web) as the bank or financial institute will not ask for personal infomation through web or e-mail. They usually will doing updating or confirmation of information through letter. If you are not sure, to trust on the site, make a call to the relevant company or institute for confimation on the website.


2. Check the URL link before clicking on it, make sure the link is the actual link of the companies.If it is a phishing, the URL link will appear in unusual link other than actual company's link and the page is not in a secured page as bottom of the page will show a padlock.

3. Think twice before enter any sensetive and personal information. Be alert that, when someone asking for information. Ask others about the situation face, as others may give advice on that.


4. Keep up-to-date with the latest security patches. For those who engage in online financial transactions must have the personal fireware and security software ( with anti-virus, anti-spam and spyware ).

The threat of online security: How safe is our data?

Internet is become more and more popular in world wide. Human are become more and more rely to the computer. We can find much information through the internet. However, internet is not a safe place for the web users. Every unprotected online computer can be affected with the viruses, malware, adware, hackers’ attacks and Trojans with only in 20 minutes. On the internet, there are numerous security risks that can lead the web users to serious financial loss, information theft and the attack on web user’s computer. The common online security threats include the following.

The most common online security threat is viruses. A virus in the computer is a program or programming code that replicates by being copied or initiating its copying to another program, computer boot sector or document. Through attachments to an e-mail note or in a downloaded file, viruses can be transmitted. Besides, it may also present on a diskette or CD. Some of the viruses may wreak their effect as soon as their code is executed. While, others viruses may lie dormant until circumstances cause their code to be executed by the computer. Moreover, some of the virus can be quite harmful, erasing data or causing your hard disk to require reformatting. A virus replicates itself by resending itself as an e-mail attachment or as part of a network message is known as a worm.

Spyware is another online security threat. It is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the internet, spyware is a programming that is put in someone’s computer to secretly gather information about the user and spread it to advertisers and other interested parties. A software virus or installing a new program may create an opportunity for spyware to get in to the computer.

Adware is any software application in which advertising banners are displayed while the program is running. The authors of these applications include additional code that delivers the ads, which can be viewed through pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen. Besides, adware can usually be thought of as spyware as well because it almost invariably includes components for tracking and reporting user information.

Malware is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user. Thus, malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and also spyware, programming that gathers information about a computer user without permission. Furthermore, it can hijack your browser, redirect your search attempts, serve up nasty pop-up ads, track what web sites you visit, and generally screw things up. Moreover, it usually is poorly-programmed and can cause your computer to become unbearably slow and unstable in addition to all the other havoc they wreak.

Hackers are a term used by some to mean “a clever programmer” and by other, especially those in popular media, to mean “someone who tries to break into computer systems.” It also describes someone who attempts to break into computer systems. This kind of hacker has the sufficient technical knowledge to understand the weak points in a security system and act maliciously.

A Trojans horse is a destructive program that masquerades as a benign application. Unlike viruses, Trojan horses do not replicate themselves but they can be just as destructive. One of the most insidious types of Trojan horse is a program that claims to rid your computer of viruses but instead introduces viruses onto your computer.

With the specialized hackings tools and scripts that are special designed, the unprotected computer may be attacked. So being a web user, it is very important that web user to learn something about the common online threats. Besides, the web users should learn some protection against these few threat that we have just discussed. So that, our important data and information can be protected from theft and does not causes us financial loss.

Third Party Certification Programme

One of the trusted third party certification programs in Malaysia is VeriSign®. VeriSign® is the trusted provider of internet infrastructure services for the digital world. Billions of companies and consumers relies on their internet infrastructures to communicate and conduct commerce with confidence. VeriSign® is the leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Authority enabling secure e-commerce, communications, and interactions for Web sites, intranets, and extranets.
SSL technology protects business’s Web site and makes it easy for the Web site visitors to trust the Web Site in three ways. The first is through encryptions, SSL certificate enables encryption of sensitive information during online transaction. Encryption scrambles the data, creating an envelope for message privacy. Thus, blocking out any unauthorized access to the information.
Next is through authentication. SSL Certificate is able to authenticate a secure website because each Every VeriSign® SSL Certificate is created for a particular server in a specific domain for a verified business entity. So if the business is verified, by clicking the closed padlock in the browser window or certain SSL trust marks (such as the VeriSign Secured® Seal), the Web site visitor will see the authenticated organization name.
Lastly is verification,an SSL Certificate is issued by a trusted source, known as the Certificate Authority (CA). Many CAs simply verify the domain name and issue the certificate. VeriSign verifies the existence of business, the ownership of business domain name, and business’s authority to apply for the certificate.
By implementing these third party certification programme in Malaysia, it can reduces online fraud and promote online transaction as the consumers would not have to worry about fraudulent web sites. This will also enable the consumers to have confidence when doing online transaction as there is trusted certification.

History & Evolution of E-Commerce...

In this era, e-commerce also known as electronic commerce is quite common and popular as numbers of internet user is growth rapidly in the world. E-commerce in sense of having trading of information, products or services over electronic systems. E-commerce are include business-to-business (B2B) and Business-to-consumer (B2C). According to a study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one-forth of all US business-to-business purchasing will be done online by the year 2003.

Existence of World Wide Web in early 1990s by Tim Berners-Lee which make an opportunity to form an e-commerce environment. In an early development of e-commerce, electronic data interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) are used. EDI can formally defined as 'The transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention'. While, EFT refers to computer based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically.

In 1994, internet began to advance in popularity among the general public. While, Netscape released the Navigator browser in October under the code name Mozilla. The 1st e-commerce is form by Pizza Hut which offered pizza ordering on its web page.

In 1995, Amazon.com launched by Jeff Bezos and eBay.com founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as Auction Web which both are most popular and names in e-commerce until today.

In 1998, development of secutiy protocols (eg. HTTP) and Digital Subsciber Line (DSL) which allowed rapid acces and a persistent connection to the internet. In fact, people will spend more time online.
With the developement of internet, its create great numbers of business companies in US and Western Europe represent their services in World Wide Web.

In 2000, there is a dot-com burst and make numbers of e-commerce companies shut down. Not only that , it created a stock market bubble ( in financial markets term applied to a rise or boom in the share prices of stocks of a particular industry). The bubble caused an overvaluation of the company.

After the dot-com collapse in end of 2001 , people learn from the failure and make the largest form of e-commerce, B2B model had around $700 billion in transaction.

Source:http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html

An example of an e-commerce success and its causes

There are many successful examples of using e-commerce to do their business activities in the world such as eBay, Amazon.com and others. I would like to introduce an example of an e-commerce success which is eBay.

What is eBay? eBay is the world’s online marketplace where buyers and sellers to come together and trade almost anything. eBay was founded in Pierre Omidyar’s San Jose living room back in September 1995. Seller can lists items on eBay. Seller can sell their item in term of online auction. Seller will open a price and remain in eBay for few days. Buyers then can place bids on the item. When the listings end, the highest bid will win. Seller also can sell their thing in Buy It Now listing. In this way, the first buyer willing to pay the seller’s price gets the item which is in first come first get basic.

Nowadays, eBay is a very famous online business in the world. I think is because eBay allows people to often times connect with childhood memories. It could be anything from collecting baseball cards to toy soldiers to Barbie dolls to doll house. In addition, people can enjoy the competition of the bidding process by eBay. Everybody can get a bargain, in some way, or form, like to haggle a little bit over the price.

An example of e-commerce failure and its cause

Nowadays, there are so many companies expanding their business in the e-commerce world. This may because the companies want to struggle to meet the demand of the customers. And this can explain why there are so many retail worlds want to struggle so much in the e-commerce world. However, converting a once retail only company into an e-commerce giant is no an easy task and it sure does not happen over night like most of these companies would like to believe.


There are some of the problems that the big companies neglect when their jump into the e-commerce arena. This type of company may neglect some of the common factors that may cause the failure in e-commerce such as the shipping product takes man power and it tends to slow the process down simply by the sheer volume of orders the mail service industry receives in that short period of time. There may have some e-commerce’s companies know how to get the job done and they may incorporate an entire delivery division to handle these orders. While not all the companies have the enough capital to invest in such a large expansion, frankly, if they are going into the e-commerce industry, they cannot afford not to put in that investment.


In real world, there are some examples of the failure in e-commerce such as eToys.com. EToys.com launched in 1997 and closed in March 2001. The company raised $166 million in a May 1999 IPO, but in the course of 16 months, its stock went from a high of $84 per share in October 1999 to a low of just 9 cents per share in February 2001. It much likes Pets.com.


In an effort to avoid the shipping missteps of 1999, eToys spent a lot to build two enormous warehouses to handle inventory and delivery. But Christmas sales for the year 2000 season totaled $120 million, which is just half of the company’s projections. Since the company was run out of money and other funding options exhausted, eToys filed for bankruptcy in March 2001.


The reason behind eToys’s failure are similar to those of others failed brethren. eToys has spent too much on advertisement, marketing, and technology and battled a host of competitors. An immediate need for a large infrastructure and plenty of cash to support an untested business model lead to eToys spending outweighed of the company’s income, and investors quickly jumped ship. But after being owned for a period by KayBee Toys, it’s now back for a second run.

Revenue Model of Google, Amazon.com and eBay

eBay Inc. (eBay), incorporated in May 1996, provides online marketplaces for the sale of goods and services, as well as other online commerce, or ecommerce, platforms, online payments services and online communications offerings to a diverse community of individuals and businesses. The Company has three business segments: Marketplaces, Payments and Communications. Its main revenue model is from the Marketplaces. eBay’s Marketplaces platforms earn revenue from, as the case may be, listing, feature, subscription and final value fees paid by sellers, lead referral fees, transaction fees and advertising fees. eBay’s core platform is its traditional auction style and fixed format. These transactions of money are smoothen thru one of its business segments PayPal that is under the segment Payments. Paypal has provided quick payments on a real time basis and offers fraud prevention that is regarded as a core requirement in e-commerce.

Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon.com), incorporated in 1994, operates retail Websites, which enables its consumer customers to find and discover anything they might want to buy online. The Company’s revenue model is sourcing and selling a range of products worldwide across dozens of product categories, including digital media. Amazon.com also designs, manufactures, markets and sells a wireless e-reading device, the Amazon Kindle. The Company has designed its Websites to enable millions of products to be sold by it and by third parties across different product categories, such as books, movies, music, games, digital downloads, electronics and computers, home and garden, grocery, toys, kids and baby, apparel, shoes and jewelry, health and beauty, sports and outdoors, tools, auto and industrial.

Google Inc., incorporated in September 1998, maintains an index of Websites and other online content, and makes this information freely available to anyone with an Internet connection. The Company’s automated search technology helps people obtain nearly instant access to relevant information from its online index. Google generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. Businesses use its AdWords program to promote their products and services with targeted advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party Websites that comprise the Google Network use its AdSense program to deliver relevant ads that generate revenue and enhance the user experience.

The difference of revenue between all of the above company is the difference in revenue model. Google’s main revenue is due to its advertising revenue that arises from its AdSense and AdWords programs that enables businesses to advertise their product in it. Amazon.com’s revenue is mainly through the sale of products from their websites and the revenue is gained from the sales of the products. eBay on the other hand, has the revenue model that is based on the auctions they host and that is in a form of transaction fees from successful transactions made from the seller and buyer and listing of items charged on seller.

Self-Introduction (Szet Ling)

Hi, I’m Szet Ling from Cheras. Now, I’m studying Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting in University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). I like to watch sing k and watch movie with friends. Besides that, I like shopping. But I a bit different from Jwee Von, I don’t like go shopping when mega sales. This is because too many people. However, I still going shopping when mega sales because can buy things cheaper than usual.
Website I visited the most is:
1. http://www.tom365.com/ has the most updated movie and drama.
2. http://www.friendster.com/ you can make new friends through the internet.
3. http://www.sogou.com/ has the updated information and u can listen to the new music.
4. http://www.youtube.com/ has the updated movie and mtv. Besides, you can share your video clip through internet.
5. http://www.google.com/ you can search many information. Normally I will visit this website when I need to find information for assignment.

5 top internet activities
1. Watch new movie and drama online
2. Chatting with friends
3. Search information
4. Play online games
5. Write blog

Self-Introduction (Jwee Von)

I'm Jwee Von from Subang Jaya. I like to go for shopping especially it's on sales. Other than that , i like to watch series drama and online too.
Website that i visted the most are
1. http://www.kennysia.com/ Kenny Sia is one of local well known blogger. His blog is very interesting and attractive.
2.http://www.lowyat.net/ has updated viewer the latest technology and forum provided.
3. http://www.shoppingnsales.com/ has updated viewer the warehouse sales and best shopping bargain
in klang valley
4. http://www.friendster.com/
5. http://www.facebook.com/
Both friendster n facebook get to make new friends easily.

Top 5 internet activities
1. Online chatting
2. Search information
3.Watch drama online
4. Read friend's blog
5. Read forum

Self-Introduction(Ping Ping)

I'm Ping Ping, from Sitiawan, Perak.I'm study Bachelor of Commerce(Hons) Accounting, year 3 semester 1. My hobbies are watch Hong Kong drama and play computer game. Beside this, i also like to read novel and listen music.

Website that i have visited the most

1. http://www.friendster.com/ Friendster.com keeps me connected with friends.
2. http://www.hotmail.com/ In the website, i can received email from everyone.
3. www.evland.com/bbs This website is about Catholic news and forum.
4. http://www.google.com/ search information that i need to help me when do assignment and so on.
5. http://www.gougou.com/ download songs that i need.

Top 5 internet activities

1. search information
2. chatting
3. watch drama
4. download songs
5. read forum

Self Introduction (Vei Soon)

Hey,I am a first time blogger.My real name is not Da Vinnci Toad, actual name is Chong Vei Soon. My hobbies currently are football and any football related activity. I just love kicking things.

Top 5 Websites

1. http://paultan.org/ Getting updated on current news on automotive industry
2. http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/ Knowing what actually happens in Malaysia
3. http://www.zerotohundred.com/ Forum about nothing but cars. Able to read comments posted by forumers.
4.http://www.youtube.com/ A lot of videos that can be viewed to kill time.
5.http://www.kennysia.com/ A well known blogger in Malaysia that is known for his humour.

Top 5 Internet Activities
1. Playing games
2. Surfing
3. Looking for research material
4. Searching for songs
5. Reading happenings around the world