Credit Cards: Green Bandt to ban Hole in the Wall cash bandits.

You'll "get more green out of your ATM cash machine" soon if Andrew Bandt gets his private members bill over the line.

Bandt's bill has the attraction factor

Green Andrew is proposing a ban on those $2.00 ATM transaction fees for withdrawing cash.
Politicians from the entire spectrum are liking his tune and are backing Green MP Adam Bandt's private member's bill.
Bob Katter also stuck his boot into the Government and Opposition for skinny policy offerings, though Labor Treasurer Wayne Swan has been holding its cards close to it chest. He is expected to release his plan for banking reform later this month.
Though Independent MPs Andrew Wilkie, Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter and unaligned Nationals MP Tony Crook said Mr Bandt's bill, now before Parliament, was the most promising proposal on banking, they have yet to see the Labor Plan, but I suspect that it will be more wide ranging in terms of offering real competition to the major banks than Andrew bandt's bill. Let's wait and see on that one.

Call to action to stir Wayne Swan

The calls to action increases the pressure on Treasurer Wayne Swan, who will next month announce banking reforms that could need the support of the crossbenchers.
The banks' all claim that politicians did not understand that funding costs were going up. Wilke says that this core claim is nonsense.
Mr Katter said the surge in banking chiefs' salaries also warranted attention and could be curbed through the tax system.
Mortgage Foreclosures unfair.
He called on the government to do ''something serious'' about the system of mortgage foreclosure, which was weighted in lenders' favour.

Summary of Bandt's Bill

As it stands, Andrew Bandt's proposed bill has three main areas of saings for Australian Credit users.

1. A crackdown on Bank Fees.
2. Mortgage Rates to move in line with RBA increases
3. A ban of bank transaction fees of $2.00 per transaction.

Whatever the outcome, it looks like Australia's Parliament is in for a lively time on the floor next year, and home buyers can look forward to more and better loan offers from nonbank players, lower mortgage interest rates and lower fees, no to low exit fees on their mortgages rates, and credit card losing unfair fees. Sounds good to me.

Credit Cards: CabCharge pays $15m in trade abuse case

CabCharge gets off lightly in credit card scam

If you elect to pay by non cash means in a cab in Australia, you goy stung 10%.
Well now the 10 per cent surcharge on taxi fares for non-cash payments could be lifted after CabCharge admitted breaching the Trade Practices Act by abusing its market dominance.

Credit cards business closed to competition by CabCharge unlawful

CabCharge admitted it had taken advantage of its position in the market to refuse requests from competitors to process Cabcharge cards on their electronic payments systems.
The company also admitted to predatory pricing by installing its fare meters free or below cost, squeezing rivals out further.

CabCharge agrees to pay $15 million in fines

It will pay penalties and costs of $15 million after agreeing to a settlement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [ACCC] yesterday in the Federal Court, avoiding a lengthy court battle that was due to begin next month.
The ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel, said the settlement was a ''clear message to Cabcharge it had gone too far'' and would lead to greater scope for competition in the industry - and lower prices for taxi customers.
''Generally where you can get some competition in the marketplace you tend to find service levels increase and prices reduce for consumers,'' Mr Samuel said.

''You could see potentially service providers saying to cab drivers and cab owners 'We can offer you a better deal than Cabcharge can offer', and Cabcharge will have to meet that competition.''

CabCharge slugs 10% on every credit card transaction

Cabcharge levies a 10 per cent surcharge on every fare processed on its systems paid by credit card, bank debit card or through its proprietary charge card and vouchers.
Its long-standing and popular charge account has helped it become the dominant player in the industry. It has its machines installed in 96 per cent of taxis across the country, though its rivals have increasingly encouraged operators and drivers to install their machines additionally, offering them a cut of the 10 per cent surcharge.

CabCharge forced to agree to Compliance of ACCC

The court ordered Cabcharge to comply with a compliance program involving beefing up its internal controls and training to ensure it did not contravene the act again. It will also be subject to external audits.
Mr Samuel said the penalty would deter CabCharge from repeating its behaviour.
''They now know what constitutes a breach of the act and misuse of market power.''
In a joint submission with the ACCC tendered to the court, Cabcharge said it had been unaware it was breaching the act but now accepted its actions were ''serious in nature and extent''.
The submission said the contravening conduct was undertaken at ''the most senior level of the corporation'', including its prominent executive chairman, Reg Kermode.
Mr Samuel said the settlement had reaped the highest penalty imposed by the commission for the misuse of market power.

Were CabCharge rewarded for bad behaviour?

Based on the amount ripped off from the public, many are saying that CabCharge out out of jail in that the fine was tiny compared to the money made from the scam and this was reflected in CabCharge's share price surging over 10% higher.

You will need to claim losses yourself

The ACCC did not quantify any loss or damage to consumers or competitors, saying it was ''not likely to be readily ascertainable''.
Whilst CabCharge denied its behaviour had contributed to any such loss or damage if you paid the amount you would have suffered.
Any individual, business or Government Department who has suffered a loss or damage, or who wants to get a refund on the 10% surcharge should contact CabCharge now.
Source: Mr Mortgage

Credit Card Security: How to protect yourself from credit card fraud

The WorldWide Web is a game changer when it comes to using your credit card for online shopping That unfortunately means that it is also a rich new resource and playground for cyber criminals.
Due to lack of security, one in 10 of Australia's internet users are now losing money to online identify fraud over the past year with losses totalling $1,286,000,000, reports VeriSign, a major player in the SSL Certificate industry.
That's an average of $1,000 per fraud victim of the 1,300,000 people affected, with more being lost in the 18-24 year old profile.
This is a 30% jump on the amount of money lost online in 2007.

Eight things that you can do to protect your personal and credit ID online.


1. Don't use your credit card to make purchases online. Use a Debit card instead. This will limit your losses to what money is left on the card. If you only transfer funds to it as required, then any losses will be tiny.
2. Keep your firewall, virus and phishing scanner software up to date and run them when online.

You could consider changing to an Apple computer. They are much more secure and less prone to virus and Trojan attack, but not immune. Try the iMac, the Mac book or the Power Book when you next update. There are a lot of other benefits also. You may want to keep the iMac for the Internet only, and the PC for desktop only duties. For business use Microsoft applications are easy to use. As PCs are so cheap these days, maybe you should use one for desktop work only and use your Mac for online work.
3. Use an encrypted keyboard. This ensures that keyboard readers are foiled.

You could also use a bank that uses a scrambler for your pin numbers. The scrambler randomly changes each pin number to a letter, each time you login. So your pin is scrambled each time you enter it. And will be different the next time you log in. This foils keyboard readers.

4. Ensure that you are putting your personal info into an encrypted form with a secure certificate. You can tell this by the address line in the browser starts with https: instead of http:
This is essential as even a trusted site can have your details stolen is it does not secure your information.

4.Even if you use a PC, don't use Internet Explorer for web surfing or purchasing. Install a more secure browser. Try Google Chrome, FireFox, Safari or Opera instead.
Apple's Safari for instance gives a warning when the security certificate is not known. Heed this warning and ensure you trust the site before proceeding.
This warning is when the browser detects a generic security certificate, not necessarily a bad site to transact with. For instance I have noticed that Melbourne IT, Australia's peak Internet names registrar uses a generic certificate, and I obviously trust Melbourne IT so I proceed with the transaction.
If the SSL certificate is issued by Verisign, Geo Trust or Thawte these are recognised as authentic and verified by the issuer, and show as such. These site also come with a guarantee.

5. Use a third party payment method for buying from unknown sites. Small companies understand they don't have the trust factor that major online brands command, and some cannot afford the security vigilance required online today, so most will opt for a third party payment solution as a way to ensure they don't lose business opportunities because of this lack of trust.
Third party payment options include PayPal, Digital River, e-Junkie, and 2Checkout. This means that your details will not be going to the merchant, but the trusted intermediary who are better placed to protect your information. I have used all of these to pay for goods online. Paypal is the best known, some merchants offer two so you can choose one, and I have used e-Junkie and 2Checkout where a choice is offered. Again, when you go to the transaction area, make sure that you are on the right site by checking the URL address in the browser window, and that it is in fact a form protected by an SSL certificate.

6. Always check your credit card/ debit card statements and determine that all transactions on there were authorised by you, and notify immediately your credit card issuer if there's something on there that you don't recognise. Also take your time. There may be transactions that you have forgotten about.

7. Try to resolve any errors with the merchant before contacting your bank. Your bank will give you more credence if you do, and relate the conversation to them.
Even honest companies make mistakes, and I have had Amazon make a couple of double orders when I did not want this to happen.

Another time I pulled out of my order without confirming the transaction, and somehow it went through. These were quickly resolved by Amazon for me.
8. Beware the free offer. Do not go for any free sample offers that come up. These can be bate traps for getting your credit card info.
 I did once. It went from a free offer, to a $1.95 postage [to get the credit card details], to $11.95 when it was transacted. I rang to cancel immediately and was told I could not. If I allowed the transaction to continue you were then slugged $68.00 for a second months supply. I rang my bank, who cancelled the transaction, and issued me with a new card. In 11 years of buying online it was the first time I was scammed. And this is typical of scams. They take a few dollars at a time.

By following this advice you should be able to use your credit cards [or preferably your debit card] online and not become another victim of Identity fraud.
Author: Rick Adlam of Mr Mortgage

Green your credit card at your local ATMs and shave your debts

With new credit cards ATM transaction charge changes proposed by Greens Senator Bob Brown, you could soon save hundreds on all those "foreign" Bank ATM fees.
And the only one's who'll complain about it our those who profit from this rort.
The real cost of credit card fees and charges
It is estimated that this alone will save Australia's bank customers  $600 million a year in direct fees.
When you add all the interest that is then extracted from bank customers, and then honour fees because this may put accounts over their limit, we are looking at over a billion dollars saved under legislation to be introduced in Federal Parliament next week banning $2 ATM fees.
Total fees and charges reductions targeted in the introduced legislation by Greens Senator Bob Brown can be as high as $5 billion a year charged in bank fees and charges.
Bob Brown claims this will put an end to profiteering by banks on mortgage fees.
The Greens' new Bill called the "Banking that serves the Community" Bill allows basic fee-free accounts, fair price mortgages and up-front disclosure of exit fees on mortgages.
Bob says that he feels that the proposed laws will put the power back in the hands of bank credit card customers and be a welcome force in keeping banks honest.

The most recent data from the Reserve Bank shows that there were more than 25 million cash withdrawals at foreign ATMs in February, representing $50 million in added credit card fees.
The proposed Bill also requires banks to show that any exit fees from mortgages reflect a reasonable cost and do not just act to chain customers to lenders.
Mr Mortgage home loans supports these changes.