Archive for June, 2010

Avoiding Financial Scams

Card skimming, cheque fraud, ATM fraud, theft, white-collar crime, money laundering, hacking. All of these equate to financial scams. Almost all of us can say that we know of at least one person that has fallen victim to at least one of these scams in recent years.

According to recent news articles, these scams have more than doubled over the past five years, and are set to skyrocket even more, as the recession continues to dig into the pockets and finances of consumers and businesses alike.

A lot of the tips I am going to mention, should generally be common sense, but I think that folk need reminding these days, especially owing to the fact that life is so fast paced. We often don’t stop to give our daily habits a second thought.

1. When doing transactions at shops or restaurants, do not allow your card to leave your sight. Yes, we know how convenient it is to simply hand your card over to the waiter and have him return to your table with the bill. This is by far one of the easiest ways for card skimming to take place (card skimming involves a small device that your card is swiped through, which conveniently stores your card number, account number and PIN code, thereby making it extremely easy for fraudulent transactions to take place on your card).
2. Always check your bank statements carefully, and make sure you know exactly what each transaction is for. So many people make the mistake of simply throwing statements away, or worse still, not even bothering to open or check them. Scammers rely on folk who do not check statements or query unusual transactions to carry out their dirty scams.
3. Do not ever supply your PIN number or passwords for any of your accounts to anyone who calls, claiming to be a staff member from the bank. Any legitimate banking institution will never ever do this.
4. Never ever click on a link in an email claiming to be from your bank or financial services provider, that asks you to click on the link to verify your account details. This is one of the oldest scams around, and honestly, I actually don’t know how people are still falling prey to this one. Your bank will also never send emails out asking you to verify account details.
5. Never ever supply your credit card CVC numbers to anybody over the phone. With these 3 numbers that are usually found on the back of your card, anybody can have transactions processed using your credit card. The oldest scam around in this regard is having someone call you who claims to be from Visa or MasterCard, and ask you to “verify” the CVC number on your card after reading your card number off to you over the phone. Don’t do it. Plain and simple.
6. Again, stating the extreme obvious here, but never ever share your PIN number with anybody, no matter who they are.
7. Always ensure that any websites you need to supply credit card details on, are legitimate, and are encrypted so that your details are safe.
8. Online gambling is a bad idea for many reasons. Firstly, it is a waste of your hard-earned cash, and secondly, your credit card details are very seldom safe on sites like these.
9. When signing contracts that involve debit orders or monthly payments, always be sure to read the fine print regarding additional charges and fees. Again, keep a check on your bank statement so that you can spot any discrepancies.
10. Always shred account and card statements that you no longer use or need. Do not rely on just tearing them up and tossing them in the bin.
11. The same goes for your expired or unused credit cards and store cards. Always make sure these are destroyed and cut or shredded into as many pieces as possible, especially where the built-in chip is concerned, because the chip is the key to all of your personal information. Always make sure that the CVC number and chip from the card are destroyed completely, even if it involves making a bonfire. Voila…this gives plastic surgery a whole new meaning!
12. If you feel uneasy about giving details to an online site for any reason, rather see if you can make contact via phone and arrange to do an electronic bank transfer yourself to the parties concerned.
13. Again, stating the obvious, but some folk think nothing of leaving store cards or credit cards lying around, or worse still, in the glove compartment of their vehicle! This is plain and simply irresponsible. If your vehicle is stolen, not only does the thief have your wheels, but he then has your permission to go on a shopping spree as well – at your expense! Don’t be stupid. Store your cards responsibly.
14. Do not give anyone else your card to use at any time. This is fraud, as their signature does not match the one you have provided on the back of the card.

Let’s all do our part in making cyber crime and financial fraud as difficult as possible for fraudsters to commit, by being more responsible and assertive.

Have I left anything out? Any advice that you can give? Feel free to comment.

The Humble Envelope – Your Ideal Budget Buddy

When it comes to budgeting, a lot of people tend to either freeze at the idea, or turn and run like hell, because it seems like an overwhelming task.

Relax, it actually isn’t. In fact, compiling a budget is actually a lot easier than you realise, and will make your life a lot easier and a lot less stressful as well.

It will be far easier to see where you may be going wrong once you have everything down on paper and staring right back up at you. You will go from a case of, “It can’t be that much that I spend on take aways” to, “We spent HOW much on take aways??????” Once everything is down on paper, it’s far more difficult to ignore the financial freefalls that have been draining your cash faster than you can zip your wallet closed.

You may be wondering by now, where the envelopes come into the whole budgeting process. Everything will be explained as we go along. Promise.

First things first though. When you take that important step to compile a budget, you will need to know exactly what your income is for the month (or week, depending on how you are paid, of course). This may include a spouses income, as well as rental income from an additional property etc.

Start by taking a sheet of paper (or 2, depending on how large your budget is going to need to be). At the top of the first sheet, list all of your incoming finances.

Once that is done, you will need to then start listing every single expense that you have for the month/week. A typical budget would generally include things like rent (or mortgage payment), gas/fuel, phone bill, medical plan, school fees, groceries, utilities, internet fees, magazine subscriptions, an entertainment allowance, as well as any other expenses that recur each month.

Starting with your income amount on top, list each expense below this, and subtract each amount from your income amount, until you have listed all of your expenses. If you are still in the green after this exercise, well done! Most people end up going into the red before they are finished.

This is where your envelopes will start to play their part. They are normally used for the ongoing expenses that need to be met during the month, such as gas and groceries.

Sure, you budget an amount each month for these two important items, but many times, after the first two-week, you may find that your budget for those areas has run dry. This will be where your envelopes come into play.

Set aside an envelope for each week of the month. Take the money that you have set aside in your budget for groceries, and divide it up evenly as per the amount of weeks in the month. You can also do the same for gas, or any other expenses that recur on a weekly basis.

A fair bit of self-discipline will be needed here though, to prevent yourself from simply ‘borrowing’ from the following week’s budget., as this will defeat the purpose of this exercise.

Once the money in each  envelope is finished, then you have nothing left for the rest of the week, until the following week rolls around. It does take some getting used to at first, and you may find that you run out of cash. But I can promise you, that in most cases, there are truly very few items that you will die without having until the following week (emergency medication and things like baby food are obvious exceptions).

After a few weeks have gone by, you will get used to the system, and you may even find yourself with a few pennies or even a dollar or two left over from the budget. Congratulate yourself.

The fun doesn’t necessarily have to stop here though. Bring another envelope into the game, and label it ‘extras’ or ‘overs.’ Should there be anything left from the previous week, put it into this one. You will be surprised at how fast it adds up. These ‘overs’ or ‘extras’ can then be put into a savings account once a month, or they can even simply be set aside to do something fun with. There is no end to the possibilities which this can be used for. Should you wish, you could also use is as an additional debt repayment, or even add it to your initial mortgage repayment.

I am making use of this system ,and it is working very well for me, so I am sure that it will also work very well for many of you out there who need a little help along the way with learning how to budget, and how to spend wisely during the month on essential items.

Comments, ideas or suggestions? Feel free to post them below.