Friday, January 17, 2014

What Are the Security Threats Facing Online Banking?

As any other internet security vulnerability, online banking security threats have become profound as the internet thieves seek for smarter ways to steal from unsuspecting users. You email account may be used as a target to steal your information. The email browser may also be targeted. Before you click any link on your email, you should know its source.

However "sweet" and "darling" internet use may be, its exposure to scammers, phishers and hackers is a daunting moment for internet enthusiasts. The digital edge is picking up with a new generation of high tech thieves. They are smart, intellectual and will challenge your ability to protect yourself from internet insecurity.


Online banking has unearthed one of the most convenient, cost effective and reliable mode of conducting business and transactions today. Internet insecurity poses the greatest challenge to online banking. Clients need to ensure that they observe the Internet security tips. When conducting business online, clients must avoid sending account information to unsafe and suspecting clients or sources.


Account passwords, pin numbers and other personal details such as name and addresses, are very sensitive features and being on the hands of the fraudsters can cause harm to the person’s financial security in internet use. The fraudsters use these details to advance in cashing out amount from your accounts. It is important to always log out from your email browser page after finishing a session.


Identity theft is the most common known threat of the online banking insecurity. Internet hackers trap the unsuspecting users. Hackers are able to steal important personal confidential details such as full names, account numbers, email passwords, bank account passwords, and identification numbers (PIN) and use these details to maneuver around and extort cash from the person’s bank accounts.


Normally, internet criminals are targeting online banking because of its immense trading and transactions base. The world is digitized and the billions population is getting Online. The internet thieves are repositioning themselves in order to harness the potentials of this richly endowed market.


Surely, the fight against Internet crime must be tightened through enlightenment. The Internet community must be harmonized and work as a team. Applause is given to those organizations, companies, firms, and individuals who in any way contribute to enlightening and informing the Internet audience readers on online insecurity.


Phishing is a common and publicized form of Internet theft. It mainly takes the form of emails that are purported to be sent from an organization and for that matter a bank, requesting the person’s confidential details and Internet information. It may as well contain a link to a website that identically resembles the legitimate bank website.


Here the customers are requested to enter their details. Usually this program captures the details and is used to defraud of the victims' cash from the bank accounts. They may also initiate illegal transactions in an account.


For the online banking customers, it is a matter of conscience and should gather information on Online banking fraud. One should be updated with the current trends and information on online banking fraud threats. It is imperative to note that Internet criminals are getting smarter day by day, often devising new and advanced techniques to beat and trap their targets.


If one has any information about Internet theft or may have been a victim of the same, it is critical to share out this experience with the other Internet users. You may never know, as you could save millions of online banking clients from the fraudulent actions of the Internet criminals. The online banking security threats need a proactive approach and a lot of information sharing to each other in curbing the manace.










7 Qualities You Should Look Out For In a Car Insurance Firm

Is it the premium rates or cost of insurance coverage that attracts and convinces you to buy that car insurance policy? Whether a yes or no, one thing is remarkably clear, that the dimension under which to determine the appropriateness of an auto insurance company goes beyond that. In the perspective of the policy buyers, a good insurance company is that which meets their need and expectations.

But what do insurance buyers really want from an auto insurance company. Is it simply cheap premiums? As much as the cost of the insurance may be a main factor, today auto insurance clients are looking for sustainable coverage. The policy must be affordable but affordability does not necessarily mean cheap.


Information at hand regarding the insurance company is another aspect that insured will search for. This is provided through advisory services that may be offered. Of the characteristics of good car insurance firm, they include;


1.    Reliability
The auto insurance should be there when the clients need it. They should be available and accommodative in times of a business uncertainty such as during compensation claims. As the company is interested with the client when they are remitting their premiums, they should also extend this hand when the clients are faced with difficulties, such as an accident.

Otherwise, that is what auto insurance business is all about. Auto insurance companies that observe this aspect acquire reputation. They build their brand within the market niche.


2.    Reputable and recognized
Car insurance clients will want to be associated with companies that have proved to be competent and have survived the sweets and sours of a business operation. Building a company brand is not easy. It requires innovations and sound business systems set up.

Reputable insurance companies must have been in business for a relatively long time. It is impossible to evaluate and establish the reputation of a business in a short period. For an auto insurance to obtain credits from the clients, it has to be in operation for a long time proving an ideal and commendable car insurance coverage. 


3.    Affordable coverage
This is one of the most checked factors of the auto insurance companies. A car insurance company must develop a coverage that does to extort the clients of their monetary resource. The premium rates are the main subject of determining the cost of a car insurance policy.

Nevertheless, there may be other hidden factors that may significantly affect the affordability of an insurance coverage. The future rate adjustments, which are caused by aspects such as accidents, damage of a vehicle and subsequent compensations, should be well analyzed.


The initial premiums imposed before an accident or damage occurs may be very enticing and attractive, however, the adjustors’ mechanism may be a hidden trap that can drive insurance buyers into financial debts. A client should enquire on the adjustments applicable whenever compensations. Other factors that may lead to rates adjustments include a noted poor driving behavior.


4.    Diversity of coverage
The kinds of coverage offered determine the suitability of a company. If a car, insurance firm is limited to one or two coverage this implies that it is incapable of providing a broad spectrum of services to its clients. Such an insurance firm may either be a young company getting in to the market or it has failed to expand its wings over time. This may not be the suitable a company to go for.

5.    Flexible terms of agreement

One of the issues that insurance clients should never forget to get conclusive information about is the terms of agreement in place. No matter how an insurance company may be cheap, it can turn to be very expensive hence complicating the whole aspect of insurance policy sustainability. The insurance companies should play a forefront role in ensuring that their clients are fully conversant with the applicable terms of agreements.

6.    Supportive advisory services

This is a pro-active initiative that insurance companies should apply. It helps in keeping clients in business. If not applied well, it can result to clients being unable to maintain their coverage. Advisory services may include a guideline on how to keep their premiums low. It also assists in alerting the clients on any future perceived uncertainties that may lie ahead of the clients such as recession of economy, which may drive the clients out of business.

7.    Easy claim process

You may not understand the true colors of your insurance company until that time you are involved in accident and you want compensation. Some companies may not have good claim process and this is why many complaints are reported. You need to re-examine the claim procedure and how effective it is for the motorists seeking for compensation.





What Are Unsecured Car Loans and When Do You Need Them

Whereas persons are looking forward to apply for car loans, the auto loan companies are repositioning themselves in line with the needs and expectations of the consumer. The financial institutions are devising appropriate ways to enable their clients have an array of alternatives to which kind of auto loan they would prefer. Unsecured car loans are those that do not require collateral to be placed as security.

This implies that the borrower does not give the auto loan company an asset or an item to stand for the loan as security in the event of failure to repay. Unsecured auto loans are preferred by those persons with stable and sufficient income because they are payable within relatively short time.


Due to the short period of payback, they attract a comparatively high interest rate. Usually, they are paid within months or a few years mainly less than two years. The decision to acquire unsecured loan is determined by both the individual and the institution.


For instance, a borrower may have sufficient amount of income, but the car loan company decisions not to offer unsecured loan. This is because the institution may have considered other factors such as the economic situations that might affect the borrower’s financial stability for example economic recession.


The car loan company might also take into account the credit worthiness of the customer by establishing the credit score. An auto loan company will grant a loan after ascertaining that the clients’ score is good. Typically, delinquencies are used to determine a personal discipline in handling credits.


Delinquency is the tendency to pay for advances or loan payment late after the stated date of remittance. Although there are many factors that may lead to this behavior, it is usually considered a personal financial mismanagement. On the other hand, if the score is bad, the financial company may not offer the unsecured loan.


A good credit score is characterized by ability to pay advances in time, increased personal bank savings, payment of important bills such as rent in time as well as sufficient personal income. Consequently, the individual may decide which car loan to apply. Depending on one’s financial resources, the borrower can opt for the unsecured auto loans because they can repay without stress.


In case the personal budget is manageable and a large amount is left as disposable income, the client can decide to have unsecured auto loan. In addition, if the income is stable and sufficient but there is a need to borrow soon, the clients may choose to obtain unsecured loan so that they can clear the repayment in advance to be able to apply for the other loan.


Indulging in multiple borrowing may hamper the ability of the client to repay comfortably. Also if the client has enough income, an unsecured loan can be applied. Furthermore, where the client feels that, the security placed as collateral may be confiscated, one may decide to have the unsecured loan.


It should be noted that although the secured auto loans attract a lower rate of interest, the period of payment is long and the total payable amount is usually high. This total payable amount entails the principal amount plus the interest chargeable sum. Therefore, even though the unsecured loans have higher interest rates, the total payable loan amount is less that the secured loans.


In essence, unsecured loans are less expensive than secured loans but more cumbersome to pay. In a nutshell, the advances paid per month for the unsecured auto loans are quite high and many clients do not afford to pay hence opt for the secured auto loans.


What Are The Business Startup Essentials?

When you roll down your business startup plan, this is when you discover the reality from the blue-print plans and wishes you want to fulfill and the realism in meeting to these obligations. Many businesses fail to succeed or take too long to gain market strength simply because the process of implementing the business strategies becomes more challenging. There are simple nitty gritty aspects, which are often overlooked but they can determine the success and failure of your business.

If you are setting up a mobile application business, you need to understand that you cannot do everything by yourself. You need to get support in your business whether from professionals or business partners.


Many people think that they can do it all alone in setting up a business only to fail in their mission soon after they begin the startup process. One of the areas that need to be emphasized is your IT resource input. It is important that if you do not know much in programming and designing, you give this task to an expert.


The ability of your business to peak exponentially will depend on the product that you launch in the market. The software system development, web design, and other IT applications may only be better done by IT experts. Defining your limitations will ensure that you don’t take chances when you are setting up your business.


Secondly, set your finances to ensure that you can take up the startup process. Grounding your business set up process due to lack of sufficient money can be very detrimental. Considering that you want to take advantage of being the first to launch your unique product in the market, it is certain that you do not want to waste time.


Fourthly, before you start the process, ensure that you have researched widely on your market. You need to ensure that you define your clientele base. It is important to test your product to ensure it’s what the buyers want. This will enhance the growth of your business.


Fifth, you have to broaden your selling gimmicks. You need to establish different ways to sell your product. For the mobile application business, you need to bring out the features that mobile users really want to use. There are business-oriented applications such as advertising, money transfers, instant messaging, mobile search and browsing.


For entertainment, music and video downloading features are important as this will capture this particular market. Sixthly, when you initiate a business startup process, you need to hire the right employees and empower them. These workers should have the passion to deliver to your expectations. You need to accommodate and appreciate their ideas and input in your business.


Nurturing a team of performing employees will take your business to great heights.

Seven, you need to utilize the power of internet in marketing your business. Internet is not only a cheap way of developing leads in your business but also an effective marketing tool that is necessary for your business growth.

Develop a website that is search engine friendly and explore all SEO marketing options available. Use content and visual channels such as blog sites, directory submissions, social media sites, and authority sites to further strengthen your online presence. As your business startup process peaks, take control of the growth.


Last but not least, measure your business startup performance. This is the only way you can how you are progressing in your business. There are many ways you can measure your business performance. You can establish how your customer base is growing. You can also evaluate your sales growth.


Create an interaction with the client so that you can get their comments. Social media platforms such as Facebook offer an ideal interaction where you get feedback on how your product is performing. Indeed, if you utilize social media channels, you can reduce the cost advertising and product research significantly allowing your business grow financially.


What Are the Benefits of Secured Car Loans?

The need to own a car by the US residents is practically essential in order to have an efficient and convenient travel from one place to another. Whereas the residents are working hard to ensure that they buy their dream cars, it has sometimes become daunting to successfully be able to buy the cars at the right time from personal savings. Hard economic times and poor budgetary controls have exacerbated the situation.

These factors have resulted to appalling personal saving behavior. In fact, many people are struggling to be in charge of their finances. However, financial institutions have provided a respite to the residents. Today, these financial institutions are more than willing to offer car loan financing and have put in place desirable measures to ensure that every citizen owns a car of choice. Car loans can be categorized as secured or unsecured.


Secured car loans car be defined as those that required collateral to be placed by the borrower. Collateral is an asset or item that is used as a security for the loan in case of an uncertainty repayment. Secured loans are offered based on the historical financial records of the borrower and other external factors, which may be beyond the control of the client.


These external factors include economic stability, political environment, and market trends. Where a client has unappealing previous financial record, this makes the car loan companies to take precautions against bad debts they may incur from failure to repay the loan. Consequently, due to their characteristics, secured loans are preferred because they usually attract low interest rates and are paid for in a relatively longer periods.


Mainly, the timeframe to repay secured loans may range from one year to six or more. When a client puts in place other considerations such as personal financial stability and income, they opt to borrow secured loans to be able to repay with ease. With a sound personal cash management, the clients can comfortably be able to pay the loan amount.


However, this kind of a loan has a disadvantage in that, incase the client fails to repay the loan, the collateral placed as security is confiscated by the car loan company. With secured auto loans, the possibility to loose the asset or item placed as security by the borrower is as high as the failure to repay the loan may occur.


It thus requires one to be self-disciplined in financial matters. It also assumes that other external factors beyond the person's control will not come by the way and cause financial breakdown. For instance, the retrogressive economic growths experienced all over the world between 2007 and 2010 displayed an ideal example where borrowers were driven to financial dark pits due to the prevailing unfavorable economic situations.


Many people lost their jobs, businesses shut down, and personal debts increased. The ability to repay secured loans was hampered. Collaterals were repossessed by the financial institutions. This left many auto loan clients bamboozled by the wary events.


Secured loans also limit the ability to borrow another loan in the near future, as one may need. This is because it takes a long time to repay the loan. Clients ‘shy off’ from multiple borrowing due to the repercussions attached to it.


Moreover, it becomes difficulty should a need arise that requires borrowing. When making that vital decision on which loan to undertake, one should put into considerations factors such as how soon one might need to borrow again, how stable the economy at large is, and how disciplined one is in personal financial management. Secured loans can help you acquire credit facilities at a lower interest rates compared to unsecured loans.


What are the Benefits of Online Banking

As technology advances so are the financial institutions operations. Today people can do their banking right from the office or in their homes. Applause to the technology developers who have made it possible to carry out online banking! It is today convenient to log on to the internet and initiate a transaction from the comfort of your home in any hour of the day. Isn't it amazing? Online banking has herald a technological cutting edge in the 21st Century.

The digital edge is not a myth as the legwarmers would perceive during those old days, but it has become a reality. There are no bank queues. Often clients are not kept in the contention of the laws that Graham forgot to mention, that the "other queue moves fast when you jump into another"


The days are gone when clients used to make long queues in banks lining for services with impatience. This has been molded into a click of a mouse and the bank service is self initiated.  There are certainly no bank holidays as a client can transact a business, make or receive payments on the peak hour of the weekend.


Online banking offers more security than the conventional banking in the sense that no paper works that may scatter around and expose ones bank details. Similarly, other people cannot overhear conversations and get their details.  With advancement in technology, it is easy to view statements.


With a click of a mouse, the customer can access details of the bank accounts, which include the account balances, the transactions initiated, as well as the dates of transactions. The customers can easily move cash between accounts. Making payments to clients such as suppliers is well tailored and fast to carry out.  Cheque books and statements can be ordered easily.


The cost of effecting a transaction is one feature that customers look out for.  The charges that are imposed for transactions in online banking are lower than those of the traditional banking. Convectional banking is often rendered expensive due to the logistics of operation.


It also requires that one travel to the bank to make their transactions. It's inefficient, time consuming and cumbersome.  With the development of mobile banking, it is even more convenient. The incorporation of banking, internet and mobile phones has further customized online banking to the interests of the clients.


Although the online banking is faced with the challenge of insecurity due to the crop up of a new trade in fraudulent activities, the benefits are more than the challenges of insecurity and clients opt to take precautions.  No in any time of history, has banking been made easy, friendly, convenient, and well tailored to the customer than in the online banking.


As people become occupied in other activities, time becomes a scarce resource and in order to beat this challenge, digital age has provided a solution for this through online banking. In essence, there are many benefits of online banking ranging from safety, convenience, and cost to flexibility.