Protection Against Identity Theft! Stop It Before It Happens To You!
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Wednesday.
Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday in Washington. The Timess Binyamin Appelbaum covered the hearing on his Twitter feed, . His tweets follow.
Santander is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Having been voted the worst bank for customer service by Which? and Moneywise in 2010/2011, it’s been hit with a £1.5m fine from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The bank told customers that certain products were covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) when they weren’t. This matters: the FSCS pays out up to £85,000 if a product is covered and the provider goes bust.
The interesting thing here is that the FSA concedes that the products were not mis-sold in the sense of being unsuitable for the buyer – nor did investors suffer any financial loss as a result of Santander’s failings. The mistake was suggesting FCSC cover might apply when it didn’t. The fact that the bank updated its product literature a year after customers started querying the level of cover cut no ice with the regulator, since the position was ambiguous at the point of sale. So what lessons can investors draw from this latest FSA move?
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Its quite common for credit card companies to come up with offers, promotions, perks and competitions. Theyre usually intended to attract publicity for the product, along with new business for the issuer. But theres nothing wrong with that, as long as you, the consumer, ultimately benefit. Here are three such offers that have recently been launched.
First up, a photo/caption competition to promote the Capital One Venture card. You have until Mar. 9 to enter this one, and all you have to do is upload a photo of yourself, which, if you want, you can crop into one of a number of backdrops provided on the competition website, . Add in a caption saying why you should win your dream vacation, and stand by while other visitors vote on your entry. If its good enough, you could find yourself on the shortlist of 10 finalists whose efforts will be judged by an independent travel expert.
Tags: Promotions
The large antitrust litigation being brought against Visa, MasterCard and a slew of large banks on the behalf of millions of merchants may end in a settlement that one analyst is projecting could also cause a reduction in credit card processing fees by as much as 33 percent for up to one year.
Jason Kupferberg of Jefferies Group Inc. is expecting a settlement before the case is to be taken before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York later September of this year. Kepferberg estimates the settlement to be between $5 billion to $15 billion of which Visa will be responsible for 67 percent and MasterCard the remaining 33 percent.
The litigation is being drawn on the behalf of larger retailers including Kroger Co. and Safeway, Inc. among many others for alleged price fixing on transaction fees between the two processing giants.
Visa has already set aside $4.3 billion in litigation escrow, $2.7 billion of which is an “uncommitted balance” according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Banks have recently been scrambling to find new avenues of revenue after the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Act effectively capped debit card transaction fees at 21 cents last year. Sin
Tags: Antitrust Litigation, Card
One of the big concerns that many Americans have around this time of year is getting a tax refund as quickly as possible.
If the government owes you a tax rebate, you want that money fast. The good news is that you can get your tax refund quicker if you follow the right steps.
One way to enjoy faster processing for your tax return is to e-File. The IRS will allow you to file your tax return electronically. Your return will be in the system quickly, and in digital format.
This is much faster than the results of mailing in a paper return with the need for a human to get the mail, and then manually enter the information on your return.
You might even be able to take advantage of the Free File program. If your Adjusted Gross Income is $57,000 or less for 2011, you are eligible for the program.
Tags: Possible, Tax Refund