Former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos has been named as Greece’s interim prime minister, following days of negotiations.

He will head an interim government being formed to make sure the debt-strapped country gets its latest bailout payment.

His administration will also have to approve a new 130bn-euro ($177bn; £111bn) international rescue package from the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The three-point plan includes expanding the single currency’s bailout fund to 1tn euros, banks being forced to raise more capital to protect themselves against losses resulting from any future defaults, and banks accepting a loss of 50% on money they have lent Greece.

Greece and its huge debts have weighed on the eurozone for more than a year.

The country has been bailed out twice – and investors still fear a default.

Why is Greece in trouble?

Greece has been living beyond its means since even before it joined the euro, and its rising level of debt has placed a huge strain on the country’s economy.

The Greek government borrowed heavily and went on something of a spending spree after it adopted the euro.

Public spending soared and public sector wages practically doubled in the past decade. It has more than 340bn euros of debt – for a country of 11 million people, about 31,000 euros per person.

However, whilst money has flowed out of the government’s coffers, its income has been hit by widespread tax evasion.

When the global financial downturn hit, Greece was ill-prepared to cope.

It was given 110bn euros of bailout loans in May 2010 to help it get through the crisis – and then in July 2011, it was earmarked to receive another 109bn euros.

But that still was not considered enough. Another summit was called in October in Brussels to solve the crisis once and for all.

Crisis jargon buster
Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:
Default
Default
Strictly speaking, a default occurs when a borrower has broken the terms of a loan or other debt, for example if a borrower misses a payment. The term is also loosely used to mean any situation that makes clear that a borrower can no longer repay its debts in full, such as bankruptcy or a debt restructuring.
A default can have a number of important implications. If a borrower is in default on any one debt, then all of its lenders may be able to demand that the borrower immediately repay them. Lenders may also be required to write off their losses on the loans they have made.
Glossary in full
How did we get to this point?

The aim of the original Greece bailout was to contain the crisis.

That did not happen. Both Portugal and the Irish Republic needed a bailout too because of their own debts.

Then Greece needed a second bailout, worth 109bn euros.

In July this year, eurozone leaders proposed a plan that would see private lenders to Greece writing off about 20% of the money they originally lent.

But bond yields continued to rise on Spanish and Italian debt – leading to fears that their huge economies will need to be bailed out too.

The failure of Franco-Belgian lender Dexia also added to woes – French and German banks are large holders of Greek debt.

The eurozone rescue fund – the European Financial Stability Facility – was 440bn euros, nowhere near big enough to deal with that scenario.

And so, in October, the eurozone agreed to expand the EFSF to 1tn euros and got banks to agree to a 50% “haircut” on their Greek holdings.

But then Greece’s Prime Minister George Papandreou shocked European leaders by calling a referendum on the bailout package.

That led the leaders of Germany and France, as well as the IMF, to declare that Athens would not receive its next tranche of emergency aid until the referendum had passed.

Moreover, the question of Greece leaving the euro was raised for the first time by angry eurozone leaders.

That forced Mr Papandreou to back down over the referendum, and he has since made way for a new cross-party unity government that is expected finally to pass the latest bailout deal.

Why did the crisis not end with the Greek bailout?

Although Greece’s troubles are the most extreme, they highlight problems in the eurozone that also apply to other economies.

Many other southern European countries ran up huge debts – government debts as well as household mortgage debts – during the past 10 years. They also enjoyed rapidly rising wage levels.

Now the bust has come, it is very hard for them to repay the debts. And the high wage levels leave their economies uncompetitive compared with, for example, Germany.

Because they are inside the euro, these governments cannot rely on their central bank – the ECB – to lend them the money. Nor can they devalue their currencies to regain a competitive edge.

Meanwhile they are having to push through very painful spending cuts and tax rises to get their borrowing under control.

But this is just pushing their economies into recession, which leads to higher unemployment, and therefore less income tax revenue and more benefit payments for the governments, compounding their financial problems.

What would happen if Greece defaulted?

There has been much public opposition to the austerity programme
Europe’s banks are big holders of Greek debt, with perhaps $50bn-$60bn outstanding. An “orderly” default could mean a substantial part of this debt being rescheduled so that repayments are pushed back decades. A “disorderly” default could mean much of this debt not being repaid – ever.

Either way, it would be extremely painful for banks and bondholders.

What’s more, Greek banks are exposed to the sovereign debts of their country. They would need new capital, and it is likely some would need nationalising. A crisis of confidence could spark a run on the banks as people withdrew their money, making the problem worse.

Nonetheless, the Greek economy is only a small part of the eurozone, and the losses should be manageable for its lenders.

The real risk is that a unilateral default by Greece could lead to a financial panic, as investors fear that other, much bigger eurozone countries may ultimately follow Greece’s example.

This effect could be even worse if Greece also leaves the euro – something that was explicitly acknowledged as a possibility by the outgoing Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, as well as the German and French leaders at the end of October.

Such a move might be a repeat of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which sparked a global financial crisis that pushed Europe and the US into deep recessions.

What does all this mean to the UK?

According to figures from the Bank for International Settlements, UK banks hold a relatively small $3.4bn worth of Greek sovereign debt, compared with banks in Germany, which hold $22.6bn, and France, which hold $15bn.

When you add in other forms of Greek debt, such as lending to private banks, those figures rise to $14.6bn for the UK, $34bn for Germany and $56.7bn for France.

The UK government’s direct contribution to any Greek bailout is limited to its participation as an IMF member.

However, any knock-on from Greece’s troubles would exacerbate the UK’s exposure to Irish debt, which is larger.

And if it led to a major financial crisis, as well as a deep recession in the eurozone – the UK’s main trading partner – the damage to the UK economy would be substantial.

what do you get when you splice together a life insurance policy and an immediate annuity?

A reversionary annuity. Yes, that’s a mouthful, but it carries some of the advantages of each and is ideal for certain kinds of clients.

The niche insurance product combines an insurance policy with an immediate annuity to provide for a surviving spouse. Much like with a permanent life insurance policy, the policy owner of a reversionary annuity pays a premium to guarantee a benefit to the survivor. The life insurance has no cash value. With a reversionary annuity, upon the insured’s death, the beneficiary receives a guaranteed lifetime income instead of a lump sum payment.

The income payments will cease upon the death of the beneficiary, and if the beneficiary dies before the insured the policy is terminated. As a result premiums are typically about 50 percent lower than those on a life insurance policy.

“The product provides a well targeted benefit in the form of a fixed lifetime income for the beneficiary,” says Noel Abkemier, consulting actuary with Milliman. “This contrasts with level term or whole life insurance in which the level death benefit may become too large over time. The reversionary annuity allows you to buy just as much death benefit as you need.”

Other benefits include return of premium rider, an inflation option so that the income maintains its purchasing power over the years. And since the product provides a decreasing death benefit, the premiums are lower than for level benefit insurance.

“The pay-as-you-go nature of the funding is attractive when compared with most annuity purchases, he says. “Tax treatment is favorable—just like life insurance. The value of the death benefit is tax-free. Subsequent interest is taxed under an exclusion ratio approach.”

He adds that if there is a concern that the beneficiary will die soon after the insured dies, it can be possible to have the annuity payout in the form of a life annuity over a certain period. Of course, this is more costly since some of the mortality leverage is removed.

Growing Demand

Assurity Life, Lincoln Nebraska, is currently the only insurer underwriting a reversionary annuity, according to Dean Potter, President of Potter & Associates, Edmonton, OK, who holds a U.S. patent for a “method of providing streams of monetary payments solely to beneficiaries who survive respective insured.” Assurity Life’s A.M. Best financial strength rating is A- with a stable outlook.

Insurance research by the Society of Actuaries and Boston College’s Center for Retirement

But research suggests the demand for longevity insurance could increase due to a reduction in Social Security benefits and the disappearance of defined benefit plans.

“Reversionary annuities are most often used for pension maximization for people with defined benefit pension plans,” says Potter.

“A prospective retiree can choose a single life payout option from the pension plan rather than the joint and survivor option and use the portion of the income to fund a reversionary annuity. The result can be more income for the retiree and spouse while they are both living and more income for the spouse following the death of the retiree.”

Potter has also used a reversionary annuity with clients that have poor performing universal life insurance policies. The premiums they used to fund the life insurance will buy more monthly income coverage from the reversionary annuity. Plus, the cash value in the old universal policy and fund another paid up annuity.

The product can also be used in prenuptial or buy-sell agreements, as well as to fulfill alimony payments.

“Assured Income Protector” comes with a return of premium rider, a 3 percent and 5 percent increasing monthly benefit option on the anniversary date of the policy, premium options, a simultaneous death benefit or accelerated first year benefit rider.

“The marketplace is huge,” says Dean Potter. “For seniors there is one critical need that has gone unresolved—to save money enough money to sustain the clients and spouses lifestyles for two lifetimes.”

Potter says that agents often recommend life insurance or single premium immediate annuities as a way to protect the surviving spouse.

But term insurance renew rates are higher and only cover people to age 70 to 75 years of age, he says. Meanwhile, single premium immediate annuities pay income to the policyholder for a lifetime. Payouts to a beneficiary lower the monthly income payments.

For example, Potter says a single premium immediate annuity for a female age 50 supporting $2,000 a month in income requires a single premium of $479,800. By contrast, a universal life insurance policy would have to have a death benefit of $479,800 to provide the surviving spouse with the same $2,000 monthly income. The policyholder’s monthly premium would be $396.

The reversionary annuity insuring a male age 50 would provide his survivor, also age 50, the same income benefit of $2,000 per month for a monthly premium of $207, including the return of premium rider.

Despite the benefits, there is, of course, no free lunch with a reversionary annuity.

“The value of the benefit relates to the health of the beneficiary,” says Abkemeir of Milliman, “Consequently, it may not be a good buy if the beneficiary is in poor health. Since the beneficiary cannot be changed, a purchaser occasionally can find the benefit to no longer fit because of a changed family situation, e.g., a divorce.”

He also says there is no cash value, but this is a trade-off for lowering premiums through leveraging mortality. In addition, premiums might change because the value of the death benefit varies inversely with interest rates. If interest rates fall, the value of the annuity death benefit rises.

Actuary Garth Bernard, CEO of Sharper Financial Group, Boston, says 95 percent of people take systematic withdrawals from their investments. That is unlikely to change unless interest rates rise dramatically.

“Traditional income annuities are barely sold today; even fewer exotic income annuities are sold,” he says. “While everyone talks about the importance of lifetime income, the reality is that investors, regardless of age, hoard money. This is unlikely to change in our lifetimes unless interest rates rise to 10 percent. Buying an income annuity of any kind [today] would be akin to pouring water into your gas tank.”

As entrepreneurs, we tend to spend so much time focused on our business that anything not directly related to that gets shoved onto the backburners. But, if paying a little more attention to something on the home front can save us money, doesn’t that help our business as well? This article provides a number of different ways that you can use to save on the cost of your home insurance. It’s expensive, but we all need it, so how can we make the most of our money? Read on.

First of all, it’s important not to simply buy the first package you hear about. Your Uncle Marty who has been working at that insurance company down the road for fifteen years might not actually be offering you the best rate quotes available. Shop around. Check with a number of different companies to see what’s available. Ask your family and friends what policy they have and if they are satisfied with it. Also, check with your auto insurance company; often, companies will offer discounts if you buy more than one package with them.

Second, as most experts will advise you, try to raise your deductible as much as possible. This is the amount of money you can afford to pay yourself toward any losses before your insurance company is forced to step in. While house deductibles typically start at $250, increasing it to upwards of around $5,000 can save you more than 35 percent on your premiums. But, make sure you only go as high as you can afford.

Third, it’s important to keep home insurance in the front of your mind at all times. Even when you first go to buy a house, you need to be thinking about how much coverage it will require. Is the house newer and therefore in better condition? Is it on the coast, which could result in floods or wind damage? These are all the sorts of things you need to keep in mind when buying a house.

Finally, try and look for ways to save wherever you can find them. Will your insurance company offer a discount if you install a sophisticated home security system? Does your company or any associations you may belong to have any deals with insurance companies for group discounts? Will your premiums go down the longer you’ve been with the company? Are discounts offered for senior citizens? If you think there may be a way to save, it never hurts to ask just in case.

Your coverage policy is something you should evaluate on a yearly basis. The protection you had last year might be too much – or not enough – for what you need today. That additional floor you built last year, or that valuable golden statue you recently sold from in the hallway, will no doubt change the amount of coverage you need.

Buying the right home insurance can be a tricky process. One final simple tip: stop smoking. More than 23,000 house fires every year are caused by smoking accidents, and insurance companies know it.

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are becoming more popular as the cost of health insurance continues to increase.

An HSA is a special bank account that is set up in conjuctions with the enrollment in a high deductible health plan (HDHP).

You, your employee or an eligible family member can make tax free contributions to the HSA. The HSA will earn interest that is not taxed and any withdrawals to pay for qualified medical expenses are also not taxed. Any funds remaining in the account at the end of each year is carried over to the next year.

The contribution to an HSA each year is limited to the amount of the HDHP deductible or $2,650 for individuals and $5,250 for families, whichever is less. You or your employee may not contribute to an HSA once you or your eomployee becomes eligible for and enrolled in Medicare. Your or your eomployee can make withdrawals to pay for qualified medical expenses by check or debit card just as you would with any other bank account.

Your employee owns the HSA so that your employee can keep the account even if he changes health insurance plans or jobs. However, if the owner of the account is not enrolled in an HDHP, he can no longer make contributions to the account.

An HDHP is a health insurance plan that has a high deductible of, at least, $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for families, adjusted each year for the cost of living. Despite the high deductibles most HDHPs will cover preventative care in full. To be enrolled in an HDHP, the enrollee cannot be covered by any other health insurance coverage, including under a spouse’s plan, that is not a HDHP.

An HSA provides a method for you or your employees to reduce health insurance costs by enrolling in a less expensive HDHP as long as you or your employees are willing to finance, through the HsA, the medical expenses that are incurred, up to the amount of the deductible.

You should consult with a tax advisor to determine eligibility requirements and tax advantages before you decide to participate in an HSA.

If you and your employees decide that an HSA is a good alternative to the more traditional health insurance plans, The United State Federation of Small Businesses (USFSB) can offer you, from selected carriers, this less costly option.

Another way USFSB can help you reduce your costs for medical services is through the use of a Medical Discount Card. It is important to note that this is not insurance. The Medical Discount Card can be used, at participating health care providers, to obtain reduced cost for the services that are rendered as long as you are prepared to pay for the services at that time.

When it comes to protecting yourself, you need to think about more than just your business. As entrepreneurs, we are often quick to purchase policies that cover our own lives or our companies. However, we fail to purchase adequate protection for one of the most crucial things to both our business and personal lives: our car. Auto insurance is a contract in which one party agrees to pay for another’s financial loss resulting from a specific event that has caused damage to their car. It may not come cheap, but you don’t ever want to be caught without it. You never know when that next storm will come or when somebody will miss the red light and run into your car instead.

Protecting your car – and any cars your business may provide to employees – is an expensive business, which entices many to try and cut corners. Like any other insurance, naturally, there are minimal packages available. But, do you really want to risk not having the full protection if you some day by accident hit that Porsche Boxster? Guaranteed, if you hit an expensive sports car, minimal insurance packages will not be enough to cover you. You will wind up on the side of the street wondering why you hadn’t paid those few extra dollars to get you complete coverage.

There are normally government laws that make it mandatory to have minimum protection for your car. But, as entrepreneurs, when have we ever settled for just the minimum? Don’t we always strive to put in 110 percent of ourselves in our business? Don’t we work longer hours than most to get our company off the ground and running? Don’t we sacrifice much of our personal lives for the sake of our babies – our businesses, that is? In one fell swoop, failing to adequately protect your car can take all of that away from you.

As expensive as auto insurance is the good news is that it offers more different ways to save money as does, for instance, life insurance. First and foremost, it is important to evaluate when and where you will be using your car. Do you really need to take that trip in the bad weather or heavy traffic? Also, keep your car in the best possible condition so as to minimize the chance of damage. And, make sure your vehicle is stored in a safe place at night. If it’s a garage, verify the security of that garage with its owner/

Another sure fire way to cut your coverage costs is to try and increase your deductibles. This will necessarily decrease your premiums. Just make sure that when the time comes, you can actually afford to pay those deductibles.

Finally, while it’s crucial to buy adequate protection for your cars, it is equally important not to buy what you may not need. For instance, coverage for vehicles that are used strictly by your employees for business may not need to include medical claims if those would be covered under your company’s worker’s compensation package.

Auto insurance may be a headache to deal with now, but the real pain comes when you don’t have what you need.

Your business is running quite smoothly – sales growth, and profits grew, too – and then hit the credit crisis, someone says “R” word and everything starts to slow down almost night. The most disturbing of all, your customers have to pay you later and later, as if they use your money to fill their own personal credit crunch. Well, maybe they are.

Most of us do not realize how dependent we are on credit to run our business. Seller open credit account – as you extend to your customers – is by far the largest source of borrowed strength in our economy. If you sell products and services on credit, you make interest-free loans to your customers, even if you are financing the loan with a bank loan that you pay interest every month. When the roll collections on time, it all seems to work smoothly, but when the collection is slowing down, you still need to replace the goods you have sold, to pay your workers (on time), and pay the rent and all other costs of doing business. Assuming your bank credit lines in place and has enough margin, you have a slightly higher interest expense and you can ride with your customers. However, if your credit line or cash reserves are not enough to cushion you from sudden changes in cash flow, your business could be in big trouble. In addition, the worst debt write-offs derived from the old balance, not the current ones. Balance of older, higher risk will never be collected.

So, your best bet is to encourage customers to pay on time. There are no interest charges are added, there is no hassle with the customer, no write-offs, everyone happy. Well, you might think, “That helps. How would I do that, exactly” Here? Are five ideas that can work well for you.

1. Increased lending practices: At the front end, customer display a new, more closely before granting credit limit. Spend a few dollars actually get a credit report, and a few minutes to call them some credit references to get a sense of their relationship with your potential customers. The conversation might go with their payment patterns as the economy slows, which may differ from a good time. A comment that “sometimes they struggle to keep current, but they always managed to get stuck” can be a red flag today. Also, be aware of a prospect who had changed supplier more than once in the past year, and if you can learn the names of their suppliers before, it’s someone you want to talk to.

2. Collection efforts were made, all the time: Create a collection of key task of following up on at least one person in your company. Do not make the mistake of giving the job to your controller to deal with in his spare time, just because of Accountancy handle money. He may not have time to spare, and in addition, accounting personnel who are not usually the best in customer communication, especially if the subject is sensitive. Assign the job to someone who is a good negotiator, has a personality that is friendly but firm phone, and who understands this is the key jobs. Most importantly, do what you say. If you promise something in return for prompt payment, make sure you give. If you say you have to deny further shipments until the account is brought current, stick it – every time. Key point: If your collection practices have been negligent in the past, cultural change may be needed in the minds of your customers, who may be tempted to ‘wait you out’ to see how long the new rules will stick around. This is called a test.

3. Call ahead of time to ensure they are prepared to pay: Is the person you call a collection of Accounts Payable department customers a few days before the due date of payment, “as a polite” to your customers, just to make sure everything is in order, no problems with documents, and will check out on time. This is a little reminder, when positioned with the friendliness and willingness to help, can make a friend of the person who actually cut the check. And if your customers lack something they need to pay you, this will not be a good time to humble themselves in their inefficiency. Your efforts to quickly deliver without them having to run it in their company instead, can put you in the head line for payment.

4. Discounts for prompt payment: This is an old technique that worked well last year but has fallen into neglect in recent years as business practices evolve. ’2 / 10 net 30 old ‘was, and still is, fantastic deal if you explain clearly to customers. Consider this: 2 percent discount to pay 20 days earlier than normal for the amount of 36 percent annual return, not a bad result for savings account customers who may be earning 2 percent per year. Even if customers do you plan to pay within 45 days, get them to pay within 15 days, they are not an annual profit of 24 percent. You can conjure up any number of ways that make sense in your industry, but the key is getting customers to understand the value they get from paying immediately. And by the way, if you do business with certain organizations, for example, local governments, many of them are required by their policies to take advantage of these discounts. Key point: You have to be firm about charging back discounts when payments are not taken on time, because some customers will try.

5. “Customers who choose” plan: Want to think outside the box? Consider a special program for “special” customers – free overnight shipping on rush orders, additional discounts, advance notice of price changes, special sales, etc. Promote this as a benefit of customers and make it available only under certain conditions, one of which would be consistent in accordance with the requirements of your payment. Do not make that condition of the sheer volume if you lower the volume of customers generate higher margins, as is often the case. A small invoices paid on time is a blessing compared to the big one that takes 90 days to go, however, make a list of conditions beefy enough so it does not look like a poorly disguised collection program. Use it as an opportunity to appreciate your customers enjoy doing business with, especially those who pay on time every time. Key Point: Avoid the risk of alienating customers who are in the program but then fall behind in one or more criteria. Give them the opportunity to join this program again after 2-3 months of meeting all the conditions to participate.

You can appreciate the dilemma of your customers’ in trying to stretch their cash. But that’s not the same as agreeing to become their bankers – interest free! You can extend their payment period, as many companies at a time like this, but in the end you still need to collect your money with your date can plan on. And you need to avoid alienating your customers in the process. If you do everything you say – the quality of products, competitive prices, prompt delivery, etc. – then it’s reasonable to expect your customers to do everything that they are approved, including prompt payment. However, today the majority of suppliers will be paid late by the majority of their customers. Follow the advice above and you can be an exception to the norm, the stand-out in the crowd, and of course the company is better positioned when the economy turned around again, as it always did. Would not that be great?

The good news is that, despite the tight credit environment, there are many alternative and non-bank financing options available to companies that need a cash infusion, whether it’s to beef up working capital or help facilitate growth.

However, the bad news is that business owners often shy away from non-bank financing because they don’t understand it. Most owners simply rely on their banker for financial information and many bankers (not surprisingly) have only limited experience with options beyond those offered by the bank.

To help ease some of the fear that owners often have of alternative financing, here is a description of the most common types of non-bank financing. There are many struggling businesses out there today that could benefit from one of these alternative financing options:

Full-Service Factoring: If a business has financial challenges, full-service factoring is a good solution. The business sells its outstanding accounts receivable on an ongoing basis to a commercial finance company (also referred to as a factoring company) at a discount—typically between 2-4 percent—and then the factoring company manages the receivable until it is paid. It is a great alternative when a traditional line of credit is simply not available. There are a number of variables to a program, including full recourse, non-recourse, notification and non-notification.

Spot Factoring: Here, a business can sell just one of its invoices to a factoring company without any commitment to minimum volumes or terms. It sounds like a good solution but it should be used sparingly. Spot factoring is typically more expensive than full-service factoring (in the 5-8 percent discount range) and usually requires extensive controls. In most cases, it does not solve the underlying lack of working capital issue.

Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing: A/R financing is an ideal solution for companies that are not yet bankable but have good financial statements and need more money than a traditional lender will provide. The business must submit all of its invoices through to the A/R finance company and pay a collateral management fee of about 1-2 percent to have them professionally managed. A borrowing base is calculated daily and when funds are requested an interest rate of Prime plus 1 to 5 points is applied. If and when the company becomes bankable, it is a fairly easy transition to a traditional bank line of credit.

Asset-Based Lending (ABL): This is a facility secured by all the assets of a company, including A/R, equipment, real estate and inventory. It’s a good alternative for companies with the right mix of assets and a need for at least $1 million. The business continues to manage and collect its own receivables but submits an aging report each month to the ABL company, which will review and periodically audit the reports. Fees and interest make this product more expensive than traditional bank financing, but in many cases it provides access to more capital. In the right situation, this can be a very fair trade-off.

Purchase Order (PO) Financing: Ideal for a business that has a purchase order(s) but lacks the supplier credit needed to fill it. The business must be able to demonstrate a history of completing orders, and the account debtor placing the order must be financially strong. In most cases, a PO finance company requires the involvement of a factor or asset-based lender in the transaction. PO financing is a high-risk kind of financing, so the costs are usually very high and the due diligence required is quite intense.

The message I am trying to convey is simply that financially challenged business owners should not be afraid to consider alternative or non-bank financing options. It’s a fairly simple matter to learn what they are, how much they cost and how they work. Alternative financing is a much better option than facing the challenges of growth or turnaround alone. It is a known fact that the vast majority of business failures are due to a lack of working capital—but it doesn’t have to be that way.

With a better understanding of these different types of non-bank financing, you’ll be in a better position to decide if they might be the answer to your financing challenges.

Credit card fraud or identity theft is considered to be one of the most hard to deal with quandary that has becoming rampant today and in the recent years. Since most credit card applications are done on the telephone, giving out personal information such as your social security number to a completely unknown telephone representative could provide you with more harm than good.

Application through phone is generally one of the approaches use by different credit card companies to lure more possible customers of a free application. On the claim process, a representative would ask for pertinent information required to fully process your application. In spite of providing only what you deemed is necessary or just the last four numbers of your SSN it would still be advisable to deliberate and consider possibilities of sharing your information over the phone and in greater tendencies of coming across with credit card fraud.

Credit card fraud has brought a lot of consumer victims left with nothing but the destructive mark left by scams and swindles. A single deed could lead to bigger and disparaging outcome that may take years to completely eliminate its adverse effects.

With all this fraud, what a consumer needs is a credit card protection provided by companies who has also been a victim of all these things. Apart from consumers, credit card companies are also enduring great loss if such cases occur and the only way to recuperate is through interest rates that might be harder and difficult for credit card holders to pay off.

Therefore, what needs to be done to get protected from credit card fraud? The first thing to keep in mind is to avoid any interactions with unknown callers. They might pose to be sales representative from a credit card companies and only to find out in the end that you have been scammed by some callers wanting to get a hold of your personal information.

For business owners accepting credit cards, it would be best to search for holographic images of credit card companies found in front of the card. Moreover, you should also inspect and make certain that embossed numbers are still readable and does not have any signs of being changed.

A lot of stratagems employed by fraudsters are by means of removing some of the embossed numbers and entering new ones. Swindlers would also try to disfigure the magnetic strip so you will be force to enter the card number. Credit card fraud happen in this kind of state and being on guard is salient in avoiding being scammed.

Furthermore, if you have the habit of purchasing through the use of your credit card, make certain that you get a printed receipt of all the transactions being made and have your dealings monitored at all times. Making simple credit card fraud protection is oftentimes necessary to avoid any unforeseen problems. This is necessary so as to avoid further payments that have never been made and transactions that have never been done and purchased.

If you are new to credit cards but would like to know how to acquire one, the credit card wizard would be a big help.

Once you get to the credit card flyers website, you will see a number of credit cards together with the annual fees, annual rewards and types of rewards on the main box. Just above this main box there are more boxes where you can enter your expenses in categories such as restaurants, convenience stores, utilities etc.

By clicking on the “Click Here For Checking Rewards”, the estimated rebate for each type of credit card is generated. There are many other categories you can choose from let’s say you are using a student’s credit card or a business card, just by clicking on the same button you will find out the rebate that you can get.

Meanwhile, on the left side of the website there are other categories that you can select and click on such us the Top Pick Credit Cards or Top Rating Credit Cards. If you would like to know more about a certain card all you need to do is click on the Credit Card Reviews. On one hand if your basis for choosing a credit card is dependent on a particular category such as low interest cards, balance transfer cards, instant approval cards or even student and business credit cards.

All you have to do is click on the appropriate box so that you can find the best selection for the type of card that you would like to have. The reason why you can determine which type of card is best suited for you is due to the reviews that go with every card in this website. The reviews make it so much easier for you to choose the credit card that you prefer.

In case you are a true blue amateur regarding credit cards, there is a Credit Card Help Topics section that can open a wide array of articles and information that would help you become familiar with the most used if not abused financial instrument, the credit card.

Another useful section in this credit card wizard is the link for Credit Card Blogs. This section gives you access to various credit card blogs that contain important information in your search for the perfect credit card.

Now that you have a bigger picture of what a credit card wizard is all about. Don’t you just agree that it is helpful and very informative? Not only do you find out about rebates and interests, you also get a well-researched background of each credit card. So whether you are a new guy on the block out to try and find out the best credit card or a veteran who already has his own credit cards, the credit card wizard will come in very handy.

If you are one of those people who have taken too many debts and could no longer make payments on time, then it is most likely that you are in a bad credit history. Nowadays, many people are becoming concerned on having bad credit history since you can be deprived of taking a loan. If you have bad credit history, lenders will be hesitant to loan you any amount. On the other hand, if you are not yet on a bad credit situation, you should know the causes from which you can have bad credit history.

The causes include the number of debts you have taken, late payments for installments, non-payments of past loans or debts, or unpaid credit card bills among others. These add up to your bad credit score, which refers to a three-digit number calculated by financial institutions. Scores below 500 are considered poor scores. The score you obtain can substantially affect the amount of loan you are applying for. You can get good credit score if you pay your installments on time or if you are cleared out of your debts. However, you can improve your credit scores by availing of credit consolidation loans.

When you obtain bad credit consolidation loans, you will have the chance to improve your bad credit score through combining all your debts into a single loan. This will definitely ease you since you do not have to pay too many debts all at the same time with high rates of interest for each debt. You are able to pay all your debts through obtaining a single loan amount from a single creditor. As such, you only have one debt to pay on a lower rate of interest than what you are currently paying your creditors.

Bad credit consolidation loans can be obtained in two forms, secured or unsecured. If you avail of a secured loan, you will be required to offer a security as collateral against the loan. The security can be any valuable property that you possess. Secured loans are offered with low rates of interest. However, the title of possession of the security you offered will be transferred to the creditor or lender until the amount of loan has been paid in full. On the other hand, if you do not want to turn over any security, you can opt for unsecured loans although the rates of interest are slightly higher as compared to secured loans.

If you want to look for lenders offering credit consolidation loans, you only have to resort to online websites, which will provide you with the lists of lenders. Most financial websites provide free quotes from various lenders, which can assist you in choosing the lender with the least rate of interest, long period of repayment, and amount of loan that suits your needs.

Apart from getting you out of your bad credit score, bad credit consolidation loans allow you to manage your finances easily. You get the best deal in order to improve your credit score and eliminate your multiple debts as well.