I truly love any form of credit facility that can help me achieve a decent APR deal and maybe do some good elsewhere, that’s why I was happy to give a mention to the American Express Red.
In a similar vein I spotted this new credit product released by the NSPCC. Here’s the lowdown:
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I’ve been noticing a big push on the American Express Red Credit Card in the press recently, in particular a high profile link up with Wimbledon. For those of you unaware of this great little card here’s how it could help you, help millions of others.
“Use the new fee free American Express RED (typical 12.9% variable - which isn’t a bad APR considering the average we see is around the 16% mark) and for all your purchases one percent of your spend will go to the Global Fund to help support programmes in Africa for women and children in Africa who are affected by HIV and Aids. Worldwide, there are approximately 40 million people infected by HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa, an issue which clearly has a serious impact on the health and welfare of their offspring. Over 30 million children have been orphaned as a result of the virus already, and 2,000 youngsters are infected every single day. And it doesn’t take much to change people’s lives for the better: as little as 65p provides ten treatments preventing mother to child transmission of the HIV virus. Spending above £5,000 per year will generate a contribution of 1.25% on all spending above that amount.”
This just seems like a great cause and a great idea. Just give while you spend, how hard is that.
The idea for this was apparently developed by U2’s ubiquitous frontman Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA (Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa). It is really a very simple idea for major brands and corporates to contribute a percentage of revenue from licensed products or services to support those affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. American Express is a founding partner, alongside partners Gap, Giorgio Armani, Converse and Motorola.
Go and sign up now!
Posted by Peter Brady on Mon 10th July 2006 at 09:00 AM, Filed in Student Credit
It seems that along with pay as you go phone cards we about to see pay as you go credit cards aimed at poor students with reckless spending habits.
Apparently the cards will look virtually identical to a normal credit card, but will only be good for the amount loaded up on it. The idea is that they can be topped up at various destinations such as banks, building societies, shops and post offices. I quite like this idea because there is a danger while at university of racking insurmountable debts and incurring a severely unfavourable APR for your pains. Advanced Payment Solutions, the principal cash card provider forsee’s this becoming an ideal option for children studying in some god foresaken university.
The card will be part of the Master Card system and the intention appears to be that there will be a joining fee of £9.95 plus monthly charge of £4.95. But what on the surface of it appears to be a good idea is quite frankly given the kiss of the death by the fact that the card statements will be sent to parents not the students themselves.
Umm the guy who came up with the last bit obviously has never been to university. Just imagine 25 crates of beer, 10 mucky magazines and a night in a disreputable establishment popping up on your statement! Exactly. Unfortunately, because of that it will never get off the ground.
Posted by Peter Brady on Fri 7th July 2006 at 09:00 AM, Filed in Fraud
Card not present fraud is fairly self explanatory. It generally occurs when neither the card nor its holder are present at the point of transaction, whether it be by telephone, mail order or internet transactions.
The fraud is perpetrated by utilising fraudulently obtained card details to make a purchase. The most common way for details to be taken are from discarded receipts. As with counterfeit fraud, the legitimate cardholder may not be aware of the fraud until a statement is received.
According to industry insiders “The UK card industry has made available to merchants, an address and card security code checking system, to fight this type of fraud.”
I think the message here is to destroy your receipts, preferably by using a cross shredder or incineration.
Posted by Peter Brady on Thu 6th July 2006 at 09:00 AM, Filed in Fraud
There has been an explosion in counterfeit card fraud in recent years. This predominantly involves the ubiquitous “skimming” or cloning the data contained within a card’s magnetic strip, without the cardholder knowing.
Skimming of a card can take place in a variety of places including ATM’s (make sure the slot you put your card into is not covered by an elevated device), bars (beware the drunken night out - this is an ideal time for your card to be skimmed for obvious reasons) restaurants and petrol stations (where corrupt employees sell on data to criminals). The belief is that the more sophisticated chip and pin cards will wipe out this sort of fraud, but there is already talk of criminals coming up with ever more inventive scams.
It will be interesting to see how this battle of wits pans out in the years to come.
