How to Deal With Erroneous Credit Card Transactions

When it comes to credit card charges, you don't have to immediately assume that they are telltale signs that will enable you to identify credit card fraud. Sometimes, these are just erroneous charges or double billing that can and will be reversed. Here is how to differentiate, as well as how to deal with errors in your credit card entries.

There is no doubt that consumers really have to be vigilant with their credit card transactions. Not all credit card charges are legitimate: some credit card transactions are erroneous, while some are even telltale signs of an actual credit card fraud. A consumer should be wary once there is a string of erroneous entries on his credit report. That may be an indicator for him to investigate further to help prevent credit fraud. As with all things in life, however, correcting

a credit card record would have to start with a reasonable dialogue. Here is how to properly dispute credit card charges before you identify a credit card fraud.

Before we go on, however, we have to give you the tell-tale signs of how to identify a credit card fraud, and differentiate it with credit card charges that are legitimate, albeit erroneous:

-          It is credit card fraud when you have NEVER ordered from the company, and neither had you set foot in their store's premises.

-          It is a legitimate credit card charge when you have ordered from the company, only, there are some delivery aspects that are open for dispute.

-          It is credit card fraud when you notice some out-of-state transactions, and transactions from places you have NEVER been to in the past 6 months to a year.

-          It is a legitimate, albeit erroneous transaction if you've placed an order for a subscription, cancelled the same subscription, but are still being billed for the monthly or quarterly payments.

That being said, we go on to discuss how to handle credit card charges in dispute.

1. Initiate a dialogue. As we mentioned, a dialogue is the first step to resolving any such transactions. Whether the transactions are red flags for credit card fraud or not, the first thing to do is to file a dispute directly with the shop owner, operator, or online seller. If you've gone through a financial tool like PayPal, then chances are, you can actually file a dispute from PayPal itself. But the best thing to do really is to talk to the seller directly. For double-billing incidences, or recurrent billing beyond the termination or act of unsubscribing, still talk to the subscription provider directly or his employees.

Ask politely if you can have the charges reversed. If it is a subscription, ask if you can get the subscription discontinued, and the charges reversed. This way, you would have tried to resolve things where they were manageable. Not only that, you also gave the seller/service provider a chance to explain and redeem himself.

2. Call your credit card company. If the seller/service provider/subscription publisher refuses to take action with your questionable credit card entries, call your card company. That way, your card company will be the one to take on the headache of getting your money back. Ask if you need to fill out certain forms.

3. Send in the necessary documentation. Credit card companies will be able to reverse credit card chargesmore effectively when they have received the right documentation from the user. Usually, your credit card dispute case will not move forward until the credit card company receives your documents. Comply with these, in order to facilitate the process.

Usually, the credit card company will work on getting the consumer's charges reversed. There is generally no need for litigation nor the services of a lawyer. However, in the event that the credit card transactions were actually part of a credit card fraud operation, there is another process to follow:

1. Call your credit card company and have your card frozen.

2. Go and file a police report for the incident, so that if the credit card fraud is perpetuated beyond the first incident and the first report filed, it will be easier to press charges and there would already be a paper trail to help with the investigation on the credit card fraud activity.

3. Call the three credit unions in order to put a credit card fraud alert on your report. If you haven't yet, order credit monitoringfor your accounts so that future instances of credit card theft will be reported as it happens.

Here are the numbers of the three credit unions:

Equifax: (800) 685-1111

Experian: (888) 397-3742

TransUnion: (800) 888-4213

4. Change your SSN if you need to. While this is tricky, you may be able to file for a new SSN if the identity theft continues after already filing for different reports and freezing your accounts.

Consumer credit is truly a target of identity theft and similar crimes as of late. This is why a credit card user needs to be vigilant about his account's activities. Not all erroneous or out-of-place entries are symptoms for you to identify a credit card fraud, however. Sometimes, it may be just simple absentmindedness on your part. Other times, it could be a computer glitch. Yet other times, it may well be just an honest mistake. Either way, the first step is always to open a dialogue with the other party.

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Joy Mali is an active blogger who is fond of sharing interesting finance related articles to encourage people to manage and protect their finances.

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HUD Finds Reverse Mortgage Program in the Red

Recent headlines have pointed to the finding of an annual report based on the financial position of the Federal Housing Administration—the insurer of nearly all reverse mortgage loans in the U.S. The finding: FHA and its reverse mortgage program are in the red by billions of dollars.

What does this mean for reverse mortgages? 

While housing officials have pointed to potential changes to the reverse mortgage program, no changes have taken place yet. The potential changes may include a reduction in the amount of funds a borrower can receive as a percentage of his or her home equity through a reverse mortgage. Housing officials have also said the Department of Housing and Urban Development may look into limiting the uses of lump-sum reverse mortgages to paying off certain types of qualifying debt.

What does this mean for the FHA? 

The FHA’s annual audit showed the “capital position” of the administration is negative by more than $13 billion. The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage reverse mortgage program took another $2.8 billion from the agency’s economic value. What it means is that FHA is short by that amount, should the administration have to pay all of its outstanding insurance claims at once.

The implications are far reaching—depending on whom you ask. On the one hand, the FHA is mandated by law to hold a reserve fund with at least 2% of all insurance claims outstanding. This is to protect the insurance fund from falling into negative territory as it has this year.

As a result, the FHA could call on the Treasury for the first time in history to cover the potential losses the fund is facing. This action can be taken without the approval of Congress, but won’t be decided until budget talks take place in early 2013.

Could be worse?

Another school of thought, however, on the FHA’s capital position is the fact that the hole could have gone even deeper.

FHA has greatly increased its presence in the mortgage market following the departure of private capital from the market as a result of the housing crisis. The agency has offered several special programs such as the Home Affordable Modification Program to aid borrowers in refinancing their mortgages so they can stay in their homes or purchase new ones.

Had it not been for FHA’s role throughout the housing crisis, there could be many more Americans facing foreclosure.

What do I get from FHA’s insurance? 

FHA’s insurance provides several important protections to reverse mortgage borrowers. First, the FHA guarantees the borrower will receive all payments as agreed upon by the lender and borrower at the time of the loan closing.

Second, the insurance guarantees that the borrower will never owe more to repay the loan than the home is worth at the time of sale. This is a critical benefit to many people in the current housing market whose homes may have gone down in value over time.

As a borrower, once the loan becomes due for you or your heirs, you can rest assured that the sale of your home will cover the loan and interest repayment if you opt to repay the loan by selling your house.

If you already have an FHA-insured reverse mortgage, you should see no change in your loan whatsoever as a result of the housing department audit.

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"Gold or Bitcoins" Infographic

After the recent meteoric rise (and subsequent crash) of Bitcoins we thought it would be useful to pull together an infographic comparing the 3000 year old form of money, with the up-start and very young (5 years) ‘new’ form of money.

Some have even gone so far as to describe Bitcoins as ‘digital gold’ – but is this really a fair comparison? Below we present a head-to-head match-up between the new digital currency and the oldest form of money on the planet. 

As you’ll see Bitcoins are certainly an very interesting development in the creation of money, especially given their decentralised nature and the fact that no ‘central bank’ is in control of their development. In that sense they are a true ‘free-market’ phenomenon. 

But in a few key areas gold still possesses crucial advantages over the digital upstart currency. 

"Gold or Bitcoins" Infographic - An infographic by the team at Gold Made Simple

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Using the Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement explains the change in cash by three activities: operating, investing and financing activities.

Cash flow from operating activities is the change in cash as a result of the daily operations. It is the balance of money received from customers and cash paid to suppliers, personnel, etc. It also includes interest paid and interest and dividend received on securities that the firm holds.

There are two common ways to compute the operating cash flow: the direct method and the indirect method. With the direct method, the different cash flows (cash received from customers, cash paid to suppliers, etc.) are shown separately. With the indirect method net income is used as a starting point. Adjustments are made in order to undo accrual accounting. Both methods result in the same cash flow from operating activities. I will focus on the indirect method, because it is most widely used.

Cash flow from investing activities is the change in cash as a result of investments and disinvestments, including transactions involving financial long term assets such as notes receivable.

Cash flow from financing activities is the change in cash as a result of obtaining and repaying loans, issuing shares, buying back shares and paying dividend.

Key points:
- the cash flow statement explains the change in cash by three types of activities: operating, investing and financing activities
- cash flow from operating activities is the cash generated (or used) by the ‘daily’ transactions
- there are two methods to compute the operating cash flow: the direct method (showing separate cash flows) and the indirect method (starting with net income and making adjustments)
- cash flow from investing activities is the cash invested /disinvested by buying/selling long term assets
- cash flow from financing activities is the cash that has been raised/repaid by issuing/repaying loans, or selling/repurchasing shares, and paying a dividend

Creating the cash flow statement

To create the cash flow statement, it is helpful to keep the business equation in mind. The business equation states that total assets equal total liabilities plus equity. This is true for all transactions together as well as a single transaction, or the transactions over a period. Therefore, the change in assets (∆assets) must also be equal to the change in liabilities (∆liabilities) plus the change in equity (∆equity).

∆assets = ∆liabilities + ∆equity

Since we are interested in the change in cash (∆cash), we split the change in assets in the change in cash and the change in the other (non-cash) assets:

∆cash + ∆non-cash assets = ∆liabilities + ∆equity

Then, taking ‘∆non-cash assets’ to the right-hand side:

∆cash = ∆liabilities + ∆equity - ∆non-cash assets

Thus, the change in cash can always be explained by changes in all other T-accounts. The use of this formula is best illustrated using an example.

Example

---

Consider the end of year condensed balance sheet of Google for 2007 and 2008 (Google's annual report).












Naturally, total assets equal total liabilities plus total equity. Also, the business equation holds for the changes.

In this example the balance sheet is condensed. The same principle holds when the T-accounts are used.

Adding/subtracting the changes in all the non-cash T-accounts adds up to the change in cash. However, this is not yet an informative cash flow statement. However, it is a starting point for creating the cash flow statement. What we need is to allocate all these changes to the three categories: operating, investing and financing activities.

With the indirect method, net income is taken as the starting point to compute operating cash flow. All cash flows which are also an expense/revenue are included in net income. Hence, items that require an adjustment are (1) items that are included in the calculation of net income, but which are not a cash flow, or (2) items that are a cash flow, but are not included in net income.

Depreciation is an example of an item that affects net income, but does not affect cash flows. At the time of investment, cash is spent on a long term asset. The depreciation during the economic lifetime is an expense (but not a cash flow). Hence, depreciation is added back to net income in the operating cash flow section.

Examples of items where the cash flow does not have to match the expense/revenue include the following: cash received from customers does not have to be the same as revenue; cash paid to suppliers does not have equal cost of goods sold; interest paid does not have to equal interest expense, etc.

Current assets and liabilities (with the exception of interest-bearing debt) are operations related. That means that the change in all current assets and current liabilities will be included in the operating section of the cash flow statement. This makes sense, because these T-accounts are used because of accrual accounting. With the indirect method net income (accrual accounting) is being corrected to result in operating cash flow (cash accounting). Hence, the corrections basically ‘undo’ the accrual accounting.

Example

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The balance of Accounts receivable at the beginning of the year and end of the year is 50 and 60, respectively. Thus, accounts receivable has increased by 10.

Net income increases when the sale is recognized (and not when the customers pay). As a result, the increase in accounts receivable (customers have delayed payment) must be subtracted from net income in the operating cash flow section. This is also in line with the formula used: ∆cash = ∆liabilities + ∆equity - ∆non-cash assets. As accounts receivable is a non-cash asset, the increase must be subtracted (note that the change in assets is subtracted).

The operating section starts with net income as the starting point. For the investing and financing section the ‘real’ cash flow is shown. For example, if a new machine is purchased for 50, then an entry like ‘investments in new machines -50’ is included in the investing activities.

Depending on the country’s GAAP, there could be flexibility in the classification of items. For example, under IFRS interest paid can be classified as an operating cash flow as well as a financing cash flow, whereas under US GAAP interest paid has to be classified as an operating cash flow.

Example

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The following information is available for CTU Inc. for the year 20x8:

Net income	500
Accounts payable at beginning of year	110
Accounts payable at end of year	120
Inventory at beginning of year	80
Inventory at end of year	65
Depreciation expense	30

Furthermore, during the year a machine with a historic cost of 80, and a book value of 30 is sold for 32 in cash.

The operating cash flow section for the year 20x8 (Assuming no other information would be relevant):

Net income	500
Change in accounts payable	10
Change in inventory	15
Depreciation expense	30
Gain on sale machine	-2
	____
Operating cash flow	553

gain or loss on sale of long term asset

When the firm sells a long term asset at a gain or a loss the cash flow of the disinvestment is an investing cash flow. At the same time, the gain or loss affects net income, which is the starting point for computing operating cash flow. As a result, the gain or loss needs to be adjusted for in the operating cash flow section.

Example

---

The firm sells a machine for 45 cash, which is an investing cash flow. The book value of the machine was 40. Assume this is the only transaction during the period, so net income is 5 and operating cash flows are 0.

The cash flow statement using the indirect method:

Operating cash flows
Net income	5
Gain on sale machine	-5
	___
	0
Investing cash flows
Sale machine	45
Financing cash flows	-
	___
Change in cash	45

The correction ‘gain on sale machine -5’ is needed to undo the gain on sale of +5 which has increased net income.

Key points:
- The change in cash always equals the changes in liabilities and equity minus the change in non-cash assets: ∆cash = ∆liabilities + ∆equity - ∆non-cash assets
- With the indirect method, net income is taken as the starting point to compute operating cash flow, with corrections for (1) items that are included in the calculation of net income, but which are not a cash flow, and (2) items that are a cash flow, but are not included in net income.
- some countries’ GAAP can allow flexibility with respect to classification of cash flows. For example, under IFRS interest paid can be classified as an operating cash flow as well as a financing cash flow.

Author: Joost Impink

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Trading Signals for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5

Forex is the fastest growing segment of the global financial markets and because of this more and more new people are entering into the fray. However, because of it, currency trading is so competitive, finding good information and advice is imperative. In order to become successful in forex trading you have to either be very lucky or find the right people and emulate them.

Since luck can be very fickle, you are far better off with the latter option. Fortunately, there are products available that can help you find and emulate the trades they are making in order to get in on the action and make really good money.

The type of products we are referring to are called Trading Signals and they are a very powerful tool and when used properly, your potential for success increases exponentially. What exactly are Trading Signals and where do you get them? These are two very important questions and the balance of this review will thoroughly answer both questions.

Trading Signals

When it comes to forex trading or really any type of financial market trading having an edge is the only way to improve your chances of being successful. That is where Trading Signals come into play. Trading Signals gives you the ability to monitor all trades that the successful traders are making. Once you identify these successful traders, the Trading Signal software when loaded on your terminal automatically duplicates all of the trades the person has made.

However, not all Trading Signals are created equal and it can be a daunting task to find the right one for you. There is a way to ensure that you have access to only the best of the best Trading Signal programs and that is by using the MQL5 Signals. These are only available from the MQL5 Market.

The Trading Signals for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are all researched and fully vetted to ensure that they are all of the highest quality products and only yield the most accurate results. The MetaTrader 4 and Meta Trader 5 platforms are well respected and widely considered by most of the industry leaders as the best of the best.

What makes MQL5 Signals the best?

Since the MQL5 Market is a subscription based service, both buyers and sellers are paid members. All of the products on the market have been scrutinized to ensure that they are of the highest quality available. That way the buyer can be assured that they will always received the best results possible.

The subscription model also helps to make it a very easy to use system. You simply make your purchase, select the provider you want to match up with and connect to their signal and the software does the rest.

You never have to worry about whether or not the person you select has the necessary experience. All of the providers have been checked before they can even post a product for sale.

Since it is a subscription based process all the fees have been established and there are no hidden surprises. This is true no matter if you are a buyer or the seller.

My Final Thoughts

Getting involved in Forex Trading can be very exciting; however, it is also one of the most competitive financial markets in the world. That can also make it a bit scary for a beginner. With that in mind, finding the best information on how to successfully trade in Forex is absolutely critical.

That is where Trading Signals for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 can really come in handy. The idea that you can subscribe to a service that offers a clearinghouse of only the highest quality products for the Forex trading industry, is amazing.

What is even more amazing is that for a price, you can make the exact same trades that some of the most experienced traders in the world are making. This product means that you can simply select a provider and connect with them and in a short amount of time you are making the exact same high profit trades.

We would highly recommend not only the Trading Signals for MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, but we would also highly recommend the whole MQL5 Market. They created a Forex trading product warehouse and service that is packed full of the highest quality products. You owe it to yourself to check it out.


                                         SUBSCRIBE TO MeTaTrader5 Trading SIGNALS NOW

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Take Control of Money Problems by Saving Smart

For many years, people have sought creative ways to stretch a dollar.  Some of the measures taken may be extreme and others are very practical choices.  When a responsible budgeting system is in place, and used with consistency, people may find that they have extra money to work with.

Here are some ways to have more money in pocket and maintain a productive lifestyle –

• Eat more grains and produce – People who call themselves cutting back may find that loading up on starches is economical but if a person finds that they will need to budget for a while, there is a healthier alternative.  Farmer’s markets and discount grocers are great if you can go in the middle of the week or at the end of business.  In the case of an outdoor market, vendors want to unload as much merchandise as possible and may be willing to negotiate a low price.  Sometimes, there are special discounts and better selection.  Another upside is that you are beating the weekend crowd, which is why some working people tend to go for the quick option when shopping. 

Even if a person does not have a green thumb or the physical space to plant a garden, many home and discount stores sell planting kits that allows fruits, herbs, vegetables to grow indoors.  These kits shield plants from outside elements like bugs and polluted air, so product may grow safely.  This is ideal for those who live in apartments and a fast way to have fresh produce.

• Talk to your employer about transportation options – many major employers have a rideshare option that will either pay employees to use public transportation or join a carpooling program.  If your employer does not have something in place, inquire with human resources or the agency itself.  With local governments looking to conserve resources while freeing up streets and highways, they should be able to suggest a money-saving alternative.

In cases where people work at home, it is best to use the car when making multiple trips.  If your health allows, invest in quality footwear and start walking a few blocks.  Otherwise, familiarize yourself with the local bus and train lines.

• Fire your childcare provider – though some may have lowered their rates, this is still a major expense for some parents.  If you are at least familiar with other parents in the neighborhood, find out what they do for childcare.  Chances are that a responsible adult or older minor may be able to sit with the child until you arrive home.

 Another alternative to consider is negotiating a bulk deal with other parents who may be looking to save on childcare expenses.  A smart businessperson will accept a bulk deal of five kids guaranteed for a number of weeks at a lesser weekly rate rather than risk losing business because people cannot afford to pay for services.

• Work online, if you have the time – although many people are finding legitimate work online, success does not happen overnight.  Depending on the individual, this may mean years of study or pursuing an advanced degree in order to enter a lucrative field.  Whether a person goes into content writing or some form of sales, they will have to market their services accordingly.  Many outsourcing companies like oDesk have work at flat and hourly rates and there are no upfront fees to register and accept assignments from clients worldwide.

Outside of this method, people are finding that they may be paid to take surveys or give their opinion on a product.  MyLot is a place that pays people to chat and there also mock juror services that do not require experience and hire often.  A person will not become rich but doing this in your spare time can make a difference.

About the Author:
Allen Jones is a professional blogger the provides business and personal financial advice and information. He writes for PureChecks.com, the best place to order custom personal checks or design your own checks the way you want them.

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