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Saturday, June 28, 2008

Electronic Currency

Electronic money (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic money. Also, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

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Advantages and disadvantages of electronic money

Advantages.

  • Issuer advantages:Electronic currency works in a much simpler and cheaper way,which makes it ideal for micro-payments and thus much more attractive for credit companies. The low cost of electronic currency is that it does not require the huge amount of expensive infrastructure that other systems do, in particular credit cards,because the value in a card can be transferred into a reader without need to contact a network facility to corroborate the payment, the transaction can be performed locally and the money will stay in the reader until later download.

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  • Consumer convenience: Electronic currency could prove very convenient for consumers. Because it involves advanced charge of money from the owner’s bank account, almost anybody can be supplied with a smart card, as there is no risk to the issuer. Consumers will also find it useful to have to do without carrying cash for small transactions, such as bus fares.
  • Increased consumer confidence: Because a smart card only holds the amount of money that the bearer has placed on it, consumers will be more willing to use it to purchase over the Internet without fear of somebody else misusing the payment information, as happens with credit card fraud. Some of the schemes are also being issued with a built in locking code, which will allow users to lock the cash on a card, making sure that if the card gets lost or stolen another person will not be able to use the money.
  • Payer anonymity: The payer can remain anonymous, as is the case with paying in cash.

Disadvantages.


Although the potential advantages for electronic money are
considerable, there are still several problems that should provide a healthy dose of skepticism for this payment system.
  • Consumer confusion: With three schemes competing to become the electronic currency standard, there is a real possibility of the whole system becoming too complicated for users. One of the main problems with too many schemes would be that the user may not be able to use the card everywhere, which is what would be expected of a system that is meant to replace physical currency.
  • Regulatory maze: The regulation for electronic currency is still unclear in some vital points, which must be answered before the system is made more widely available.
  • Security: The main concern that must exist in the minds of those interested in the implementation of electronic cash must be security. As happens with physical cash, widespread counterfeiting of electronic currency could have huge implications for the economy.

Information above are obtained and refined from:

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its Potentials and Consumer Adoption Strategies

Humans are born creative. With rapid improvement in technology and communication systems, humans created a new way of performing sale and purchase process. The new way is known as mobile payment. Mobile Payment is where consumers could make payment through thier mobile phones. In Malaysia, Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd is providing this service.


Mobile Money have the potential to grow as it works almost the same as the ATM cards but with no cash involved. In the view of security, consumers are protected by the PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution where consumers are required to enter a 6-digit pin to confirm transactions through their mobile phones.

Mobile Money also reduce the problem of consumers having to que for long hours to make a payment such as telephone bills and electricity bills. With Mobile Money, payments of the bills can be done anywhere and anytime with just a single SMS made through the mobile phone. Consumers are also provided a Refund and Reversal Feature where consumers are allowed to do reversal (within same business day) and refund (within 10 days from transaction date). This is to ensure that the consumers are protected if the are any wrong in making a transactions.

Consumers are also adopting the mobile payment system. In Malaysia, consumers frequently use the system to pay for donations. Payment for ringtones and wallpapers are also a common transaction seen in the mobile payment system. For advanced consumers, they use the mobile payment system to pay credit card debts, electricity bills, telephone bills and even summons.

With this, I could predict that soon all transcations will be changed to mobile transactions as it is more convinient. For more details on the mobile payment system, kindly visit the Mobile Money website by clicking the image below:


All information above are adopted from www.mobile-money.com

The application prepaid cash card for consumer



With a debit card, the money for a purchased item comes directly out of the holder’s checking account (called demand deposit account). The actual transfer of funds from the holder’s account to the merchant’s takes place within 1 to 2 days. Master card, Visa, and EuroPay are the predominant debit cards.

Traditional debit cards are associated with bank checking accounts held by bankable people Visa/ MasterCard and member banks cannot issue normal debit cards to “Un-banked” people without checking accounts.
In the recent years, the “Prepaid Debit Cards” came into existence and popularity. The biggest distinction with “Prepaid Debit Cards” is that no checks are associated with Prepaid Debit Card accounts.

Prepaid Debit Cards are much safer for the banks to issue because:
  • All transactions for these new debit cards are authorized online against account balances
  • There are no “Floats” from written checks that can cause overdrafts

One of the examples of prepaid debit card is Visa card. Visa card is a stored value card designed to handle small purchases or micropayments. This chip-based card can be used in the physical (off-line) world or on the internet. When a purchase is made, the cost of the purchase is deducted from the cash loaded on the card. Visa Cash can be used only at vendors having special terminals displaying the visa cash logo.

The prepaid debit card applications are:

  • General Spending Debit Card
  • Payroll and commission payout Card
  • Remittance - Funds Transfer within and across borders
  • Affinity Group Card
  • Travel Card
  • Student Card
  • Gift CardElectronic Benefits Payment Card – Government benefits

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit card is represented an account that extends to consumer, allowing consumers to purchase items while deferring payment, and allow consumer to make payment to multiple vendors at the same time. Holders are charged high interest on unpaid balance. For example, visa or master card.

Credit card debt is like gaining weight - easy to get; hard to lose. But losing weight is not impossible; neither is getting out of debt. In the same way that you can shed those extra pounds, you can get yourself out from underneath all that debt and avoid bankruptcy. It takes hard work, discipline, and getting the right kind of help. Credit card debts occur when he or she unable to pay that money they have been spent. The consumer did not settle the bill on time, it will charge as late payment and cause credit card debts increasing.



Causes of Credit Card Debts:

1)Unlimited spending

Poor for manage the money or unavoidable spending money will cause the larger debts. Especially, it is happening for woman. The woman who likes to spend at the fashion such as buy new branded shoes, handbag and shirt. At the ended of the month, they only realized that they spend more than their budget. The sum that accumulated month by month due to payment due and interest has been charged. There must be a proper spending plan to avoid over budget and money gone.


2) Saving too little or not at all

The simplest way to avoid unwanted debt is to prepare for unexpected expenditures by saving three to six months of living expenses. With a savings cushion in place, a job layoff, illness or divorce will not cause immediate financial strain and increase debt. You always hear, "Pay yourself first." Do it and it will grow and be there when you need it. No one has ever regretted having a savings cushion.


3) No money communication skills

It is important to communicate with your spouse or significant other and your children about finances. Keep the lines of communication open and discuss financial goals and spending styles. If you are married to a spender and you are a saver, you will want to map out a strategy for you both to get what you want. Know what credit accounts you each have and promise each other to be honest about what each other spends. Many people find out that their spouses have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt and they had no idea that the accounts even existed. This often leads to number 2 above.

4)Medical expenses

Gaps in coverage, lapsed policies and increasingly costly alternatives make this a popular category. Just about every doctor I know now takes credit cards. If you think it's for convenience, think again. The medical industry wants to get paid at the time service is rendered. They know that if they don't, the chances of their getting paid drops. This means more debt for you, less for them. To be fair, they are not in the lending business, but this only masks a bigger problem

Prevention of Credit Card Debts:

1)Think before you act

To avoid falling into that trap, take a hard look at your finances and determine how much you can realistically afford to pay each month. Rhode suggests that people track their spending every day for a month to get a firm handle on where their money is actually going.
"People will save 20 percent just writing down where their money goes," he says. "Because they will start cutting back."
After tracking their spending, people can better decide how much they can afford to pay toward credit card debt. Experts point out that just $50 more a month can make a big difference.
If logging expenses for a month doesn't turn up additional money try these tips for saving $50 a month from Consumer Credit Counseling Service:


· Brown bag 10 lunches per month.
· Have movies and popcorn at home instead of going out.
· Use coupons for groceries and buy store brands.
· Make pizza at home instead of ordering out.
· Buy in bulk and freeze dinner entrees.
· Give handmade cards and gifts.
· Shop at consignment, thrift and discount stores.


2)Pay more than the minimum

Once you start paying more than the minimum, the debts start to disappear. Paying just the $60 minimum payment on a $3,000 credit card balance would take eight years to pay off and cost a person a whopping $2,780 in interest. By paying an additional $50 a month, the debt would be paid off in three years and they would be spared $1,800 in interest charges. Use Bankrate.com's credit card minimum payment calculator to see how increasing your payments will cut your time in debt.

3)Cancel Credit Card
Many people have been close their credit card account when they are awared that they are unable to pay anymore. They are just stick to one credit card rather than 2 or 3 credit cards. The reason is they do not want to be debtors that owing money to the financial institutions.

4)credit counseling and debt management agency

Bank Negara Malaysia (National Bank of Malaysia) has establish the Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agencyto provide counseling and advice on financial management, debts management programs and financial education for free of charge such as:-

  • Financial education on the responsible use of credit and basic money management skills
  • Counselling and advice on financial management, including financial budgeting to manage expenses
  • Debt management programme to assist financial consumers to regain financial control

As a conclusion, i hope that all people realise what is the way to prevent card credit debt in order to avoid such debt occur.