Category Archives: Finance

Banks in Cyprus March 2013 Crisis


On March 16, 2013, the banks in Cyprus were ordered to close down the banks to avoid depositors from withdrawing their money from the banks as officials of Cyprus were still looking for ways to raise 10 Billion Euros needed for the bailout loan to help the sinking banking sector float again.

On March 28, 2013, banks in Cyprus reopened again but imposed limitations on transactions to depositors. These limitations include:

  • Withdrawal limit of 300 Euros per day per person.
  • Payment abroad limit of 5,000 Euros.
  • Checks can be used to pay but can’t be cashed out.
  • People who will leave the country can only bring 1,000 Euros or its equivalent to other currencies.

Current policies, however, changes from time to time.

When the Sequel is Better than the Original: Refinancing with HARP2.0


Back in 2009, millions of homeowners were underwater owing more than what their homes were worth. As a result, they didn’t have the option to refinance their homes and the banks wouldn’t help them. The government hoped to help 4 million homeowners by launching HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program), but it only helped roughly 1 million of the projected 4. The government rolled up their sleeves, and went back to the drawing board and released the sequel HARP 2.0, which has proven to be significantly more useful and helpful than its flop of an original. If you have considered doing a Florida Harp Refi, now is the perfect time to find an experienced expert who can set you on the path to refinancing your home, and improving your lifestyle by letting you keep extra money in the bank.

Steady improvements

When HARP 2.0 was launched, it was met with much doubt. However, it has continued to gain ground and is proving to live up to the expectations first held for its failure of a predecessor. In an article by The New York Times, the author writes that in the first quarter, HARP loans accounted for about 14 percent of all refinancing activity on loans backed or owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. That’s up from about 12 percent of refinancing activity for each of the last two years.

refinance

Am I eligible?

If you are a borrower with a loan-to-value ratio of less than 125 percent, perk up your ears. If you are underwater on your mortgage, you may be able to refinance without paying down principal and / or without having to pay mortgage insurance. In order to be eligible for HARP 2.0 your loan must be backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and your current mortgage must have a securitization date prior to June 1, 2009. If you meet both of these criteria points, you may be eligible for HARP. However, if your mortgage is an FHE, USDA or a jumbo mortgage, you are not eligible for the HAPR program. Another disqualifier would be if you refinanced your home under HARP 1.0. Also, the loan on your home must be for at least 80 percent of the home’s value. You also must have a good payment history for the last 12 months. But if any of these red flags appear in your qualification court, don’t be discouraged; contact a reputable mortgage broker and see what programs you do qualify for, or what options will best meet your needs.

Do your research

Refinancing your Florida home with HARP way be the solution to all of your financial woes. If you are unclear even after reading this article as to whether or not you would qualify for HARP 2.0, then do some online research and contact an experienced brokerage that specializes in refinancing homes and helping people get out of debt. Now is your time.

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Image source: http://www.quizzle.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/toy-house-on-pile-of-money.jpg

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Breaking Down and Understanding Your Credit Score


Knowing about your credit is important for a ton of different reasons. If you are unaware that you have bad credit, you may go to sign on the dotted line to get that new car you want, yet ultimately learn that the only way you can drive it away is if you agree to an insane interest rate. Knowing your credit score is important because if you know it, you can monitor it. It’s important that in addition to knowing your credit score, you also know what makes up your credit score so you can attempt to raise your score if it’s too low. Check out the list of things that make up your credit report, and pay extra attention to areas that may be dragging down your credit score.

More than half of people in the United States have a credit score of above 700. A score above 720 is considered great credit and people with credit scores above that are “low-risk borrowers” in the eyes of the lenders. You shouldn’t have trouble getting an easyonlinepaydayloan with a credit score like that. If your credit score is above 700, you typically don’t really need to worry about improving it. If it is below 700 however, you should try to raise it.

Your credit score is made up of the following:

Payment History-35 percent

Your payment history is basically the history of the payments you’ve made to your different creditors. If you’ve always made your payments on time and in full, then the majority of your credit score will reflect just that. Even missing just one payment could hurt your credit score, and since payment history makes up such a large chunk of your credit score it’s important to always pay your bills on time.knowing-credit-score

Amount Owed- 30 percent

The next biggest chunk that makes up your credit score is the amount you owe your creditors. If you have multiple maxed out credit cards and are in a lot of debt, then this area of your credit score will reflect that. If your credit cards aren’t maxed out but you still owe some money, your credit won’t necessarily be hurt dramatically; try to pay off your bills in full each month to make sure this area of your credit score stays good.

Credit History-15 percent

Credit history is as simple as having a verifiable history of credit. In most cases, having a longer credit history will increase your credit score, granted you’re in good standing with your creditors. Credit history also includes things like how long it’s been since you’ve used certain accounts, and the average age of all of your accounts.

New Credit-10 percent 

Opening a lot of credit accounts in a short period of time means you’re at a larger risk for a bad credit score in the short term, especially if you don’t have a long credit history. Be wary when opening new credit accounts, and only open the ones you absolutely need to.

Types of Credit-10 Percent 

All of your credit cards, loans, retail accounts, and other forms of credit are consolidated into this category. It’s good to have different types of credit as it can increase a credit score, but having too much credit will hurt your score.

Image Credit: http://static.ddmcdn.com/

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Western Union Scam?

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I was reading the story of a blogger who lost his Adsense income from a thief who claimed it through the Western Union branch here in the Philippines. The story was published at the “In My Solitude” blog.

What happened is that: The particular blogger failed to withdraw her $6,000 Adsense income because someone else has withdrawn it already.

Question: Is it possible that someone other than the suppose recipient can withdraw money at the Western Union?

Answer: Yes! As long as you have the MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) and any government issued ID bearing the recipient’s name and address including birthday, then you can withdraw the money of someone else.

Question: How could the thief get the MTCN of the money sent by Google through Western Union when in fact it is just sent by Google to its publishers through the Google Adsense website?

Answer: This can be done when your Google account is already compromised. What I mean is that when the thief has gained access to your own Google account, then he can also get your MTCN and your personal information.

Question: Isn’t it any Western Union branches or agents require you to show valid IDs before they give you your money?

Answer: It is true that Western Union requires its branches or any agents to ask valid IDs from the receiver before the release of the money. However, valid IDs can be easily faked or if not, you can get one without hassle, particularly the Postal ID.

I am actually a victim of this but my Adsense income was not stolen from the Western Union but from the Postal office. The Adsense Income was sent to me in check. And I think, the check was stolen in a postal office in Metro Manila since it was cashed in a particular bank in Baclaran. And he couldn’t do it without creating a bank account in my name, because the said check was deposited into a savings account in my name, and creating a bank account needs a valid ID. So, I suspected that the thief has faked an ID bearing my name.

Question: You said that the MTCN can be stolen by accessing my Google account. How can a thief get my Google account login info?

Answer: Thief is using malicious software in doing this job.

For example: If you are using an article submitter program like AMR (Article Marketing Robot), then you are prone to this, because there are article directory websites that infect your PC with a keylogger or with a trojan malware. If your PC is not protected well, then I am sure either a Trojan or Keylogger is spying you, so your logging information in accessing Paypal, Google Adsense and other websites that handle money, are already stolen by the owner of the malware. So, if your Google Adsense income is already stolen, then expect that your money stored in your paypal account will be stolen too in one of these days.

I was once a victim of this too. My Paypal was compromised last year. It just happened that the hacker was coming from outside the Philippines and that Paypal has a system that detects a malicious entry.

I couldn’t say that the hacker was just guessing my password because my password contains characters like @#$%^&* and it couldn’t be read as a word. So, I really thought that the hacker spied me using malware.

From the email of Paypal sent to me, it said that my Paypal account was temporarily suspended because they detected that someone coming from a different location of mine has accessed my account. So, my money stored at my Paypal account was saved.

Question: But according to the article you have linked above, her daughter was using a security feature wherein Google will send her via mobile phone a security code everytime she would access her account. The code should be entered to gain access.

In other words, the thief couldn’t steal the MTCN from her Adsense account because of this feature. So, there should be an inside job from the Western Union.

Answer: I actually don’t know that Google has this security feature. I was not using it anyway. And if this is the case, then it might be true that there is something wrong inside the Western Union.

But a clerk of certain Western Union agent here in my place once told me that they couldn’t get the information regarding the money sent to certain receiver without entering first the MTCN, and that they couldn’t search the Western Union data by simply entering the name of the receiver or the sender.

Would it be possible that the thief was just guessing the MTCN?

Update

Jeff Aspacio, the husband of the victim, commented on this post telling us that the Western Union has investigated the case already and found out that there was really an illegal activity happened.

It is true that the information of the money transfer would be revealed to the teller of any Western Union agents once the MTCN has been inputted, but someone from the Western Union and its agents can access the important list of money transfers.

In other words, this “someone” who has the access to the list and information of the money transfers can be the one who stole the money from the victim.

According to Jeff, the finding of the investigation has prompted the Western Union to send back the money to the sender.

And he also said in a reply to a Facebook communication in a certain group that the Western Union agent involved in this theft is one of the 24-hour establishment in Quezon City. It’s not clear if it’s a pawnshop, rural bank, ticketing office or a bayad center. What is revealed is that the thief is coming from one of the WU agent in Quezon City.

Closing Thoughts

We can’t trust anyone. But at least we should be careful and we should learn how to anticipate the unexpected.

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Union Bank Warns Me About Phishing

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Just receive an email from Union Bank warning me about Phishing. I guess other UnionBank client especially those who got the debit card from them which is called EON Card got the same email too.

Here’s the content.

Dear UnionBank Client,

As an Internet user, you should know about phishing emails. They can appear to be from a well-known company but may put you at risk.

A phishing email generally asks you to click a link in the email and provide, update or confirm sensitive personal information. It may refer to a supposedly urgent or threatening condition concerning your account.

Please note that UnionBank will never send you an email asking for your personal information. You should NOT respond to such email or reveal your PIN or PASSWORD to anyone. Also, Do NOT visit the phishing site, as it is likely to contain a virus or otherwise compromise your confidential information.

I posted it here just to let you know their advise on how to avoid getting phished by phishers.

How to Pay SmartBro Internet using Smart Money?

1 Reply

Question related to paying the SmartBro Internet Connection using the Smart Money

Hello, I have my own Smart Money account and it’s already activated and I already have my Smart Money card. At the same time, I am also a subscriber of SmartBro Plan 999. My question is: How could I pay Smart for my SmartBro Internet connection using my Smart Money through my mobile phone?

Answer

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open the Smart Money menu on your cellphone.
  2. On the available options, choose Pay Bill.
  3. The choose Others.
  4. Then on the Bill Code blank field type 06012 and then press OK.
  5. Then on the Account blank field, type your SmartBro account number which could be found in your SmartBro Statement of Account. Then press OK. Usually, the Account Number has the first digit number of zero while the Reference Number’s first digit is one.
  6. Then on Pay From choose the name of your SmartMoney.
  7. Then on the amount blank field type the amount you want to pay for your SmartBro Internet subscription. Then press OK.
  8. Then you’ll be prompted to verify the transaction. If there’s no error on what you entered, just press OK.
  9. Then you cellphone will send the transaction. You’ll receive a verification SMS from Smart.
  10. Once your payment is received by SmartBro, you’ll then receive a SMS from SmartBro telling you that they already received your payment. However, this message will be sent to the cellphone number you had given them when you applied for a SmartBro connection.

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Annual Information Return

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The AIR or Annual Information Return is previously filed by politicians in the Philippines. But now, the BIR or Bureau of Internal Revenue require every private citizens of the Philippines to file the Annual Information Return starting this April 2011 for the taxable year of 2010. The AIR will be filed along with their ITR or Income Tax Return.

Who will file Annual Information Return or AIR?

The AIR is for  individual taxpayers, estates and trusts and will use the BIR Form No. 1705. It should be filed in triplicate copies by the following:

  1. An individual with respect to pure compensation income, as defined in Section 32(A)(1), derived from sources within the Philippines, the income tax on which has been correctly withheld under the provisions of Section 79 of the Tax Code, as amended, whose annual taxable income exceeds Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 500,000); Provided, That an individual deriving compensation concurrently from two or more employers at any time during the taxable year shall file an income tax return;
  2. Individuals, estates and trusts whose sole income has been subjected to final withholding tax under Section 57(A) of the Tax Code, as amended, with aggregate final tax withheld exceeding One Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (Php 125,000) annually, whether or not remitted to the BIR: and
  3. Individuals whose sole income is exempt from income tax and whose total annual income (exempt) exceeds Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php 500,000.00)

The return shall be filed with the Revenue District Office (RDO) where the individual, including estates and trusts, is required to register or where the individual has his legal residence or place of business on or before May 15 of each year covering the income for the preceding taxable year.

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Credit Card Expiration Date

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Few questions raised about the expiration date printed on the credit card.

Credit Card Expiration Date, Question 1: Why is there an expiration date?

Credit Card has expiration date because of the following reasons:

  1. Credit Card even if its plastic card can last longer, but its magnetic stripe does not.
  2. If you are not using the credit card, the expiration date serves as the way so that the card supplier can contact you and remind you about the credit card.
  3. Credit Card expiration will also let you update your personal information with them. This is to avoid the longer use of your credit card by those thieves if ever your card has been stolen and you haven’t reported it to them.
  4. Expiration Date is also used for securing transaction. A buyer using a credit card with right card number but has wrong expiration date is usually rejected.
  5. Expiration date will also help you as credit card holder evaluate what are you paying for every month. You might have subscribed to different services and it’s quite prostrating if you’re paying $10 every month for a services that you are not actually using. So, soon as the card you supplied them expires, all the billing made by them will also be rejected, except of course if you updated the card information with them.

Credit Card Expiration Date, Question 2: What does it mean if the expiration date says: 12/2010?

Usually, you’ll find it in a card written: Expires thru 12/2010. It means that the credit card will expire through December 2010 or at the last day of December 2010.

You can still use your credit card on December 2010 up to the 31′st day of the month. However, all the transaction made after the 31′s day of the expiration will be rejected.

Credit Card Expiration Date, Question 3: When will the credit card supplier send me my new credit card?

The credit card supplier usually send new credit card on the month stated on the card’s expiration. The card will be send via the postal office. However, other suppliers send the new credit card through express mail.

It will be better if you visit the bank or establishment that supplied you the credit card and ask them for the new credit card with the new expiration date.

Strong Peso = Weaker Pinoy Bloggers’ Income

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Philippine Peso is becoming stronger, right?

Yesterday, when I withdrawn money from my Paypal account to my Metrobank account, the exchange rate used by Paypal is only PhP42.4312 in every one Dollar. Which means that in the market, the US Dollar is actually in between PhP43 and PhP44. The rate is still high but it’s not really that high compared to the time when the rate was still at PhP55.00 in every one Dollar.

Vatican Bank Money Laundering Scandal

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Authorities from the Italian Financial Police seized $30 million from a Vatican bank account, Monday and investigated two top bank officials. According to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, it started when the Bank of Italy told authorities about the possible violation of the Vatican Bank of the anti-money laundering laws.

The Vatican is said to have asked the Credito Artigiano to carry out two wire transfers without providing enough information regarding the transfer to comply with the law. The two wire transfers are: (1) $ 26 million for the JP Morgan in Franfurt and another (2) $4 million for the Banca del Fucino.

The two top officials of the Vatican Bank are bank’s chairman, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and his director general, Paolo Cipriani. They are currently under investigation through the Rome prosecutor’s office.

The Vatican Bank is also called Institute for Works of Religion, or IOR. It is  considered the most secret bank in the world as revealed by a money laundering expert, Jeffrey Robinson, because there’s no way to find out how much money the institution controlled.

The Vatican Bank was created through an order of the Pope who is the head of the city of Vatican. Its purpose is to carry on the activities that are related to the Pope. It accepts deposits from the top officials of the Catholic Church and uses its funds for the purposes as designated by the Pope.

This money laundering scandal faced by the Vatican Bank is not actually the first scandal happened. In 1982, the Banco Ambrosiano in which Vatican Bank is the major shareholder of it collapsed.  The head of the Vatican Bank at that time, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, was indicted as the accessory of the bankruptcy, although he avoided the conviction due to his diplomatic immunity as a Vatican prelate.