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Continuing from my last post on ReservePlus (401k loan with debit card), let me share the pros and cons of going for such a program.

Pros:
Once you terminate your old job and switch over to a new employer,

• You need not pay back the loan within a short period of 2 months (as in traditional 401k loan).
• You can repay the 401k loan within 5 years of taking it regardless of whether you are employed or unemployed.
• You can avoid paying huge taxes and early withdrawal penalties.

Cons:

• With a debit card, you get easy access to money therefore chances are you can be tempted to borrow unnecessarily.

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“Be wary of Paypal emails that have internet links or response addresses, they are phishing emails.”

All of us must have heard it 101 times! But what many of us have not heard is that now cyber criminals have come up with a new type of phishing email to trick Paypal customers. The email, which appears as if it has come from PayPal, notifies the recipient of fraudulent activities in his or her account.

Dear Customer,

We recently noticed that few attempts have been made to log in to your account from a foreign IP address.

If you had accessed your account while travelling, then the unusual login attempts may have been initiated by you.

However, if the logins are not initiated by you then please call the given number as soon as possible to verify your identity.

This is a security measure to protect your PayPal account.

Thank you for your patience as we work together to protect your account.

To get started, please call the given number

Best Regards,

PayPal Security Center

Unlike the usual phishing emails, there is no link given in the mail. Instead, the email urges the recipient to call a phone number to confirm their credit card details. When dialed, users are greeted by an automated voice saying:

“Welcome to our account verification. Please enter your 16 digit card number.”

Once the card information is entered, the con artists are free to steal it for their own use.

Smoking is dangerous!

What does it actually do?

It causes

• Cancers

• High blood pressure

• Stomach ulcers

• Bronchitis or pneumonia

• Coronary disease and heart attack

This is why, the smokers tend to seek for frequent reimbursement from the health insurance. Shortly, there has been a raging controversy in fixing higher premium for the health insurance. Some companies have however started charging more from the active smokers. They believe that they bear a higher risk from the smokers than non-smoker. The smokers not only pay more for the health insurance but the insurance companies also charge a higher premium fro other insurances as well. Know about the insurance budgeting of a smoker and a nonsmoker .

Now here is great story for you all to read. Are you aware of the stupendous theft that has occurred at the Obelisk federal Credit Union located in Albany? No? Then here are some astonishing details of the same.

For almost four years Patricia Helen Sherman had been piling bills of $100 while walking out of her office where she held the position of the Head Teller. Over these years $7 million has been procured form the credit union and spent in gambling at the Ohio River casinos. She is now facing lifetime imprisonment.

The overtly shocking fact is that the feedback received from people and colleagues known to her were all positive. She was a very nice person and perfectly professional it seems.

It was only recently that the theft was recognized, that too after a confession made by the thief herself. Obelisk incurred a loss of $5 million that they had to write off as expense. Nothing much could be recovered from her because the money had been spent over the years. As a head teller she used to order and refill the vaults. She was in charge of the vault activities. This made it easy to hide the wrong doings from the supervisory committee. She submitted altered ledger balances to keep up with the supervision.

Such a grand crime committed by an insider, happened under our nose of the authority and all we found out from people was that the lady was very nice and professional. Employing deceitful people can incur such amount of loss; this is a lesson to learn from.

If you are thorough with the current news on security of your credit then you must be aware of the $10 package offered by Lifelock for your credit safety. Now who would mind spending a minimum of $10 a month for security? You can use this tool provided with all or any of the credit bureaus for setting up a credit lock.

Experian is not happy with this whole issue. Recently it has sued Lifelock for selling this product illegally. The case is still pending at the Federal court in Ca. According to FTC, Experian does not have a clean record as well. In the Year 2005 they were also sued by an agency for using deceptive services and providing free offers on the freecreditreport[dot]com website and had to pay a $1 million as a settlement.

Just for you to rejuvenate your knowledge regarding the different security measures read more: Read the rest of this entry »