How to keep your credit card safe online

RAIPUR: With hacking of Facebook, Gmail and other networking websites on rise, threat of credit card/debit card bank accounts also being hacked looms large in state. Online shopping has further increased this threat.

Monendra Sahu, an ethical hacker said, "For hackers, carding, which refers to credit card/debit card fraud is the new duplicity that has made significant rise in state. Hackers have been using credit card/debit card numbers of people to carry out financial transactions for their personal benefits".

Online shopping/banking by users provides the easiest way for hackers to swindle money. "Whenever a user buys anything from the website, he enters his card details to make payment. This becomes an easy gateway for the hacker to trace card details and he gets access to all users who have used that website, by hacking it." Monendra said.

"It has also been observed that the hacker traces around 1000 or even more credit card/debit card numbers and carries out his transaction withdrawing around Rs 4000-5000 from each account. However, this risk is a bit lesser in an online bank account as in this; the user directly enters the bank website."

In fact, with new techniques coming in, hackers have even evolved a technique of scheming, in which they implant a device in the ATM machine or the POS portal and get card details. "A device which can be stuck with Fevikwik, is used by the hackers. It becomes difficult to differentiate between the device and ATM machine."

"Majorly, in the old ATM machines, which can be easily opened from back-side, hackers can easily process it by a pen-drive. It's easier to open the machine and inject a processed pen-drive which will take the card details of users who have carried out their transaction throughout the day. However the newly developed machines aren't much vulnerable," he added.

"Hackers try to use cyber cafes, where they can get in touch with a large number of users and with an open wi-fi connection which it make things easier for them," he added.

Users guide

* Change the pin of ATM card after getting the pin. Try to have a locked Wi-fi network however LAN cable would be even more secure.

* Stop using free anti-virus.

* Always use updated system for your laptop/computer.

* Use websites with HTTPS communication protocol which give encrypted password.

Protect yourself from Identity Theft. Visit www.cibilconsultants.com

Source: Secondary

Go for loan if you really need one !

A number of these requests within a very short span of time can have a negative impact on the credit score.Let us understand it with an example :

Rahul who is a top official at a large brokerage firm was incensed with his prospective home loan lender. He had approached them on the advice of his colleague to whom the lender had given an excellent rate. While the lender was more than happy to give him the loan, they were offering him a slightly higher rate.  When he enquired about the reason, he was informally told that his credit score was lower than his colleague and hence the higher rate.

He asked for and got a copy of his credit report from the prospective lender and confirmed that the credit report was in order and had correctly showed that he had paid all his dues on time. He had also requested his colleague to get the credit report from the same lender.

When Rahul compared the two reports he was amazed that his credit score was lower than his colleague’s score.  Hence, he called me to throw some light on the matter.

I asked him to take his colleague’s permission and send the two credit reports to me. The look at two reports was quite illuminating.

Both had excellent repayment records and good credit scores though his colleague’s score was little higher than Rahul’s. The only visible difference was that Rahul had about four credit cards (all showed an impeccable repayment record on the credit report) against only two credit cards for his colleague. However, a closer look revealed that there had been four enquiries for his credit report for a personal loan of `300,000 just four months back, though no personal loan showed up on his report.

When I checked with Rahul, I was told that he was considering taking a personal loan for a foreign holiday but had ultimately dropped the idea. He had applied to four banks but ultimately did not take the personal loan though it was sanctioned. The banks, once they received the request from him for a personal loan, had sent a request to Cibil for his credit report.

The credit report also contains information about how many times Cibil got a request for the credit score of a particular person and for what products and amounts.

Now it is not known how Cibil exactly determines your credit score but a number of these requests within a very short span of time, especially for unsecured credit (indicating hunger for credit), can have a negative impact on the credit score.

So, at least for now I asked Rahul to live with it (after all his credit score was not bad). But for the future I told him to be careful while shopping for credit. First make up your mind if you need credit or not before applying for it. Sometimes the sheer fact that you applied for credit (that you did not ultimately need) may result in a small reduction in your credit score even though you did not end up taking the loan.

These kinds of errors are to be reported immediately to Cibil and the concerned banks. The banks should be asked to get the records amended in Cibil records. If they do not respond to your request within a month, you should file a complaint with the banking ombudsman. A mistake in your credit record can prove very expensive, hence pursue these steps seriously.

You should apply for a loan or credit card only and only if you see no error in your Cibil report.

Once you get your credit report and it is error-free, you should go ahead shopping for credit card or a loan product.

But before applying for many of them to know more about the scheme aligned with them, you should always do some smart shopping online.

You can compare various credit products and then apply only for the product that suits your requirement the best. This will ensure that only one bank makes an inquiry for you credit record, hence your high credit score can be safeguarded.

Get personalized services related to credit report and generation of score by just booking an appointment at www.cibilconsultants.com

Source-secondary

Virtual credit cards and online shopping !

Online shopping is all the rage these days as it gives you access to top brands and innumerable products from both India and abroad. You can now buy anything from electronics, clothing and grocery to fruit and vegetables on the internet. However, you must remember that not all shopping websites are safe and when you enter your credit card details, including the CVV number, you expose your entire credit limit to frauds. Be wary of online transactions where there are chances of your credit card details being exposed.

Though there are safety measures that can be adopted to ensure transaction security, sometimes payments have to be made on sites that are non-secure. To address such dilemmas, banks have launched virtual credit cards, which are a one-time transaction, limited-period cards.

What they are?

Virtual credit cards are, as the name suggests, online cards that are not issued physically. It is a free service offered by banks to customers who wish to make an online payment using their credit card. The major products offered under this facility in India are SBI-Virtual Card, ICICI VCC, Axis Bank e-wallet card, HDFC NetSafe and Kotak netc@rd.

Although each bank has named the product differently, the principle remains the same. You can use this facility by accessing netbanking and providing your card details. Thereafter, the bank will provide you a virtual credit card with a 16-digit card number, expiry date and CVV number. You can top up the virtual card with whatever amount you need to make a payment for and the requisite amount is credited by the bank from your account.

Safeguards

There are certain important features that make virtual credit cards safe and useful if used correctly. A customer is allowed a minimum credit limit of R100 and a maximum credit limit of R50,000 per transaction per day. The virtual credit card is valid for 24-48 hours, though ICICI bank allows a longer expiry date. You can make only one payment with the virtual card wherein you can exhaust the credited balance or a part of it. If there is any balance left, it is credited back to your account.

This facility is available to the primary cardholder only and not to the secondary cardholder.

In transactions where you may have to show the credit card the payment was made with, virtual credit cards cannot be used. For instance, if you book an e-ticket, the credit card has to be shown at the airport — the virtual credit card will not be valid in this case. Since a virtual credit card does not have a physical existence, it cannot be cloned, making it highly secure for all transaction purposes.

Only online?

For all practical purposes, virtual credit cards can only be used online and are the perfect solution for online shopping. There may be instances where transactions can be carried out over the phone; in such cases, a virtual credit card is useful only if the sales executive undertaking the transaction is using the online payment channel on behalf of the customer.

Don’t own a credit card?

A virtual card can be generated with your debit card as well. In this case, the amount topped up into the virtual card is debited from your savings bank account. Another good option is the e-wallet, which is generated and set up against your savings bank account. These options come with the same provisions and limitations as that of a virtual credit card. The only difference is that in this case the balance amount on the card is transferred back to your savings bank account and deducted immediately from your bank account. It is not billed against your card.

Apart from the banks mentioned above, the virtual card facility is offered by many private websites too. Since, for topping up a virtual credit card, you have to provide your credit card details, it is important to ensure that the private site is secured too. The biggest benefit of a virtual credit card is that it is completely controlled by you in terms of validity, credit limit and usage. Therefore, you need not worry about losing it or its misuse.

Credit card has direct impact on credit score of a person, use it wisely.
Obtain your credit score from www.cibilconsultants.com

Source: Secondary