| Wachovia, SunTrust adopt mobile banking
Customers of Wachovia and SunTrust banks are now able to view account information, pay bills, check balances and transfer funds using their cellular telephone handsets. The "mobile banking" platform was announced this week by AT&T, which is working with Firethorn Holdings LLC and its partner CheckFree Corp. to offer the service. "The ability to perform banking functions using a wireless handset is attractive for people who need to make financial decisions on the go -- business travelers, college students and anyone who desires the flexibility that wireless delivers," Mark Collins, vice president, Consumer Data, for AT&T's wireless division, said in a statement. The mobile banking application can be downloaded on more than 30 of AT&T's handsets, the company said.
Scams target bank cards
Brant Bills got a phone call about three weeks ago from a man identifying himself as a representative of an international credit card processing company. He was calling about Bills' debit card and asked if he'd made a recent charge against the card. Bills, the former business manager for the Salisbury Post who is now chief division controller for Morris Visitor Publications in Augusta, Ga., said he hadn't. The caller knew a slew of information about Bills and his credit card the card's number and Bills' home address, included. He said a recent charge against Bills' card appeared to be fraudulent. The caller gave Bills the 16-digit number on the front of the card, then told him he'd need him to turn the card over. There are seven numbers on the card's reverse side.
Why women must ensure they are in the black financially
WHILE many women are in control of their finances, there are still worrying signs that significant number neglect the money side of things, especially when they are in a relationship. For example, recent research from Scottish Widows revealed the "gender pension gap" is a growing issue. Some 54 per cent of men who "could and should" be saving for retirement are doing so adequately, compared with just 41 per cent of women. And 7.3 million women are financially dependent on their husbands or partners. .
Nigeria: Travel Tips for Itinerant
"There is no lack of good advice, only those who listen are very few." - Swahili proverb It has become imperative for those of us who roam the thick forests of Africa, and fly around the skies of the world to advise our country men and women on the dangers lurking around some of the most cosmopolitan cities of the world. .
Westpac enhances KiwiSaver
Westpac has made saving for retirement even easier for its customers by introducing hotpoints from its credit card rewards programme as a form of KiwiSaver contribution. Westpac customers earn credit card rewards through the hotpoints programme on every Westpac credit card purchase they make. And now customers can convert their hotpoints into contributions towards a Westpac KiwiSaver account of their choice, be it their own or someone else’s. .
The Dollar in Danger
For a quarter-century after World War II, money was based on a loose version of the gold standard. The U.S. dollar was pegged to gold; other currencies were pegged to the dollar; stable prices underpinned the prosperity and soaring trade of the 1950s and '60s. Then in 1971 Richard Nixon balked at the high interest rates necessary to maintain the dollar's link to gold. For the rest of the decade, inflation ripped. The cure, starting in 1979, involved two recessions in the United States and the Third World debt crisis. Now we face another potential watershed in the world's system of money. Since the breaking of the gold link, the dollar has become the world's primary measure of value, so much so that bank deposits in Uruguay and bribes paid in Russia are mostly denominated in dollars.
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