Long Duration of Credit History is Better

When it comes to trust, then, you would like to trust a 5 years old friend more than 3 months old one. Same funda applies in case of credit history too. Longer credit history will result better. This credit history must be clean for that much long time. This will help you in improving your credit score as well.

If you are paying your payments or scheduled emi (equated monthly installment) for all loans on time from last 5 years, it’s very much a proof that you pay on time. Due to this, you will be having a good history and track record. An individual has a good history from last 5 months, then, it will not be considered that strong comparatively. So higher the duration of good payment history, the better your score will be.

If you do not have a credit card, there is a good reason why you should get one now. In addition to this, you should do your payments with credit card and pay in full every month, so that your payment history is built with positive effect. In this way, your credit score will stay in good books of cibil. On the basis of good credit rating, you can avail better rates on personal loan and so on. You will be getting instant approval for any type of loan or card.

Not only this, your excellent credit rating will also bring few of extra perks coupled with your loan offer or the credit card you have chosen to apply. Before applying for any of this product, you can easily check your available offer and pick according to your choice and suitability.

You should understand the importance of credit history by now. If you have good credit history, wide range of financial solutions will be offered to you. If the case is vice versa then variety of options will be in squeezed form for you.

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Electronic Payments Can Curb Black Money

The group president for Visa, one of the world's largest payment companies, has said that governments can curb black money by partnering commercial institutions to promoter electronic payments. Electronic payments includes the gamut of channels through the banking channels which includes, credit cards, internet and mobile payments.

In an interview with TOI, Elizabeth Buse, group president, Visa, responsible for Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa said that bringing transactions out of cash into electronic forms will allow governments to have better tax compliance and greater monitoring of fraudulent transaction and money laundering.

"In markets like Mexico we have seen government subsidize terminalization to bring more transactions out of the black economy. Without government participation it is challenging for commercial enterprises to come and promote electronic payments. The government has to be a partner," she said. Besides reducing black money, electronic payments also promote growth, Buse said. She pointed to a Moody's finding that between 2004 and 2009 electronic payments have added 50 basis points to global GDP, adding $1.1 trillion to global wealth.

According to Buse, there are a number of impediments for electronic transactions, but top of the list is acceptance. "In India only 3% of consumer spending transactions are through electronic payments. So you have 97% of this big fast growing economy as an opportunity," she said. Buse, who is considered as one of the 25 most powerful women in finance by US Banker, is in the process of tying up with State Bank of India to install credit card swipe machines in at least five lakh merchant establishments - a target set by SBI.

"To solve the merchant acceptance problem we knew that it will require a different structure than what we have today. We really wanted to increase the rate and breadth of consumer acceptance because 80% of the consumers do not live in the big cities where you have the POS terminals."

Buse said the new acceptance machines will be different kind of terminal which would perhaps use mobile network. "You may think of a hotel as a traditional form of merchant establishment that accepts cards but we have to reach small merchants in small towns and that will require different services and a different economic model."

She feels that debit cards will drive payments in India. India has 22.8 crore debit cards, and debit card transactions grew 39% last year. "We see much of the cash transaction going to debit and SBI has the largest debit card portfolio. So we are partnering SBI on the customer side as well as the merchant side."

The other big bet is on mobile payments. According to Buse, in mobile payments where standards are still evolving, the most prevalent model will be one open to maximum number of participants and which runs on most of the mobile handsets.

On Thursday, Visa announced that it is acquiring South Africa based Fundamo, a leading platform provider of mobile financial services for mobile network operators and financial institutions in developing economies. It also announced a new, long-term commercial agreement with Monitise PLC, a leading provider of mobile money solutions for financial institutions in more developed geographies.

[Source]

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Types Of ICICI Credit Cards

ICICI offers many types of credit cards according to users need

ICICI Future Gold Credit Card

ICICI Platinum Credit Card

ICICI Titanium Credit Card

ICICI HPCL Gold Credit Card

ICICI Preferred Gold Credit Card

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Credit Card Banks And Providers In India

Apply for a credit card in India. Compare the benefits of different credit cards from different providers

Select Bank for Credit Card -

ABN Amro credit card

Axis Bank credit card

Canara Bank credit card

Citi Bank credit card

HDFC credit card

HSBC Bank credit card

ICICI Bank credit card

Kotak Mahindra Bank credit card

SBI credit card

Standard Chartered credit card

Union Bank of India credit card

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Credit Card Price War Hots Up As Barclaycard Offers 20 Months 0% Deal

Consumers stand to benefit as lenders compete to offer better rates and longer balance transfer

Forget Isa wars: the real battle for your money is going on between credit card providers.










Barclaycard has stretched the zero interest period on its balance transfer from 18 months to 20 months, just weeks after it had lengthened it from 16 months, and just days after MBNA and Virgin Money increased their interest free periods to match Barclaycard's offer. As these companies both charge lower balance transfer fees, they immediately took top slot in the best buy charts.










Barclaycard's balance transfer fee on the new deal is 3.2%, an increase on the 2.9% that it previously charged, and higher than the 2.88% charged by MBNA and Virgin. But Andrew Hagger of product comparison website Moneynet.co.uk said Barclaycard still proves cheaper, despite the higher fee. He calculates that someone switching a £1,000 balance from a card charging 18% APR to MBNA's card would save £241 in interest once the £28.80 balance transfer fee had been deducted. But if he transferred the £1,000 balance to the Barclaycard, he would save £268 once the £32 balance after deduction of the transfer fee.










Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said: "This competition is welcome news for those consumers who are in a position to take advantage of this price war and consolidate any existing credit card balances on to cheaper deals. However, consumers need to be aware that most lenders are giving these deals to customers who have excellent or good credit histories. If you fall outside of this category then you may find your options are more limited. Before applying for a credit card, consumers need to check their credit profile and make sure there is no adverse information that would jeopardise their chances of being accepted."










People who apply for cards but are rejected may find that this impairs their credit records even further: lenders leave imprints on an applicant's record which shows they have made an unsuccessful application, which will deter other lenders.










Moneysupermarket.com has a personal credit profiling tool that helps people identify and apply for the most appropriate card based on their personal circumstances - without leaving an imprint.










"Despite these great offers, cardholders still need to make sure they use their cards wisely and aim to pay off the balance by the end of the promotional period. It is also worth looking at the small print at the balance transfer fees as these vary by provider."










So what next? Two year interest free periods? Mountford said: "I wouldn't be surprised to see other lenders react accordingly by launching similar deals, but with so many vying to go top of the best buy tables, we could see even longer deals emerge."



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AGC Networks Introduces Contact Center Solutions in Compliance with Global Information Security Standard PCI-DSS

AGC Networks, India’s leading enterprise communication solution integrator has taken a significant step forward in its Contact Center solutions business by becoming a recipient of the worldwide information security standard certification-PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) for its IVR-Payment gateway integration. The certification comes at a time when online payment has led to a tremendous revolution in the Indian payment industry and security in online transactions is a key challenge for enterprises and communication solution providers

The PCI-DSS standard was created to help payment card industry organizations that process card payments prevent credit card fraud through increased controls around data and its exposure to compromise. The standard applies to all organizations that hold, process, or exchange cardholder information from any card branded with the logo of one of the card brand. All payments that occur on AGC Networks IVR system are now adjudged inherently resistant to various forms of cyber attacks.

According to Ritesh Jayswal, Vice President and Head (Solutions), AGC Networks, “We are extremely excited at being awarded the coveted PCI-DSS certification which will further propel our Contact Center Solutions business. Online payment offers certain advantages to customers, such as low cost, time saving and convenience of usage, as compared to traditional methods. Since the IVR – PG integration is now becoming one of the key revenue generation channels for business, it is very important for a company to have this application platform certified so that it offers cutting-edge processes, security and scalability. Through this solution, we aim to protect cardholder and sensitive authentication data for our customers.”

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a widely accepted set of policies and procedures intended to optimize the security of credit, debit and cash card transactions and protect cardholders against misuse of their personal information. For example, post certification the merchant cannot store sensitive authentication data even after authorization. Certification also ensures that the merchant uses strong cryptography and additional layers of security while processing card holder’s data among others.

Thinking about customers has been a core philosophy of AGC Networks. AGC Networks compliant solution ensures that one of the most important nodes (i.e. customer’s phone & IVR) in sensitive data transmission is PCI-DSS complaint. Keeping its focus on the BFSI segment active in the coming year, AGC Networks aims to provide the latest technology solutions to ease the pain points of its customers.

About AGC Networks

AGC Networks Ltd. is India’s leading enterprise communication solution integrator delivering customized business solutions that help organizations accelerate revenue growth, increase market penetration, optimize operating costs and improve employee productivity, by embedding communication in their business processes. With a vision of being a world class solution integrator of choice, AGC Networks Ltd. has always remained committed to providing clients with the best returns on their technology investments. It partners with global leaders like Avaya, NICE Systems, NEC, Polycom, Plantronics, Jabra, Extreme Networks, HP and Sony. For more information visit the AGC Networks Ltd. web site: http://www.agcnetworks.com/

[Source]

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A Credit Card That Talks To You

Imagine your credit card talking to you and displaying your balance, while doubling as a reward card. Well, your imagination will soon turn into a reality.

Dynamics Inc is developing such cards - due to be introduced in the US later this year - which will have wafer-thin microprocessors and would run on batteries that can last up to three years.

However, the credit cards will only display personal information after a security code is entered.

Citibank has released the new 2G card, which has a programmable magnetic strip and buttons on the front for users to choose to use it as a credit card or just to spend reward points, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

A trial is currently ongoing and, if successful, it could roll out across the country.

Even Mastercard has just released a card that has a small LCD screen which displays a one—time code which the customer can use to make an online purchase. It means even if someone’s credit card details are stolen, they will be useless to buy anything with without the one—off code.

Jeff Mullen, the CEO of Dynamics Inc which is working on several other high—tech cards, explained that the end of the magnetic strip has been mooted for years, but is still the dominant payment system in the world.

He said: “Magnetic stripe readers are being placed in more places than ever before —— like vending machines, movie theater kiosks and taxicabs.

“Even in Japan, where the infrastructure is in place and phones (which can make payments) have been distributed for seven years, the volume of phone payments is significantly less than one per cent share of transactions.

“European chip cards comprise only about 10 per cent of cards in world.”

Banks, phone providers, Google and Apple, are also working on mobile payment systems which rely on short—range wireless technology that allows electronic devices to transmit encrypted data.

“Although mobile payments is the future, you’re not going to move all that overnight to magical phones. So these are step innovations, rather than leap innovations.

“Some are very much needed, and some are probably not going to make it,” Todd Ablowitz, President of Double Diamond Group, a consulting firm on payments strategy technologies and products was quoted by the British newspaper as telling the ’creditcards.com’

[Source]

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Amex In Credit Card Tie-Up With Indian Overseas Bank

The India branch of American Express Banking Corp has signed a distribution tie-up with Chennai-based public sector bank, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), to provide its credit card services through the latter's distribution network.

Based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two banks, the co-branded platinum and gold charge credit cards of American Express would be distributed to the premium and high-end customers of IOB. The co-branded card will have the logo of both IOB and American Express, and would be available for the customers from May 1, 2011.

"We have a full slew of payment systems established in India. We are looking at expanding our franchise in India. Considering the strength of Indian banks and the growth of economy in the country, we expect the tie-up would give a push to our existing growth,” said Shailesh Baidwan, country manager and head (consumer cards business), American Express Banking Corp.

IOB has so far issued 37,000 cards across the country and 11,000 out of this were for high networth customers. “We are targeting to cover 500,000 high networth customers this year, and the tie-up with American Express will be a booster to our growth plans,” said M Narendra, chairman and managing director, IOB.

The platinum card comes with an annual fee of Rs 10,000 and a life time fee of Rs 50,000. The gold charge card, with an annual fee of Rs 4,300, would be free for customers joining through IOB for the first year.

The average spending on American Express cards in the country has seen a growth double of the overall average spending on credit cards in India, said Baidwan.

The average spending on our cards were at Rs 1.5 lakh in 2010, more than triple the size of the overall average spending, which is at Rs 40,000 in the country, he added.

The growth on the bank's average spending on cards is double of the growth of ovarall growth of average spending on cards, which was at 15 per cent in year 2010, he said. At present, it targets the premium and high-end segment customers with an annual income of Rs 8 lakh and above.

[Source]

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