News Archive for December 2013

Credit card fraud is expected to decline significantly in the second half of 2014 with a recent decision from the ACCC to abolish the used of signatures for purchases over $100. Visa and MasterCard have pushed for the change and won, so that from 1 July 2014 consumers will be required to provide their pin for both credit and debit card transactions to be approved.

Just under $280 million was stolen from Australians through credit card crime last year, with online shoppers the hardest hit by fraudsters.

When Travelers look to cut costs on their holiday, often the first expense to go is travel insurance according to a recent report by lastminute.com.au. The Travel and Lifestyle trends report revealed that one in three Australian do not travel with insurance.

Record low interest rates of the last 12 months haven't been enough to free up the credit necessary to see steady growth for Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

With less than ten days to count down to Christmas, last minute shoppers braving the Christmas crush are expected to spend in the vicinity of $32 billion over the festive season. However, there is a silver lining for those braving the crowds this week as recent research suggests those who shop in a crowded environment are actually, less likely to overspend.

Amex has responded to competition heating up in the prepaid travel card market by saying goodbye to cross currency conversion fees. Leading prepaid travel card competitors Ozforex, Qantas Cash and Velocity Global Wallet had an edge over Amex in their ability to host a wider breadth of currencies on their cards, but no more.

Recent arrivals to the prepaid travel card market from the Airlines are heating up the competition for travelers foreign dollars.   With more than a dozen prepaid travel cards now available in the Australian market and new additions all the time, overseas travelers now have plenty more attractive options than taking the travel card on offer from their bank.

Australian households could lose up to $109 million from their family savings as the Federal government grabs cash from inactive bank accounts.

Lengthy delays waiting for electronic payments to clear will soon be a thing of the past as the next generation of real-time payments becomes the norm across Australian banking institutions.

Money can't buy you love but according to US researchers, pooling your resources can makes for a happier life and more successful relationship.

The Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Rating rose to 120.1 this week, up 1.3pts in a weeks since the last week of November. With confidence driven mainly by respondents saying they felt now was a good time to buy major household items while also being more confident about their own personal financial situations and savings.

The RBA board decided not to play Christmas grinch today at its December board meeting, leaving the official cash rate on hold at 2.50%.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has this week stepped up efforts to crack down on false or misleading advertising.