5 Ways To Improve Your Credit Score

You probably know a higher credit score can make it easier for you to get a loan or borrow at more favorable rates. But how can you improve your credit score? Here are five credit-boosting tips;

1.) Pay your bills on time

Your payment history makes up the largest part—35 percent—of your credit score. Even small slip-ups can lower your score by a lot. Late or missed payments stay on your credit report—and can affect your credit score—for up to seven years.

How to boost your score

Always make at least the minimum payment by the due date. You can set up payment reminders and automatic payments within your accounts so you never accidentally miss a due date. Just make sure you have enough money in your accounts to cover your bills

2.) Keep your balances low

The second most important factor in determining your credit score is how much of your available credit you’re using. That’s called the credit utilization rate. If the rate is high—meaning, you’re close to hitting your credit limits—lenders may view you as more likely to default.

How to boost your score

Having credit cards and using them isn’t a bad thing, but it’s important to keep your debt manageable. The best practice is to pay your credit card bills in full every month. If you can’t, pay as much as possible. Try to keep your credit utilization rate below 30 percent. That means if you have a credit card with a $10,000 limit, the balance should be less than $3,000. Also, make sure you understand how credit limits work.

3.) Don’t close old accounts

Your score considers the length of your credit history, along with the ages of your different accounts. In general, a longer credit history means a higher score. If you close old cards, you are lowering the average age of your accounts. When you last used your cards is another factor in your score. Even if you intend to keep an old account, your credit card issuer may close it if it hasn’t been used for a long time.

4.) Have a mix of loans

Lenders like to see that you can manage multiple loans at the same time. In general, it’s good to have a mix of credit cards and installment loans—such as a mortgage, an auto loan and student loans—that you pay on time.

How to boost your score

This is a relatively small part of a credit score, so it probably isn’t effective to open new accounts just to try to pump up your score. But know what types of loans you have and consider improving the mix the next time you need to borrow money.

5.) Think before taking on new credit

Getting a new credit card can both help and hurt your credit score, so it’s important to be strategic. Research shows that people who open several credit accounts in a short period may be higher credit risks than those who don’t, according to FICO, the leading credit score provider. When you apply for a new credit card, your credit score could fall initially because the lender looks at your credit report (known as a hard credit check) and the average age of your accounts is lower. Source

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have a safe and healthy holiday!

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6 Ways To Protect Your Business Against Phishing Schemes

In the digitally connected world, phishing schemes pose a significant threat to businesses, often overshadowed by high-profile data breaches yet equally dangerous. These attacks cunningly manipulate employees into giving away sensitive information.

Understanding Phishing

Phishing, a prevalent form of cyber attack, involves tricking employees through emails that appear to be from reputable sources. These attacks aim to extract personal, payment, or login information, or to install malicious software.

Why Phishing is a Critical Concern

With phishing scams leading to significant financial losses and ranking high in the FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report, businesses must recognize and prepare against these deceptive tactics.

The Appeal of Phishing to Cybercriminals

Phishing’s success lies in its ability to exploit untrained employees, making businesses vulnerable to data breaches and financial fraud. This tactic is especially effective when businesses lack specific protocols to combat such incidents.

6 Defensive Strategies Against Phishing

1. Educating on Attack Types

Recognizing different phishing tactics, such as account takeovers, phone phishing, and email spoofing, is essential in safeguarding your business.

2. Employee Training and Awareness

Empowering employees with knowledge and clear reporting protocols is crucial. Regular training sessions can significantly enhance your first line of defense against phishing.

3. Implementing Email Security Software

Utilizing AI-driven email security software can preemptively detect and neutralize phishing attempts, safeguarding your business communication channels.

4. Establishing Transaction Protocols

Developing and adhering to stringent transaction verification processes can prevent unauthorized financial transactions resulting from phishing attacks.

5. Enforcing E-commerce Security Practices

Applying robust e-commerce security measures, such as SSL certification, strong passwords, and regular security updates, is fundamental in protecting against cyber threats.

6. Continuous Testing of Security Measures

Regularly testing your phishing defense protocols ensures that employees remain vigilant and prepared to identify and report potential threats. Source

Payment Fraud: What Is It And How To Protect Your Business

Payment fraud is increasing as fraudsters find new tactics to target their victims. Businesses need to enhance their fraud strategies to keep up with these new payment fraud trends.With the right technology, businesses can detect and prevent fraud faster and reduce its negative impact, leading to cost reduction, better customer experience, and higher revenue.

What is payment fraud?

Payment fraud occurs when a person who is not the legitimate owner of the payment instrument initiates a payment to commit fraud.

Types of fraud

The main challenge for businesses is to keep up with the different techniques used to commit payment fraud and identify them on time. Understanding what types exist and how they can affect your business is important before looking at how to build an effective fraud management strategy.

Credit card fraud

Credit card fraud is when fraudsters use stolen card details to commit fraud by charging purchases to an account or removing money from it.

Some examples on how to detect and prevent credit card fraud:

• Perform AVS (Address Verification Service) or CID (Card Identification) checks on transactions to verify the payment location and the card’s presence.
• Apply behavioral analytics technology that flags suspicious behavior, such as someone purchasing an item multiple times, multiple purchases with the same email, or orders delivered to the same address using different payment details.

Card testing fraud

Card testing fraud is when stolen cards are tested to see if they’re active. If they are, they can be sold on the dark web for a much higher price than untested ones.

Fraudsters can see if a card is active by entering the card details when signing up for a subscription-based service with a free trial. The subscription business then performs a zero-amount authorization to see if the card is active.

Some examples on how to detect and prevent card testing fraud:

• Apply behavioral analytics technology to identify fraudulent checkout attempts.
• Use transaction data to understand your shoppers’ behavior and use velocity risk checks and business rules to optimize for full funnel conversion.
• Check order time frames. Card testers involving bots/scripts are on the rise; you can identify them by spotting many transactions within a short time frame.

Account takeover fraud

Account takeover fraud is when fraudsters get access to shoppers’ accounts and change the account details. Fraudsters can either use websites where shoppers have an account with saved payment details or create websites that look legitimate to steal the credentials of unsuspecting shoppers.

Some examples on how to detect and prevent account takeover fraud:

• Use timeline visualization to understand the normal behavior of genuine shoppers and how they differ after account takeovers.
• Ask for verification once account details are changed, for example, when a shipping address is changed.

Friendly fraud

Friendly fraud, also known as first-party fraud, is when a shopper purchases goods on an ecommerce website and initiates a chargeback without a legitimate reason.

Some examples on how to detect and prevent friendly fraud:

• Ensure your risk system can recognize patterns that identify serial-friendly fraudsters, such as shoppers who have initiated multiple service-related disputes across different cards and identities.
• Use blocked lists to make sure those bad shoppers don't return.
• Leverage a solution that can recognize fraudsters who shop across multiple global businesses so you can fine-tune your risk assessment

Policy abuse: Refund fraud 

Refund fraud is when a professional fraudster makes money by requesting business refunds. It’s becoming increasingly common and can be very difficult to detect.  This is also commonly known as policy abuse - when shoppers get well acquainted with your business’ policies in order to take advantage of things such as returns, refunds or promotions

Retailers also see a trend where bad actors return different products than they ordered, such as counterfeit merchandise or even bottles of water.

Some examples on how to detect and prevent refund fraud:

Make sure your risk system has unified commerce capabilities so you can fully understand a shopper’s lifecycle and view past orders to identify refund fraud.

Use a combination of unique attributes and leverage custom risk rules to mitigate such scenarios and identify unique shoppers misusing those details.

Gift card fraud

Gift card fraud is a common way to commit transactional fraud because the cards are hard to trace and aren’t as heavily regulated as debit or credit cards. An example of gift card fraud is when a fraudster uses stolen payment details to buy a product online and then returns it for a refund on a gift card.

Some examples on how to detect and prevent gift card fraud:

• Use contextual data to help build a much stronger defense against gift card fraud.
• Use a combination of custom risk checks and block lists based on this data to help spot these transactions.
• Identify misuse of gift cards by using custom risk rules and specified indicators to mitigate such events.

How does payment fraud impact businesses?

Payment fraud has a negative impact on businesses. Here are a few of the consequences:

• Money lost
• Increased chargeback fees
• Reputational damage
• Legal and regulatory challenges
• Payment fraud challenges

Due to legacy technology not being able to balance security with customer experience, many businesses end up compromising revenue and customer experience by being too stringent. Payments are blocked as soon as something stands out from normal customers' behavior. Differentiating between fraudsters and customers can be difficult and lead to genuine transactions being blocked. This will directly affect revenue and leave customers unhappy with the buying experience.

Fraud prevention is the process of preventing fraudulent activities from impacting the business, customer, or financial institution. To do this effectively, businesses need to maintain full control and reduce operational workload. This is done by combining risk rules with machine learning and manual reviews.

Supervised machine learning

Supervised machine learning involves a combination of risk knowledge and machine learning. Businesses can create risk profiles to help automate part of the risk assessment, saving time and reducing risk management efforts. The bigger the scale of the platform the machine learning model is learning from, the more your business will benefit. These models can learn from multiple channels, payment instruments and regions to build strong shopper understanding and ensure that automated decisioning does the heavy lifting.

Customizable risk rules

Different industries and business models face different types of risks. Through customizable risk rules, businesses can create risk profiles tailored to their unique needs and use them to complement the payment evaluation process of machine learning models. This can help optimize underperforming risk profiles or rules, and monitor the impact of changes. .

Manual review

Certain types of transactions are at a higher risk of being targeted by fraudsters, these include high-value transactions or transactions in high-risk markets. For an extra layer of fraud protection, businesses can choose to manually review these types of transactions before they’re completed to avoid negative bottom line impact. Source

Diversifying Customer Payment Method Options

Offering customers multiple ways to interact with your business is a heavy priority this year. Does your business support social distancing and flexible payment options?

Economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic have challenged the way we do business. Businesses and consumers are extra avoidant of handling cash and credit cards. Those who accept credit cards are taking extra precautions to make sure their credit card terminals are disinfected between checkouts and their customers have the option to bypass contact altogether when they buy something in person.

Already, contactless payments were experiencing a surge in popularity, but since the virus started impacting the U.S. banks have issued more contactless credit cads than ever before. According to a study in March conducted by RTi Research, about 30% of consumers in the U.S. have started using contactless payments since the virus started raising widespread concern, and of those new users, 70% expect to continue using contactless payments method when pandemic risks have lessened. Contactless payments include transactions made via contactless credit card, wearable NFC devices like smart watches, and smart phones.

Most EMV chip-enabled terminals are also capable of contactless transactions. Examples range from standalone terminals like the Verifone VX520 to full-featured POS systems like the Clover Station.

Also according to RTi Research, approximately 30% of consumers worry about catching the virus from cash, heavily under fire as a virus transmitter. If your credit card terminal does not already accept contactless payments, it may be time for an upgrade through your merchant services provider. Don’t miss payments just because you don’t offer your customer’s preferred payment method.  

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Payment Processing Technology

Every business is unique, especially when it comes to accepting payments. The technology that you use to run your business is vital to your success, so it pays to really understand your needs and get the best payment technology solution possible.

Online Invoicing

Invoices are an essential part of billing for a majority of businesses. Many businesses still rely on very manual processes such as Excel templates, in order to create invoices. While this might seem like a cost-effective solution, the time wasted in creating your invoices and the lack of connectivity between your data can be highly detrimental.

EMV Smart Terminal

Physical credit card processing terminals are great for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations. If your customers are physically coming to you and swiping (or dipping) their cards, this is the solution for you. An important thing to remember is to make sure whatever machine you decide to purchase comes with full EMV and NFC technology enabled. This means you’ll be able to accept chip cards as well as contactless payment methods like contactless cards and digital wallets like Google Pay or Apple Pay.

Mobile Payment Solutions

Perfect for the on-the-go business owner, mobile payment technology can be a game-changer for your business. Some businesses can get by with just a mobile solution, but a large majority use their mobile credit card swipers and apps for trade shows and field reps to be able to take payments on the spot.

Online Shopping Cart

Online shopping carts are powered by payment gateways and are essential for any eCommerce business. Even if you mainly operate a brick-and-mortar location, having an online store is a great way to increase your product’s visibility. Processing payments through an online shopping cart couldn’t be easier, and typically involves a quick phone call with your provider to activate the payment gateway.

Virtual Terminals

While countertop POS systems or card readers may be the obvious choice for card processing equipment for some businesses, they may not be suitable for all. Especially if your business takes orders over the phone, mail, fax, or in-person, you are going to need the help of a virtual terminal. Virtual terminals are simply web-based applications that can run on your laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone, transforming them into a POS system so you can process transactions anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. All you need to do is enter the payment info into your virtual terminal and it will then be encrypted, authorized, and submitted for online payment.

Point-of-Sale

Point-of-sale systems are huge for restaurant and retail locations. These are large, integrated machines with a computer monitor, cash register, and an online credit card processing solution. POS systems come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, so make sure you do your research and choose one with all of the right features for your unique business.

API

If you’re needing a very specific payment solution for your website or app, a payment processing API is probably the way to go. Some merchant services providers offer their API technology to developers to integrate into their proprietary applications, making it the perfect online credit card processing solution for companies needing something more customizable. Source

The Role of Credit Card Processors

The credit card processors are almost the unsung heroes of the entire operation, rounding up all the info and details to get your money from point A to point B. They’re the ones that keep the cash flowing smoothly between you, the merchants, and the banks, pulling the strings to make this miracle happen. Without them, you’d be stuck trying to trade chickens for groceries!

Connecting Merchants and Card Networks

Basically, credit card processors act like the rope that ties together the merchant and the card networks — Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. They occupy the middle ground between the parties and make sure your transaction is passed on correctly, keeping things running smoothly. 

They are also responsible for making sure all of this happens securely so that your data doesn’t end up roaming wild and free.

Here’s where the card processor comes in: When you swipe, tap, or insert your card, the processor ensures the information travels up the line to the banks and networks without any hiccups. Without these processors, your card swipe is a waste of time. They allow you to pay for purchases at stores, online, or over the phone without cash.

Authorizing Transactions 

Before cash changes hands, the processor checks to ensure you aren’t spending more than you have. They validate your information, watching for expired cards and suspicious activity.

The processor deals directly with the bank to validate that your account can pay for your purchase. 

Once that processor gets the all-clear from the bank, it gives the green light to complete the transaction. No funds, no sale — it’s just that simple!

How Payments Settle 

Settlement refers to the money heading to where it belongs — straight into the merchant’s bank account.

By this time, that processor has already cleaned up the loose ends. The cardholder’s bank is fixing to send funds right on over to the merchant’s bank — that’s the “acquiring bank” if you want to get technical. 

All the merchant’s bank does in a settlement is sit and wait for the money to flow in. That processor is the lead cowhand of this cattle drive, making sure every last penny is herded into the right account, no strays running loose. They may not be looking for a medal or anything, but you can’t deny they’re the ones that keep this whole shebang running smooth and fast with hardly any hiccups.

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