It’s to your credit.....or is it?

Anton Hilton • December 23, 2016

Beware of credit card payments

What is a credit card payment? It is not, as some may think, a guarantee of payment.

A credit card payment only confirms the card is not reported as lost or stolen and there are sufficient funds available at the time the transaction is made.

Customer Not Present.

A number of credit card companies offer verification checks when payment is made over the Internet. Retailers selling on line do, therefore, have some protection when selling on line. But what about over the telephone?

A retailer taking payment over the telephone is at risk of a charge back if the credit card is used fraudulently. It can take anything up to five weeks for the charge back to appear and the retailer’s goods will have long disappeared along with the person making the transaction. A retailer can be left seriously out of pocket with little hope of recovering their goods or money.

‘Bill to’. ‘Ship to’.

Retailers need to exercise great caution if the billing address is different from the shipping address. Whist many of these transactions are perfectly legitimate, it is a high risk category for fraud.

What can a retailer do to protect themselves?

Call the card issuing merchant and request they make a courtesy call to their customer to authorise payment.
Ask for a contact telephone number for both addresses.
A large number of fraudulent transactions involve the fraudster having the card numbers and not the actual card itself. Ask for a scanned e-mail of both sides of the card for verification.

If in doubt, refuse the sale. It is better to lose the sale than give your goods away for free.

Peter Jenkins

Old Age Pension

By Peter Jenkins • February 28, 2020
The UK government recently increased the age for claiming old age pension. This was on the basis of people living longer and, perhaps at face value, not unreasonable. But was it a trick to save the government money? Figures published recently have shown life expectancy has actually started to decline. The increase in life expectancy was probably a 'blip' from the war generation and the immediate generation thereafter. People ate less, not by choice, but due to rationing. Walking was common and there was a complete absence of computer and video games. Children played out and exercised naturally. The Clean Air Act was passed. Today the situation is very different. Food has been plentiful for decades and computers and video games have been around since the mid 1980s. Vehicles pollute our towns and cities. No 'great smog' of yesteryear but the pollution is there, invisible.

Customer Review

By Peter Jenkins • November 14, 2017
Satisfied Customer Testimonial

It's Enough To Make You Sick

By Peter Jenkins • June 6, 2017
Bogus Travel Insurance Claims

It's a car Jim, but not as we know it

By Peter Jenkins • February 3, 2017
Over the coming decades cars, as we know them, will evolve into semi-automated vehicles. We are already seeing advances in this area that offer safety and convenience such as stop/go traffic, intelligent cruise control and self-parking. In the longer term, carmakers and technology companies see the potential to replace human drivers with fully autonomous vehicles. Who is responsible for an accident may well become what was responsible for the accident. Accidents are likely to involve a mix of human error and failure of a product or piece of software. Motor insurance is likely to undergo a transformation over the coming years with some predicting a large reduction in accidents resulting in much lower insurance premiums. We shall wait and see. My computer has crashed will take on an entirely different meaning.

The Insureminator

By Peter Jenkins • January 18, 2017
Rumours are circulating a Far East life insurer is about to replace 34 staff with artificial intelligence machines. The machines will be able to calculate payouts and have access to medical records and data to correctly calculate payments. Other insurance companies are also looking into replacing staff with artificial intelligence machines. We wonder whether callers put on hold will be told "I'll Be Back".

Noah, build me an ark

By Anton Hilton • December 23, 2016
Many people must be concerned about the recent flooding and the availability of flood insurance in the future. Having flood cover is normally a requirement of any mortgage lender, so being unable to obtain insurance cover will affect the value of the property.

Self-drive cars by 2020?

By Anton Hilton • December 23, 2016
The technology giant Google has revealed automated vehicles could be on the road by 2020. Is a crash-free era on the horizon? Not so according to a recent report from Lloyd’s Underwriters. “While severe accidents are caused by human error, it is rare that drivers do something blatantly in contravention of road safety, such as driving the wrong way down a motorway,” the report said. “A computer miscalculation or a faulty reading from a sensor could lead a car to do something that a human driver would instinctively realise is inappropriate.”

43% of small businesses are underinsured

By Anton Hilton • December 23, 2016
A recent study has revealed 43% of small businesses do not have adequate storm cover. With another wet winter predicted, it is important small businesses review their existing insurance arrangements and there is no better way of doing this than contacting an insurance broker.