Credit card fraud can happen when a person swipes a credit card as confirmation of ID when printing out his or her own boarding passes. This type of fraud is known as skimming, which is the term used when a potential identity thief puts a reader device on the kiosk and uses it to capture a person’s credit card number. Frequently, this happens without the user even realizing it.

This issue first made headlines in 2008 when officials from Visa Canada reported that they were investigating potential fraud at the Toronto airport. Due to this investigation, one airline, WestJet, decided to dismantle all of its credit card kiosks in favor of having each passenger checked in manually by an airline representative.

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() Houston – The Gold Composite rose 0.27% to 1100.1 Thursday morning, compared to the S&P 500 which fell 1.40%.  Yet despite a bullish outlook towards gold stocks in general, many are still far below record gold bullion prices.

Analysts see China facing risk of vulnerability as the world’s fifth largest gold producer due to a short reserve line.  Coupled with a weaker dollar driving demand and an overall decline in gold mine production globally, bullion prices are seen as continuing to remain at record levels.  Yet with gold prices expected to remain high, gold stocks in the North American market are lagging behind those price levels.

Kinross Gold Corp. (N

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There once was a time when cash back credit cards were offering heavy bonuses in addition to the already lucrative 5% cash back on all purchases.  Now-a-days, most cash back credit cards offer a standard cash back amount of just 1% but if you look hard enough, there are still a few cards out there that offer excellent cash back opportunities.  The two more widely and most popular versions of cash back credit cards are the Chase Freedom MasterCard and the Discover More Card.  Both offer a linty of perks besides the cash back each month so let’s compare each card and see just which card delivers the knockout.

Chase Freedom MasterCard

The Chase Freedom MasterCard offers 5% cash back on rotating purchases made throughout the year and 1% standard cash back on all other purchases.  This means that some months (usually in blocks of three), your gas purchases are eligible for 5% cash back, while other months, you’ll receive just 1% cash back.  Chase will kindly let you know ahead of time which categories offer 5% cash back and when, so plan accordingly.  In addition to the high cash back offer, the Chase Freedom Card offers a 0% APR on balance transfers for the first 12 months and a 0% APR on purchases for the first six months (as low as 12.99% variable, thereafter).  There’s no annual fee to hold the Chase Freedom MasterCard and if you buy merchandise through their Ultimate Rewards website, you might find a cash back rebate of up to 20%. To recap:

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People who have never had any type of credit account before do not have histories at any of the big three credit agencies, so that makes it difficult to calculate the statistical odds that these consumers will pay their bills on time. If you can demonstrate income, or line up a co-signer, you can get a reasonably affordable deal on a card. If you don’t have either, and are under the age of 21, you won’t be able to get a credit card. 

Tighter Credit

Federal laws passed in 2008, and that went into effect early in 2010, limit the practice of granting credit cards to people under the age of 21.

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Doing anything yourself is going to save you a lot of money.  Whether you have to fix a faucet leak, or maybe you want to get your credit repaired, if you skip out on the professional companies, you’re going to be able to save yourself a lot of money.

How can I repair credit all by myself?

For starters, you’re going to find that debt doesn’t go away by itself.  It’s going to take some motivation and action.  This is the step that many people skip out on.  It’s going to take time, effort, as well as money.  Money will always equal getting rid of debt!

Step #1 Get your credit report checked

The first thing that you’re going to want to do is get a copy of all three credit reports.  You can get your free credit report annually through the government at annualcreditreport.com.  Be sure to study each and every one.  If everything looks great, we’re ready to go!  If there are some errors, refer to a post that I made earlier titled “How to get rid of negative items on your credit report.”

Things that you’re going to want to look out for are charges that were never made, late payments that you didn’t make, or accounts that are not even yours.  Be sure to highlight those that are raising question marks.

Step #2 Start fighting off that debt

A lot of debt is going to lead to a lower credit score.  The more debt you have, the harder you’re going to have to work.  Sure, there are good debts such as your mortgage, but it’s always wise to pay those off as well.

First of all, you’re going to want to focus on your debts such as loans, credit cards, and more.  Again, there is NO secret formula.  You’re just going to have to make money to get rid of these debts.  Pay off each credit card, while paying the minimums on the others.  You don’t want to miss a payment.

Experts are going to tell you to pay off the highest interest rate first and I 100% agree.  Pay the most toward the highest interest rate, while paying the minimums on everything else.

Step #3:  Keep on fighting

As the debt does down, your score is going to rise.  This isn’t going to happen over night.  Instead, you’re going to want to wait a few years before you see it rise significantly.  As your score goes up, this more than likely means that your debt is going down.

Again, you’re going to want to realize that there is no magic formula.  Kill your debt and throw as much money as possible.  It really isn’t hard, it’s just going to take a lot of time.  If you find that you’re having a lot of trouble, you can always meet up with non-profit organizations that can give you counseling.

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