Consumer rights have been a much debated topic since the time credit became the alternative to currency. Credit enabled people to live beyond their means and eventually a section of the population fell into a debt ditch. Financial institutions and lenders began to use the services of collection agencies to recover money from debtors. The nature of credit transactions grew progressively complex over time and collection agencies took advantage of the lax regulatory system to exploit the average credit consumers at large. Collection agencies resorted to nefarious tactics, from verbally threatening people with physical harm to criminal prosecution.

Under pressure from consumer rights advocacy groups, the federal government introduced the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) in 1978. It was designed to eliminate the abusive practices collectors resorted to in the process of collecting debts as well as protect consumer’s rights in general.

Although the FDCPA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) managed to curb unfair collection practices to a very large extent, collectors kept finding new avenues to exploit consumers. In an age where the most powerful communication tool is considered to be the Internet, social networking services like Twitter and Facebook are turning out to be the favored hunting grounds for collectors.

Here are some strategic steps to help you boost your online security as a preemptive measure to keep collectors from infringing on your online privacy.

• Use your security settings – When you open an account or create your profile on a social networking site, the information you list is usually set at the lowest level of security by default. In such a case, anybody and everybody can see whatever you post or upload, your personal information like your contact numbers, address, employer, information on your friends and family, etc. You essentially need to change your security settings so as to prevent strangers from having access to your information. Change your access details from ‘public’ to ‘friends only’ and enable secure hypertext transfer protocol. The site’s ‘Help’ section should have a instructions on how to do all of this.

• Don’t talk to strangers – The most common mistake the social network users make is accepting friend requests from unknown people. Even strangers who have common friends with you may be a potential threat. Collectors are known to set up fake profiles and befriend debtors in order to gain access to their private information and whereabouts. It is therefore advisable to not accept requests from people you have never met personally.

• Post prudently – Social networking sites try and inculcate a virtual sense of comfort amongst users through a private platform on which friends and family interact. Even if your profile is secured tight, your friend’s profile might get hacked and unwanted people may gain access to your information. Moreover, certain inbuilt features of social networking sites ‘tag’ your posts with the location you are posting from. Most people are absolutely oblivious to this fact and end up divulging their whereabouts unknowingly. Debt collectors look for such posts in order to track down debtors and their relatives.

• Respond promptly to collection communications – Debt collectors would only resort to underhanded tactics like using a social networking site to track you down in case they are unable to reach you through normal channels. It’s better to respond to collection letters or e-mails without hesitation. You can just as well send a Cease & Desist letter and tell them to stop all attempts at communicating with you. If the debt is valid, the collectors can sue you for it. It’s better to work with them and offer to settle the account.

The data gathered on debtors through an online social network is being used by collection agencies to various effects. Consumer’s rights experts suggest that it is high time to start thinking of social network security not as an added advantage but as a necessity for protecting your privacy.

More than 59% Americans depend on credit cards as a way of running the month without compromising on their savings or overextending their cash budget. Give how important the credit card industry is to the financial well being of the nation’s population, a comprehensive update of all the happenings related to the credit card companies is essential. The credit card industry has shown signs of growth and recessions over the past few weeks. The following is a short report of the happenings of recent events that analysts think will have an overall effect on the nation’s finance industry.

Visa’s business boom

The first quarter financial report released by Visa Inc. a few weeks ago showed a 16% increase in profits made by the company. This is a clear indication of credit and debit card usage amongst consumers. The net income for last quarter of 2011 went up from $884 to $1.03 billion. Bloomberg analysts have declared that the current earnings per share stand at a healthy $1.45. Visa is also planning to put into effect a $500 million share repurchase program.

The CEO of Visa Inc, Joseph Saunders said that he is setting the grounds for Visa’s next growth cycle after federal regulation put a cap on ‘swipe fees’ which the company charged on debit card purchases.  He also mentioned that Visa is aiming to expand its overseas market and generate more than half its total revenue from those markets. In the last year, Visa’s global network processed 76 billion transactions with a total volume of $5.9 trillion.

In a press release, Visa announced that it would be helping the Republic of Rwanda in their effort to develop their own payment system. The move will help connect the 11 million citizens of the country to the global economy.

Improved credit reporting

Credit reporting agencies (CRA) have started collecting and assembling consumer data like payday loan applications, claim dues, evictions, dues or late payments of homeowner’s association fees. CRAs are analyzing and selling the data to insurance companies, employers, lenders and renters who are willing to pay for access to such information. Collection and consolidation of financial and semi-financial data by the CRAs have started to force consumers into taking better care of their credit report.

Citigroup continues downsizing employees

Citigroup is going to be spending $400 million dollar by the fourth quarter of this year to cover severance and downsizing costs for 4,500 employees. The Chief of Citigroup, Mr. Vikram S. Pandit spoke at the Goldman Sachs financial service and projected the downsizing effort as a part of his plan to brace the company for harder times ahead.

The number of employees was already down by 100,000 from 2007. Citigroup’s employee strength would stand at 262,500 after the move and most of the downsized employees will be from the back-office and investment banking operations. The 4,500 jobs designated to be downsized would mean a cutback of 2% but the board of directors is hoping that the spending cuts would help them regain some semblance of financial stability.

‘Digital Wallet’ wars escalate

Near field communication based mobile payment technology is set to take the lead in the ongoing digital wallet wars as Visa and Samsung declare to jointly introduce this technology during the 2012 London Olympics. The two companies are baking on the sheer number of attendees the event will attract to advertise their product. The battle for supremacy in the digital payment market continues to heat up. Major players like Google, Verizon, Apple, Visa and Paypal speed up their technology development process and fight to maintain exclusivity on their respective platforms.

Credit card security increases

A recent financial crime spree has set consumers, cops and lenders on high alert. An automated call informs the consumer that their credit card is locked and they are required to punch in the card number on their phone’s keypad in order to unlock the cards. Most unsuspecting consumers end up doing as instructed and become victims of scammers.

An industry expert says “Chip-and-PIN cards are the next step in electronic transaction security.” The technology is slowly gaining momentum in the market and it would protect card holders and issuers against card-present frauds as well as card-not-present (CNP) scams.

Credit card rates holding steady

Amongst the 1060 credit cards advertising their rates in the United States, the average cash advance rate for this week is holding steady at 21.52%, remaining unchanged since last week. The average percentage rate or the APR on credit cards currently stands at 14.25%, down from 14.47% last week.

After proudly reigning the tennis court for long time, he retired in 1982 with $3.6 million in his pocket but soon faced some personal problem including divorce and tax. His first two marriages ended in divorce. In 1991, he paid $40000 to the Swedish tax authority after being threatened by the authority. In 1997, he was to able to avoid personal bankruptcy as a company (which he earlier owned) agreed to pay off debts of more than $1 million to 11 Swedish creditors. In 2004, he dropped an appeal of Swedish taxes.

I am not narrating a made up story this is a true story of a Champ. His name is Bjorn Borg, the famous tennis player.

He made to the recent news as he started selling his trophis and rackets in order to get back his financial strength from the burden of excessive debt. First time in the history we come to know that, a most prestigious and one of the richest tennis player, owner of so many Grand Slam titles has decided and taken such an action. I feel sad about it but that is life.

As per his email statement “…It’s not easy to part with the trophies,” he said that he need to have some long-term financial security.

I am sure Debt can’t be worse than this when you have to pay your success to overcome it.

A place where I can share

• My theories about credit.
• My experiences with debt.
• My day to day fight with debts.
• My budgeting fundas.
• My complains.

I am thinking more about it. I always wanted a place to share these things. I had a discussion with our R&D team and hopefully they will come up with a suited plan.

I will love to have it, read the community response at http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/mycredit.html .