Personal Finance Journal

A credit card certainly offers consumers a convenient way to buy like gifts, make purchases or pay for household essentials, but there are some drawbacks for certain people who either can’t qualify for a good card or have trouble using their credit cards responsibly.  A possible alternative to a convential card is to use a Green Dot card.

Essentially, whereas with a traditional credit card one makes purchases on the card and then pays down the balance later, a green dot prepaid card allows you to put your money on the Green dot card first and then use it to either make purchases anywhere a credit card is accepted or use an ATM to obtain money at over 18,000 ATMs for no additional charge. When you apply for the card, you can choose to either have a Visa or a MasterCard card.

Nearly anyone can obtain a card with minimal information, basically with no hidden fees and no credit check or bank account required. The monthly fee for using such a card varies but usually runs about $5.95 but can be free if you put enough money on the card or use it a certain number of times.  Additionally, you can reload the card for free in various ways or for a small fee through certain retailers.

The funds in your prepaid account are also safe as they are insured to the maximum provided by FDIC through a custodial account maintained and tracked by the bank that holds the funds of your account.  You can read about the specific ruling here from the FDIC.

The more we choose to use online resources to do our banking, buy our goods and invest our money, the more we need to be cognizant of safeguarding our identity. Your personal financial future can be greatly affected if you become the victim of identity fraud.  Thieves can use your information to open new lines of credit, rent apartments, open telephone or other utility accounts. It can be very difficult to recover from an incident of identity fraud, as well, since the problems often follow you around on various reports and account info.

According to statistics, as recently as 2009, over 11 million consumers in America fell victim to some form of identity fraud. It’s helpful to point out that identity theft is the actual act of stealing someone’s personal information, be it a wallet, account information, credit card numbers, log-in credentials, and so forth.  Identity fraud, then, is the actual use of that information to the advantage of the thief. Because this problem is becoming so serious, companies such as IdentityHawk are beginning to offer services to help monitor your identity as well as measure your risk of fraud.

Coming into the holiday season, here are a few things you can do to further help protect your identity.

Basic Tips to Prevent Online Identity Theft

~  Monitor your accounts on a regular basis.  Check to see if there is any activity that wasn’t initiated by yourself.

~ Stick with companies and websites that you already know and trust.

~ Make sure you’re using a company’s actual site and not a “look alike” site that is designed to fool you.

~ Keep your passwords safe and change them regularly.

~ Don’t click on links within email, especially one’s asking for you to “confirm” something or verify some information. .

~ Keep you computer security software up-to date and consider a identity theft protection program to help you monitor your status.

~ Make sure you only utilize smart phone apps that come from tested and known sources.

~ Keep track of where you make your purchases, record how much you spend, keep any receipts or printout any confirmation pages and save all emails between yourself and the merchant.

Running a small business, especially a retail establishment like a store, restaurant or spa, can certainly be filled with a lot decisions that require you to pick the right equipment and services to meet you needs. One of the concerns that these types of businesses all share is the ability to pick a good credit card processing service.  After all the hard work of getting customers into the door and providing them with your product you need to reliably be able to process their payment.

MONEXgroup is the type of company that is in the business of helping you pick the right equipment to dependably process your orders, especially if you’re looking for a high quality POS systems.  Fortunately, they offer assorted models to fit your specific needs whether it’s a counter top POS, a wireless one or a long-range wireless unit.  There is no need to change your current bank account and they will provide you with new machines that have up-to-date software.  If a machine breaks down, they around the clock support to help you solve your problems.

If you’re a mobile merchant and need to process credit cards in various locations, a long range, wireless terminal can provide service inside and out wherever you go.  This would be ideal for someone who frequently uses a POS system away from a standard location. For those businesses that don’t require a wireless terminal, MONEXgroup’s counter top units can provide you will all the functionality you need to get you started accepted credit cards.

Saving money is not always about putting your cash in the right bank or investing in the perfect stock investment, but sometimes a wise personal financial decision comes with buying the right type of uniform.  If you’re a nurse, you’ve certainly realized the importance of finding the right type of cheap scrubs that don’t sacrifice on quality. The great difficulty, of course, is trying to determine if you’re going to get good quality fabric and a well made product for your troubles.  You also want to make sure that the uniform fits well and has a fashionable look.

Blue Sky Scrubs offers some of the finest made nursing scrub uniforms that are affordable, fashionable and made of high quality fabric you can find online. At http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women/ you can find much more than your typical frumpy scrubs.  They have a slimming fit and the “Original” scrubs feature two back pockets with fashionable stitching that matches the scrub top’s pocket.  You can even match the ensemble with a scrub hat to complete the look.

In addition to women scrubs, Blue Sky Scrubs offers a nice selection of mens medical scrubs that also feature the same well made materials and fashionable look.  Unlike many scrub selections, these are designed to have a nice slimming cut, just long enough to tuck in if needed and a single pocket.  As Blue Sky puts it on their website, this “medical uniform is guaranteed to be more savvy than your typical set scrubs.”  This is a sentiment that captures the essence of Blue Sky Scrubs and their entire line of products, both for men and women.