Finance Blog

Debt, Personal Finance, Loans

Car Insurance Basics

Sep 22

Car insurance protects you against financial loss if you have a car accident. It is a contract between you and the insurance company. You agree to pay the premium and the insurance company agrees to pay your losses as defined in your policy. Auto insurance provides property, liability and medical coverage:

Property coverage pays for damage to or theft of your car.

Types of Credit Card Fraud

Nov 11

Lost and stolen card fraud – a card is physically stolen from your wallet or home, or it is lost, and is then used by a criminal, posing as you, to obtain goods and services. Most fraud of this type takes place before you have reported the loss. This type of card fraud has remained fairly static for the past five years, but a decrease is expected once chip and PIN is fully rolled out in the UK. Card issuers have several countermeasures, including sophisticated software that can, before a transaction is authorized, estimate the probability of fraud. For example, a large transaction occurring a great distance from the cardholder's home might seem suspicious. The merchant may be instructed to call the card issuer for verification, or to decline the transaction, or even to hold the card and refuse to return it to the customer. The customer must contact the issuer and prove who they are to get their card back (if it is not fraud and they are actually buying a product).

Skimming
Skimming is the theft of credit card information

Exotic Options

Dec 13

In finance, an exotic option is a derivative which has features making it more complex than commonly traded products (vanilla options). These products are usually traded over-the-counter (OTC), or are embedded in structured notes. Consider an equity index. A straight call or put, either American or European would be considered non-exotic (vanilla). An exotic product could have one or more of the following features:

Life Insurance

Jan 25

The objective of life insurance is to provide financial security for your family after you die. So, before purchasing a life insurance policy, you should consider your financial situation and the standard of living you want to maintain for your dependents or survivors. For example, who will be responsible for your funeral costs and final medical bills? Would your family have to move house? Will there be enough funds for future or ongoing expenses such as daycare, mortgage payments and college? It is prudent to re-evaluate your life insurance policies annually or when you experience a major life event like marriage, divorce, the birth or adoption of a child, or purchase of a major item such as a house or business.