Improve Financial Literacy on Get Smart About Credit Day

Why Smart Credit Use Matters, and a Few Easy Tips to Start You Down the Right Path

Since 2003, the American Bankers’ Association has recognized the third Thursday in October as Get Smart About Credit Day.

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Rental Car Fraud & Other Conveniences Can Be a Rip Off

Rental Car Fraud, Scams & Add-Ons Can Turn a Dream Vacation into a Nightmare

Today’s savvy consumer is leery of scams and situations which may result in fraud, and for good reason. According to experts, scam artists and fraudsters victimize millions of consumers each year, and if you’re not careful, you could easily be next!

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What if a Business I Bought from Goes Bankrupt?

How to Get a Refund from a Bankrupt Business

Have you made a purchase recently from an online business, only to find that the business suddenly went bankrupt?

Now it looks like you’re out the money, and you’re not going to get the product or service you paid for. It’s a frightening prospect, but it happens more often than you might expect. Fortunately, all hope is not lost—consumers do have certain protections in-place which can help them recover their funds from a bankrupted business. Read more

CEO Gary Cardone Featured in ‘Home Business’ Magazine

Cardone Addresses the Need for Greater Financial Literacy Among Consumers

eConsumer Services® CEO Gary Cardone recently lent his insight and decades of business experience to a guest column for Home Business Magazine, the publication for aspiring entrepreneurs.

In his August 23, 2016 piece, Cardone cited a disturbing new statistic from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation: nearly two out of three U.S. consumers cannot pass a basic financial literacy test. Read more

eConsumer Services® Provides New Services to a Larger Audience

ECS Teams Up with Consumer Action to Help Educate the Public

eConsumer Services® is proud to introduce their new nonprofit partner, Consumer Action.

As announced in an August 8, 2016 press release, eConsumer Services® will be teaming up with this valued organization to encourage broader public financial literacy. Read more

Gift Card Fraud: The Latest Consumer Fraud Threat

Impostors Use Deceptive Claims to Swindle Consumers

Every day, criminals find new ways to scam people out of their money. For example, one of the latest-developing attack methods relies on convincing cardholders to buy gift cards, then turn the gift card number over to the fraudster.

Why would people do this? Because the fraudster convinces them it’s their only hope of avoiding a lengthy jail sentence. Read more

What You Need to Know about PayPal’s New User Agreement

New PayPal Regulations Will Be Implemented June 2016

PayPal’s new user agreement goes into effect this summer.  Before you simply ‘Agree’ to accept the new policy, you need to understand a few of the changes.  How will the new policies affect you as a consumer? Read more

Is There a Minimum Amount for Cashback Rewards?

Your Cashback Minimum Depends on the Conditions of Your Specific Card

If you hold a credit card, there is a decent chance that there is some form of rebate or rewards program attached to that card.

Issuers including Bank of America, Chase, Discover, Capital One and American Express, just to name a few, typically offer rewards as an incentive for using your card frequently. These rewards might include airline miles, hotel points, gas credits, or in some cases, cashback. Read more

Chargebacks on a Credit Card Affect Businesses and Customers

Chargebacks on Credit Card Purchases Cost Billions Annually in Lost Revenue

Although you may not have ever heard the term “chargeback,” you might be familiar with the concept.

A chargeback is essentially a refund performed at the bank level. After completing a transaction, a dissatisfied cardholder’s bank forcibly withdraws money from a seller’s account and returns it to the cardholder.

Chargebacks were originally devised as a form of consumer protection. However, many consumers use chargebacks as a way to take advantage of e-retailers, often without even knowing that they’re doing it. Read more

Stay Safe Online: You’re More Vulnerable Than You Think

Your Personal Information is Exposed and Available to Fraudsters

Everyone seems to be paying close attention to cyber security these days. Even still, the seemingly constant stream of high-profile data breaches making news headlines suggests that we are always a step behind the criminals.

However, are consumers putting too much emphasis on certain aspects of online security while leaving other avenues vulnerable? Is it even possible to stay safe online?

Americans Apprehensive About Sharing Information

American consumers are generally anxious about the information they share. A poll conducted last year reports that 91% of Americans feel they’ve lost control over the way in which companies collect and use their personal information. The same poll suggests that the majority of people have little faith in the security of communication lines including cell phones, texts, emails and social media. Read more