Two are sentenced in credit-card theft

Two Baltimore men won't be able to pretend to be someone else in a prison cell.

Devin Keith Weller, 22, and Christopher Robert Bacco, 24, were each sentenced yesterday to more than four years in federal prison for using other people's stolen credit-card numbers for a buying spree that ended in Henrico County.

U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer handed down prison sentences of 55 months for Weller and 53 months for Bacco. Both had pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and possession of equipment that they used to make fake credit cards with stolen account numbers.

The sentences were the latest fruit of a crackdown on identity theft by federal law-enforcement agencies working closely with state and local authorities.

Weller and Bacco were arrested by Henrico police in mid-2005, but the county transferred the case to federal authorities for prosecution because the elaborate criminal scheme was international in scope and crossed multiple jurisdictional boundaries. The FBI investigated, along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Henrico police.

The men had used an Internet Web site to contact a European vendor of stolen credit-card account numbers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. They purchased 150 stolen account numbers and downloaded them into a laptop computer.

They used a device to encode the numbers on plastic credit cards, which they had purchased from another Internet vendor. They matched the names on the phony credit cards with fake identification numbers from a third Internet dealer.

In June 2005, Weller and Bacco used the fake credit cards and IDs on a buying spree that began in Baltimore, continued along Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia and ended with their arrest at a Target store in Glen Allen.

The men purchased computer and electronic gaming equipment from Target stores with the aim of reselling it on the Internet through eBay.

Henrico police seized thousands of dollars worth of stolen electronic equipment, which was returned to the Target chain. - Michael Martz

Business credit card

Today, a large number of individuals and corporate entities are using credit cards for their business transactions. When asked, these people admitted that they liked the benefits and advantages of using business credit cards. Besides, many business travelers consider credit cards as a means of survival.

A newer type of credit card is the business credit card. Business owners are applauding the benefits to their company of using a good business credit card. It has become standard business practice for selected employees to be given the privilege of using a business credit card. Business credit cards help both the employee and management keep track of their professional and personal expenses. It separates the employee's business expenses from personal expenses.

There are many attractive benefits offered by credit card companies to the card user, as well as to other businesses that use their business credit card. Even if annual fees are waived, keep in mind that a higher annual fee is customary with higher credit card limits.

There are different measurement yardsticks used by credit card companies when they consider credit card charges. Also, check for the business credit card's fees and APRs (Annual Percentage Rate). You can use the balance transfer to shift money you owe out of high rate cards and into lower rate cards.

Some business credit cards provided by several financial institutions offer various reward points and benefits in addition to lower APRs. Many internet websites already have the listings of their business credit cards side by side to make the comparisons more accurate.

They also contain the itemized listings of the business credit card special offers, such as reward points or grace periods. Nowadays, business credit cards are considered an important necessity. It not only helps business owners in their monetary transactions, but also helps with tax accounting and builds their credit card history.

Ways to increase your credit score

It is not too much difficult to increase credit score as you might think. If your credit score is under 620, getting a loan and credit card is difficult. You know there are 30 million people in the US that have credit score less than 620.

Here are some tips that can be used to increase credit score:

• Getting a copy of your credit score is a good idea


• Always pay your bills on time


• Paying down your Debts


• Do not close your old accounts


• Try to stay away from bankruptcy
  

  Bankruptcy is the single worst thing that will destroy your credit score. Bankruptcy will lower your credit score by 200 points or more and is very difficult to come back from.

  
  

  Once your credit score falls below 620, any loan you get will be far more expensive. A bankruptcy on your credit record is reported for up to 10 years.

  
  

  The reality of a bankruptcy is it will limit you to high-interest lenders that will squeeze out high interest rate payments from you for years.

  
  

It is better to get credit counseling to help you with your bills and avoid bankruptcy at all costs. By getting credit counseling instead of declaring bankruptcy you can raise credit score over a much shorter period of time.

Canceling a card does not help your credit score

Is your credit score, that three-digit number that purports to measure the health of your credit history, not as high as you'd like it to be? If your credit-card spending is out of control, you may be tempted to cancel some of your cards so that you can elevate your score. But simply cutting up the card the old-fashioned way, rather than canceling it, may be the better way to go.

According to Bankrate.com, canceling your credit card probably won't help your credit score. In fact, it could really hurt it. Here's why:

If you cancel a card, your "credit-utilization ratio" is altered. Say you have five open credit-card accounts that add up to a total available credit line of $50,000. Your total outstanding balance on all five cards combined is $10,000. Thus, your credit-utilization ratio is 20%. But if you cancel two of those cards, bringing your total available credit line down to $25,000, the ratio jumps up to 40%. And that can make your credit score go down.

Bankrate.com also warns against canceling an old card. You build up a payment history on old cards, so if you cancel one you've had for a while, you're only trimming the length of your credit history. This can be especially damaging if the old card was one on which you made regular payments.

The best bet, of course, is to simply pay off your cards. Unless you're paying fees to keep an account open, it's good enough to pay down the balance -- and cut that card up.

By Marshall Loeb, MarketWatch

MasterCard launches pre-paid card for migrants

By Helen Marshall

Expanding its reach to a new consumer group, MasterCard has unveiled a new pre-paid MasterCard card for migrants in the UK who do not have a bank account.

According to the UK Home Office, over 427,000 migrants have entered the UK in the last two years. These consumers are unable to sign up for a UK bank account or credit card without providing details of their National Insurance number, employment or credit history.

MasterCard's new 'Unique' pre-paid card, which was developed by Advanced Payment Solutions and is issued by Broadcastle Bank, has been designed specifically for this consumer group. MasterCard claims that it will provide users with many benefits of a credit card and bank account without the need for either.

The card works in a way very similar to a mobile phone top-up card, with the cardholder topping up their card from any of the 14,000 Post Offices nationwide with the desired amount of money. This allows the cardholder to spend the amount of money held in the card account, eliminating the risk of debt and interest payments.

With no credit checks made or employment history needed, users can use the pre-paid card for everything from buying petrol to internet shopping and mail order.

The card is accessible to anyone over the age of 18 and living in the UK. It comes with a one-off fee of GBP9.95 and then a monthly fee of GBP5.95.