Half of us risking bank fraud

One in two people are failing to take the most basic precautions to protect themselves from credit card and bank account fraud, Which? Money reveals today.

Around half of the 4,119 people we surveyed admitted using the same Pin for more than one card.

A similar number said they were failing to check that a website was secure before they shopped, or used their mother’s maiden name as a password.

Password
One in seven even admitted writing down Pins and passwords.

But people do seem to be aware of some other common fraud risks.

Most of those polled said they hid their Pin from potential ‘shoulder surfers’ at cashpoints, checked their statements for rogue transactions and ripped up or shredded do***ents.

ID theft
One third of those surveyed by Which? Money said they had had money fraudulently taken from their credit card or bank account.

The vast majority got all of it back, which would seem to suggest that expensive ID theft insurance is unnecessary for most people.

Which? Money editor Martyn Hocking said: ‘There’s a lot more people can do to prevent fraud occurring.

‘Shredding do***ents and checking your bank statements are a good start, but people need to be wise to basic fraud risks such as using their mother’s maiden name as a password, or shopping on websites that aren't secure.

‘By taking a few basic precautions, people can significantly reduce the risk of fraud - without buying unnecessary insurance.’

Hillary Clinton Outlines Economic Plan for Kentucky

5/17/2008 -- Today, at a rally in Frankfort, Kentucky, Hillary Clinton will outline her plan to create good jobs for Kentucky workers and cut taxes for middle class families. Hillary will also criticize Senator McCain for embracing George Bush’s economic vision.

She said: "Senator McCain has said he doesn’t understand the economy. But the economic agenda he’s laying out on the campaign trail suggests he understands exactly what he’s doing. It’s nothing but four more years of George Bush economics: Corporate special interests first, middle class families last, borrow from China and stick our children and grandchildren with the bill."
Hillary has a fundamentally different approach to the economy. Her economic plan will take back the benefits from corporate special interests and make the economy work for middle class families again. Her plan will:
Provide new tax cuts for middle class families, not tax giveaways to corporations: While Senator McCain wants to offer corporations a $100 billion tax cut, Senator Clinton’s plan will provide more than $100 billion in middle class tax cuts to help families afford healthcare, college, and saving for retirement.
End tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas, and investing in an aggressive plan help create good jobs in the U.S.: While Senator McCain wants to maintain tax incentives for companies that outsource, Senator Clinton’s plan will reform our tax code to reward job creation here in the U.S., and invest in helping create millions of good new jobs that can’t be outsourced.
Protecting Social Security from the McCain-Bush Privatization Plan: While John McCain has embraced President Bush’s failed Social Security Privatization scheme, Senator Clinton’s plan will protect Social Security for future generations of workers.
Restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington: While Senator McCain wants to continue President Bush’s fiscal recklessness with more than $400 billion in new unpaid for tax cuts, Senator Clinton’s plan will restore fiscal discipline and move us back toward balanced budgets.
Details of Hillary Clinton’s Economic Plan for Kentucky Families
1. Provide more than $100 billion in new tax cuts for middle class families. Hillary’s middle class tax cut plan will save families thousands of dollars who are struggling to pay for health care, college costs, or the care for an elderly parent or disabled child. It would also help families who are saving for a secure retirement. The cuts would provide middle class families with at least $100 billion in tax relief per year. A typical family making $50,000 would receive at least $4,500 in tax benefits, including matching tax cut of up to $1,000 to help save and build wealth, a $3,500 tax credit to help pay for college costs, and a generous tax cut to make health care affordable. In addition, a family caring for an elderly parent or disabled child would receive a $3,000 tax credit to help cover the costs of caregiving. Hillary would also expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to help larger families, giving at least 3 million families with $1,000 in additional income and would triple the size of the EITC benefit for single workers, providing more than four million people a tax cut averaging $750. The impact of these tax cuts would be enormous for millions of Kentucky families. For example, 1.2 million Kentucky households will be eligible to receive with new matching tax cuts to help save for retirement and at least 67,000 Kentucky seniors, people with disabilities and their families will be eligible for a new $3000 Caregivers Tax Credit.
In contrast, Senator McCain’s economic plan will give more than $100 billion in new tax cuts to America’s largest and most profitable corporations.
Senator McCain’s plan will provide a $1.4 billion tax cut for Exxon, the most profitable company in history; a $500 million tax cut for Halliburton; and a $2 billion tax cut for America’s largest health insurance companies.
Senator McCain’s tax plan is even more skewed to the wealthy than the Bush tax cuts. Fifty-eight percent of the benefits from the McCain plan would go to the top 1% of taxpayer, compared to the 31% of the Bush tax cuts that went to the top 1% of taxpayers. [Center for American Progress, 2008].
Senator McCain’s corporate tax proposal would create massive new tax sheltering opportunities that would allow many corporations to avoid paying taxes altogether. As tax expert Reuven Avi-Yonah has explained, McCain’s proposal to allow businesses immediately expense 100% of their new investments "would open up almost unlimited opportunities for sheltering income. In fact for many corporations, the proposal would result in a negative effective tax rate on many investments-rather than paying a tax on profits the corporation would get money from the government in addition to their profits." [Center for American Progress, 2008].
2. End tax cuts for companies that ship jobs overseas, and invest in an aggressive plan help create good jobs in the U.S.: John McCain’s corporate tax plan would maintain current tax incentives that actually reward companies for outsourcing jobs. In contrast, Hillary will take away all tax breaks from companies that are sending jobs and production overseas and use those tax dollars to reward companies that invest in creating good jobs here in the U.S. Her plan to create good jobs for Kentucky families includes:
Investing in Infrastructure to help create 3 million new jobs. Hillary’s infrastructure plan would invest $10 billion in funding to help states review and repair their critical infrastructure; modernize seaports; expand funding for public transit and intercity rail; incentivize environmentally sensitive land use policies; and a reduce congestion. She is also a co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation to create a national infrastructure bank that would evaluate and finance large infrastructure projects.
Establishing a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund to help create at least 5 million green collar jobs. In 2007, many of the largest oil companies recorded record profits. Exxon-Mobil recorded an annual profit of $40.6 billion, making it the most profitable corporation in history. Together, the five largest U.S. oil companies-Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, Valero and Marathon Oil-earned more than $75 billion in 2007- about $2,500 per second. Hillary’s energy plan would give large oil companies a choice: invest more in renewable energy technology or pay into a Strategic Energy Fund to jumpstart clean energy research and the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies. These investments will lay the foundation for our economy to create at least 5 million high-paying green collar jobs over the next decade.
Providing New Support to Help Small Businesses Create Good Jobs. At this time of economic uncertainty, small businesses are more important than ever. They have accounted for 80 percent of net new jobs since 1990 and employ more than half of all private sector workers. As president, Hillary will double funding for the Small Business Administration, which has been cut by 50% under the Bush Administration. Hillary will also provide new tax credits to small businesses to make it easier for them to create new jobs with health care for their workers here in the U.S.
Making Trade Work for Working Families.<>

Friday Newspaper Review - Irish Business News and International Stories

The Irish Independent reports that several hundred jobs will be lost when most of the world-famous Guinness brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin is closed and sold off as part of a major revamp of the company's operations.
For the first time in more than 200 years the black stout synonymous with the capital will not be brewed beside the Liffey in the centre city.
Instead it will be produced at a site at Grange Castle, Clondalkin, in west Dublin. Diageo, which owns Guinness, will reveal later today that it has decided to consolidate its Irish brewing operations at the Clondalkin site.
But it will continue to brew the Guinness flavour essence extract at St James's Gate. The move will also involve the closure of Diageo breweries in Kilkenny, Waterford and Dundalk.
It is expected to lead to the loss of several hundred jobs at the company, which employs 2,500 in the Republic and the North.
The restructuring will allow Diageo to sell much of the 55-acre site at St James's Gate for development.
The site was valued at €3bn at the height of the property boom but it might struggle to command such a price in the current market, especially as Guinness will retain some of it.
Later today, Diageo will argue it is no longer commercially viable to brew at Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford and Dundalk. It is understood the company is also considering making its brewing operations into a separate company which might be quoted separately on the London, and possibly Dublin, stock exchanges.

St George’s small rise, or small fall?

It was a less than stellar result from the Happy Dragon, St George Bank.The country's smallest 'big' bank experienced its first fall in profit in six years on higher bad debts, funding costs and a tax charge (that's being disputed).Net after tax profit including one off items fell 10% to $514 million in the six months ended March 31, from the $572 million earned in the first half of last financial year.On a cash earnings basis though (which is preferred by the various banks), profit rose 6.2% to an all time high $603 million; but it was a record overshadowed by the detail in the profit announcement.To make sure shareholders remained happy, interim dividend was boosted 6 cents a share to 88 cents, a payout ratio of a very high 81%.And to try and encourage shareholders into taking shares instead of all cash dividends, a discount of 2.5% will be applied to shares taken in the dividend reinvestment program, another sign of a bank looking to minimise the cash outflow (As the ANZ has done with its DRP being underwritten to ensure it gets as much cash as possible).And the global credit crunch, which is not going away, and associated stockmarket turmoil, which is easing from the high levels of earlier in the year, has forced St George Bank to cut its earnings forecast for the rest of this financial year from a 10% increase to one in a range of 8%-10%, so long as there are no 'material one off' events (such as a big company collapse it may be exposed to).The bank had only reaffirmed its long standing 10% target in February, about six weeks from the end of the March half.Now it says a $20 million credit loss on a margin loan and the slowing domestic economy will see its target for earnings per share growth drop to within a range of the 8% to 10%.The bank said cash earnings of $603 million would have been higher - $626 million and up 13% - if it had not been for a $23 million post-tax reversal on its large mortgage insurance investment portfolio which took a hit because of the January slump in equity and financial markets.But it was the cost of 'significant items' (or one-offs) at $93 million - including a large tax bill following a decade long battle with the Tax Office and a $30 million charge to cover future restructuring plans - took an even greater toll of the final after-tax result. The crunch and market turmoil has also seen St George increase its provisions for possible bad debts following the highly public troubles of clients such as Centro and Allco Financial Group.It also revealed that it had made a specific pre-tax provision of $20 million to cover a margin loan secured by shares in the debt-stricken and ASX-listed property company Octaviar, previously known as MFS, but didn't make a specific provision against the struggling Centro and Allco because it said they were still performing: with the support of their banks, including St George it may be said.St George has previously disclosed that it has a fully-secured $458 million exposure to Centro and a $60 million loan out with Allco which is not secured.Brokers say the house price figures showing a 1.5% drop in Sydney house prices in the March quarter and sluggish building approvals and home sales in the state, St George's main market, mean a tougher time is head for the bank in housing and propertyThe bank's cost to income ratio eased to just over 42%, a solid effort given the turmoil.Its interest margin declined 5 points to 1.92% from 1.97%, thanks to the credit crunch and higher funding costs."The higher net funding costs of $13 million ($9 million after tax) comprise a $28 million pre tax expense due to the widening spread between official cash rates and 90 day bank bill rates and a $7 million pre tax expense due to the higher cost of wholesale debt. This has been substantially recouped with a $22 million pre tax benefit obtained from repricing housing loans over and above the cash rate," the bank said in its profit announcement.It had done this by boosting home loan rates to a high 9.47%, with around 0.35% of extra increases on top of the Reserve Bank's increases in the half.Retail and business deposits rose (as they did at other banks) as worried investors of all sizes held on to their money and companies retained cash, or sought bank loans instead of going directly to the market.St George said retail deposits were up 14% to $51 billion while home loans grew by 10% over the half year to the end of March. Business banking was up by more than 30%, better than the 22% implied in the Reserve Bank's credit aggregates, but in keeping with the move to reintermediation caused by the credit crunch shutting markets.The impact of the credit crunch was seen on St George's securitised assets: they fell by around $3 billion in the half to just over $16.5 billion, compared to the first half of the previous year. St George and other banks and non bank lenders were unable to securitise any loans in the March quarter (the last three months of the half year).St George raised its figure for impaired loans by $25 million during the first half with the charge now standing at $118 million. Total provisions stand at $550 million. But while St George's experience mirrors that of rivals Westpac and ANZ who also revealed higher amounts set aside for poor loans, the $25 million increase was small compared to hit of $980 million taken by ANZ.

Worst crisis is over for Wall Street, says Buffett

Omaha/New York: Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said the global credit crunch has eased for bankers and the Federal Reserve probably averted more failures by helping to rescue Bear Stearns Cos.“The worst of the crisis in Wall Street is over,” Buffett said yesterday on Bloomberg Television. “In terms of people with individual mortgages, there’s a lot of pain left to come.” Buffett, the world’s richest man according to Forbes magazine, said the Fed acted properly when it arranged a $2.4bn bailout in March of New York-based Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase & Co. The billionaire said he turned down the opportunity because he lacked enough capital and time to grasp the situation. More failures and wider panic may have resulted if the regulators didn’t halt the run on Bear Stearns, he said.“The worry was that there would be contagion; it was a very real worry,” Buffett said. “If Bear Stearns had gone, the next day, somebody else would have gone. It could’ve been a very, very, very chaotic situation.”Buffett, 77, said he was contacted in March before JPMorgan, the third-biggest US bank by assets, agreed to buy Bear Stearns. The person calling him, whom he wouldn’t identify, was “someone responsible” and wasn’t from the Federal Reserve or the Treasury. The call lasted about half an hour, Buffett said.“As I understand it, Bear Stearns had $65bn due on Monday and I didn’t have $65bn,” Buffett said. “I couldn’t get my mind around that situation in the required time.” New York-based JPMorgan was the right buyer for Bear Stearns, he added.Berkshire had about $35bn in cash as of March 31, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.JPMorgan agreed in mid-March to acquire Bear Stearns, once the fifth-biggest US securities firm, after customers grew concerned about the company’s health and pulled out their money, leaving Bear Stearns short on cash. JPMorgan, which got financial support from the Federal Reserve, raised the purchase price a week later to $10 a share from $2 to mollify Bear Stearns shareholders who said they weren’t getting enough.The world’s biggest banks and investment firms have recorded more than $300bn of losses and writedowns tied to mortgages, bonds and loans.Berkshire’s own investment in derivative contracts recovered between $500mn and $600mn of lost value since the end of March, Buffett said. Berkshire said on Friday the value of the investments had declined by $1.7bn in the first quarter. The entire company’s quarterly profit plunged 64% to $940mn.Buffett is scheduled to embark on a four-city European trip this month to scout potential acquisitions, including family-owned companies. He has been investing in China, Israel and the UK to spur profit growth after saying that US investments meeting his criteria have become scarce.“Over time we’d like to develop more international earnings,” Buffett said. “If it’s a $2bn deal, fine; if it’s a $20bn dollar deal, fine.”Buffett, who made his first non-US acquisition in 2006, paying $4bn for 80% of Israel-based Iscar Metalworking Co, said he can’t predict the location of the next company Berkshire will acquire.“They can come from Europe, they can come from the US, you just never know,” he said. “Somebody, someplace is going to have a situation where we fit. They’re going to call me; I want to make sure I’m on their radar screen.”Buffett is looking to acquire businesses as competition forces down insurance rates in the US Berkshire, which owns National Indemnity, General Re Corp and Geico Corp, typically gets about half its profit from insurance. – Bloomberg

Secret Service probing Select Dental

The Secret Service is investigating a disgraced dentist and at least two of his business associates in connection with the abrupt closure of Select Dental in Howard Beach in November, the Daily News has learned.
The dental practice, known for its once-ubiquitous ads on cable TV, allegedly targeted clients without insurance and financed their dental work with medical credit cards.
Customers were apparently billed for exorbitant fees - as much as $25,000, all up front - for poor and incomplete dental work. Then the company skipped town.
The Secret Service, known primarily for protecting the President, is involved in the case because it also is in charge of investigating counterfeiting and financial crimes that cross state borders.
The masterminds behind the alleged scheme were Gary Anusavice - a dentist whose license was suspended in Rhode Island in 2005 - and his associates, Joseph Robbio and Mike Rinaldi.
"They wanted to get people financed and then get rid of them," Linda Donnaruma, a former clerk in the Howard Beach office, told The News. "These people had bank accounts everywhere."
Select Dental was incorporated in June 2005 in Delaware under the name NYDSS Inc., with headquarters in Rhode Island.
The company reputedly began to operate a "dental mill" - a derogatory term in the industry for practices that aggressively try to attract a high volume of clients.
Anusavice, Robbio and Rinaldi allegedly forged mounds of paperwork, sometimes in the names of two dentists who worked at the office, Donnaruma told investigators and The News.
Around the time Anusavice set up Select Dental, he was being disciplined by the Rhode Island Board of Health.
According to his summary suspension in November 2005, Anusavice was found to have engaged in "credit card fraud, a bait-and-switch scheme with regard to dental services being provided to patients, billing patients for services not rendered," plus a litany of other shady practices.
The board also deemed his practice "an immediate danger to the public health, welfare and safety" of his patients.
The dentist has a shady track record that extends back to the 1990s in Massachusetts.
Anusavice operated several offices in the Worcester area, generating hundreds of complaints, according to published reports. He also was cited for bilking insurance claims, fraud, malpractice and operating while his license was suspended.
He was sentenced to four months in prison in 1999 for filing a false income-tax return.
According to another source familiar with the federal probe, Anusavice is linked to 11 other practices in Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Four of those practices - operating under the name Rosewood Dental in the Chicago area - closed in October in the same fashion as Select Dental.
Magna, a dental lab on Cross Bay Blvd. that did work for Select Dental, recently secured a $43,000 judgment against it, but has been unable to collect.
"We don't know what kind of assets they have," said Magna's attorney, Jay Press. "We're unable to find any open bank accounts."
An attorney at Select Dental's law firm - Barton, Barton and Plotkin - asked a judge in December 2007 to be taken off the case because his firm could not find the client.
Multiple phone calls to reach Anusavice, Robbio and Rinaldi through a number of different offices were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, Select Dental's victims are still suffering.
"They were supposed to fix my teeth, but I can't have hard food anymore," said Joanne McCauley, who along with her husband, Michael Alvarez, was charged $19,000 for shoddy dental work. "I'm trying to have a sense of humor about it."

Buffett and Munger reassure shareholders about succession

By JOSH FUNK – 4 hours ago
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett tried to reassure his shareholders Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway will be fine once he is gone, but the 77-year-old billionaire offered few new details of the company's succession plan.
Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger may have done more to reassure the roughly 31,000 shareholders at the company's annual meeting.
"Well, we still have a rising young man here named Warren Buffett," Munger said, to which Buffett joked that everyone seems young to the 84-year-old Munger.
Munger continued: "I think we want to encourage this rising young man to reach his full potential."
Several shareholders still asked about the succession plan and Berkshire's future.
Part of the reason why Michel Paquet and Lorie Armstrong made their second trip to the annual meeting from Calgary, Alberta, is that they're not sure how many more meetings will feature both Buffett and Munger.
"I will expect some volatility on the transition, but I'm ready for that," said Paquet, who plans to hold his Berkshire stock for many years to come.
To replace Buffett, Berkshire plans to split his job into three parts — chief investment officer, chief executive officer and chairman.
In his letter to shareholders, Buffett said the company's board has three internal candidates for CEO and four external candidates who could take over managing the company's $75 billion stock portfolio and $35.6 billion cash.
Buffett said any one of the three CEO candidates and any one of the four CIO candidates could step in and do some things better than he does. "There will be no gap after my death in terms of having someone managing the money," he said.
Buffett has refused to publicly identify the candidates, but he has said previously that after he dies his son will take over as chairman to ensure Berkshire's culture is preserved. Howard Buffett already serves on the board.
Buffett plans to visit Europe this month as part of an effort to make sure business owners there know about Berkshire, so they think about calling the American giant when they consider selling their companies.
"We want to get on their radar screen," Buffett said.
Buffett said Berkshire would also consider buying businesses in India and China, but laws in those countries would make such a purchase difficult. Berkshire faces limits on how large a stake it can buy in Indian or Chinese companies, making such deals less attractive, Buffett said.
He told shareholders Saturday that the company's new business insuring municipal bonds generated more than $400 million in premiums during the first quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Assurance was launched to take advantage of credit problems other bond insurers have been having. Buffett said most of the bond insurance policies Berkshire has sold are on bonds that already were insured by other companies, with Berkshire charging a higher fee than the original insurer.
Berkshire's book value — assets minus liabilities — per share has grown from $19 — 43 years ago — to $78,008 under Buffett and Munger's leadership. But Buffett warned shareholders that they shouldn't expect that growth to continue at the same rate.
"Anyone who expects us to come close to what we've done in the past should sell their stock," Buffett said.
With Berkshire's current size, huge acquisitions would be needed to fuel significant growth, and it's hard to predict when those opportunities will come up.
Buffett said that until a few weeks ago he didn't know Berkshire would have an opportunity to help finance candymaker Mars Inc.'s $23 billion purchase of confectioner Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
"The Mars people only wanted to deal with Berkshire," he said.
Berkshire will supply $4.4 billion of subordinated debt to help fund the deal, which was announced Monday. And Buffett's company will invest $2.1 billion in a minority equity interest in the new Wrigley subsidiary once the deal closes.
In Berkshire's annual cartoon, part of a humorous movie at the start of the meeting, Buffett and Munger spoofed the presidential campaign. The cartoon depicted Munger running for president as a write-in candidate for a fictional "Financial Independence Party."
At a campaign event, the cartoon Munger delivered real change — by offering a boy two dimes for a quarter.
Munger also had an answer for all the nation's ills, all involving products made by Berkshire subsidiaries:
Global warming? Munger recommended eating a Dairy Queen Blizzard a day. Health care? Eat more See's Candy. Economic problems? Munger promised to put Buffett in charge of the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department.
An animated Hillary Rodham Clinton laughed at the notion of Munger's candidacy, while Barack Obama lamented that he thought he was the candidate of change. The cartoon of Republican John McCain celebrated Munger's candidacy: "Excellent! A candidate older than I am."