Aussie lovebirds have been warned about potential online scams ahead of Valentines Day.

AVG, which provides a range of anti-virus and internet security products in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, noted that cyber-criminals tend to latch on to events like Valentines Day in order to take advantage of the high spirits of online shoppers.

“With the number of internet users worldwide reaching the two billion mark, the need to keep the people who are out to steal more than your heart is greater than ever whether youre planning to go online to find a Valentines Day date, to buy flowers or chocolates for your sweetheart, or open a Valentines Day e-card from a mysterious secret admirer” said the company.

Setting out a number of tips for ensuring safer online shopping, AVG urged consumers to use known, reputable sites and to be wary of sites that ask for information that is not relevant to a purchase.

The advice, which may interest people looking to compare credit cards and other money products, also included a recommendation to look for a locked padlock or key symbol which shows that a sites server is secure and that information will be encrypted before a purchase.

Have a question about credit cards? Read full article…

The majority of credit card offers sent out in the mail today promise a 0% APR (annual percentage rate) introductory period which lasts anywhere from three months to a year, depending on the credit score of the potential applicant, the credit card issuer and the specific terms of the product on offer. Interest-free introductory periods can be used to repay existing outstanding balances without incurring additional interest charges and they can also be used to save money on new purchases. The following information discusses several ways 0% APR credit cards can help to save money on existing balances and new purchases.

0% APR Credit Cards for New Purchases

The amount of money which can be spent on new purchases during an introductory period, without incurring interest charges, depends on a variety of factors like the introductory period and the overall credit limit available to the cardholder.

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The lesser known VantageScore made another inroad in its battle with the almighty Fico score, grabbing a patent for its system of “characteristic leveling.”

In short, characteristic leveling provides consistency among the 3 major credit bureaus, something the traditional Fico score has struggled with (why credit scores are different?)

So if the same data is presented by different credit bureaus, it should yield the same result, or credit score.

“The ability to use a common score across the three CRCs minimizes consumer and lender confusion,” said VantageScore Solutions President and Chief Executive Officer Barrett Burns, in a press release.

“Because of VantageScore’s consistency across all three CRCs, lenders who use it will be better able to delineate risk in a predictive manner.”

This is pretty important because many banks and mortgage lenders currently rely on the middle of our 3 credit scores when making a decision to extend credit.

And borrowers have to worry about disparities between their credit scores, which are often the result of different reporting by bureaus using the same data.

In fact, many consumers have such a wide range of scores that they may be deemed excellent by one, and only average by another.

The hope is that with characteristic leveling in place, differences in credit score will only be attributable to different data sets, as opposed to differing scoring algorithms.

This increased consistency could lure more creditors over to VantageScore, which is currently a small fish compared to the all-powerful Fico score.

Recently, Fico also lost the trademark on its 300-850 credit score range.

Australians are increasingly using their mobile phones to shop for bargains online, new figures from eBay show.

The online auction site has named Australia as one of its fastest-growing international mobile markets after shoppers spent more than $13 million buying eBay items on their handsets in a single month last year.

Speaking to National Features, Jenny Thomas, eBays Australian spokeswoman, reported that more than 87,000 Australians made purchases on eBay using their mobiles in July 2010, up from 44,000 in January 2010.

“We are just seeing more and more people using their mobile phone as a way of shopping online and we absolutely expect that to grow incredibly over 2011,” she said in the article, hosted on news.com.au.

Consumers aiming to boost their spending power could also choose to compare credit cards and other money products in search of the best options. Read full article…

With credit card companies desperately vying for the attention of prospective customers, there have never been more rewards credit card offers available on the market. Fortunately, the majority of rewards credit cards provide some form of benefit or discount which can be extremely advantageous when one is planning for or is enjoying a vacation. The following are five ways that a rewards credit card can save money on a vacation.

1. Gasoline Discounts

Some credit cards, commonly known as gas rewards cards, provide a specific rebate percentage for each gasoline purchase. At the end of the rewards period, a check or certificate is mailed to the cardholder for the total amount of all of the rebates applied to the account during that year.

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