Online networking has opened up a universe of moderate, profoundly obvious promoting. Understanding this world requires a strong handle on advertising and software engineering. Facebook publicizing offers more than one type of group of onlookers particular publicizing stages, each of which has its own particular lawful, financial and limited time contemplations.
1. Custom audience advertising makes your company look big
For as low as $50 every month, Facebook will put your promotion onto a viewer's food. Facebook publicizing charges per impression, or every time the advertisement appears on a page, so it is imperative to put the promotion on the page of somebody who will think about it. The best place to begin is with individuals who are now acquainted with your administrations. Facebook's custom group of onlookers promotions let you transfer your client email list, so your advertisements just appear on these individuals' encourages. Since the clients don't have the foggiest idea about that you particularly focused on their page, it gives the hallucination that you have an effective business and the promoting spending plan to bolster it.
2. Lookalike audiences are the next step
After you have your base group of onlookers secured, the time has come to acquire new clients. This is finished with Facebook's carbon copy crowd bundle. The carbon copy group of onlookers project takes your custom gathering of people and discovers others that match their profile. Clone gatherings of people have the greater part of the similarity of custom groups of onlookers, however they are new to your advertising message. Be sure to tailor your Facebook publicizing to individuals that have never known about your business.
3. ROI is still key
One of the reactions of online networking advertising is that it is hard to make an immediate connection between the crusade and deals. An essential purpose behind this is, under relationship promoting hypothesis, it is not the deal that is generally imperative. The relationship is constructed that will prompt brand acknowledgment and at last expanded income. The arrival on the promoting venture ought to be computed against brand mindfulness and dependability metric, not against deals. In any case, it is anything but difficult to go over your showcasing spending plan, as these promotions include rapidly. Utilize an internet bookkeeping programming, for example, Sage One, to screen your financial plan and income. Sage One connections your financial balances, charge cards and other installment instruments, so you can track your cash all in one spot. This will offer you some assistance with monitoring your promoting money cost and track your outcomes with pre-and post-testing.
4. Social media is more social than you can imagine
Following your Facebook promoting effort might have more profound limbs than you first suspected. Since online networking connections to such a large number of various advanced specialized techniques, following is characterized as measuring the composite client movement over all computerized media, including sites, email and content. Facebook utilizes an extraordinary JavaScript code, called a Facebook pixel, that takes after the commercial wherever it goes and reports the outcomes back to you. This data ought to be utilized to assess and refine your crusade for more prominent effect.
5. FTC applies to Facebook advertising
The Federal Trade Commission directs publicizing. Promotions must be precise, honest and recognizable as a notice. On account of the conversational way of Facebook and the capacity for companions to share data, it is anything but difficult to erroneously make advertisements that can be misjudged as news, audits or spontaneous supposition. Make sure to make your Facebook promotion clear as an advertising apparatus.
With such a variety of individuals on Facebook, it has a gigantic potential for your advertising effort. From making custom crowds to following your outcomes, you need to stay aware of this quick paced world to make it advantageous.
Maintaining a business isn't a simple errand. From conceptualizing logo outline that shares your enthusiasm to making content that shares your aptitude routinely, there is an unending rundown of things that you have to deal with. Do you think it is feasible for anybody to create thoughts and in addition be included in the procedures to pull in the gathering of people? We're certain you're gesturing your head in a NO! Enter crowdsourcing.
Crowdsourcing is entirely like outsourcing in which the employment is given to somebody outside of your business. However in crowdsourcing, the employment is outsourced to a horde of assets through a blueprint stage. It is entirely helpful suggestion for organizations as you get various reactions and that too at more reasonable costs than outsourcing.
Look at 10 ways crowdsourcing offers business visionaries some assistance with growing their organizations:
Crowdsource Ideas from Consumers :
You can crowdsource thoughts from your clients who can give their perspectives about your organization and utilize those thoughts for enhancing your business. You can approach your clients to give thoughts for another item or any progressions they need in the items you are as of now offering.
This will give a feeling of force and duty to your purchasers. You can do this by utilizing stages, for example, Chaordix or MyBlogU. TruConversion.com uncovers that such crowdsourcing locales offer you some assistance with getting thoughts for your substance, sharing your thoughts and getting criticism from the group.
2. Crowdsource Investment :
Crowdfunding locales, for example, Kickstarter, Rockethub , 48Factoring and Indiegogo have helped different new businesses to dispatch their business through a few rounds of ventures. You should do nothing more than to share your strategy for success or the venture opportunity with the group on these stages. An article distributed in datafox.com clarifies that the coliseum of crowdsourced subsidizing for new businesses is consistently extending and quickly advancing.
Loaning in this commercial center remains the biggest portion of the crowdfunding business with a normal $25.1 billion in financing for 2015 (dramatically increasing the approx. $11B in 2014 and speaking to just about 75% of anticipated aggregate industry financing), states crowdfundinsider.com.
3. Crowdsource New Business :
Nowadays, there are numerous huge organizations that rely on upon open development and crowdsourcing to share a considerable measure of new thoughts and tasks. Case in point, even internet searcher goliath Google has focuses for new thoughts to originate from assets outside the organization. By, crowdsourcing and open advancement can possibly illuminate the greatest issues confronting society.
4. Crowdsource New Partners :
Yet another benefit of crowdsourcing for startups is that sometimes it helps you meet people that can be helpful for you and your business. You can get in touch with them through social media or via any other medium. However, make it clear beforehand of what and why it will be beneficial for them as well as what your aims.
5. Crowdsource Solutions :
In the event that you confront an issue in regards to the innovative work of your business, there are arrangements out there on the web. There are 'critical thinking' open advancement stages, for example, Innocentive and Designhill.com that can offer you some assistance with finding arrangements. Then again, the issue solvers have a decent time taking care of your issue as it is a test for them and they get paid for taking care of that issue.
6. Crowdsource Policies :
Different organizations understand that getting more feelings from their clients can offer them some assistance with creating better strategies. The clients can offer you some assistance with formulating approaches that will end up being all the more equitably responsible. You can do this by means of Change.org or Valve.
7. Crowdsource Data :
Customers no more feel timid about sharing. Everything arrives on online networking stages. As of now the Open Data Institute is upholding that all information ought to be "open of course". Simply envision what information you require or might want to share and that is accessible. This would help in your business as you will have entry to any kind of information expected to make your advertising procedures.
8. Crowdsource Insight :
Another advantage of crowdsourcing is that it empowers you to get accumulate noteworthy understanding from the group. The crowdsorcing stage gives a chance to the general population where they can speak openly about themes they are worried with. Case in point, organizations, for example, Listen and Learn Research help in social occasion and breaking down the information.
9. Crowdsource Marketing :
Through crowdsourcing, you could get a reasonable thought of what the group needs and take choices with respect to the system of your business in like manner. Doing as such will develop your business to the furthest reaches that that you will habitually offer out of your items. Organizations, for example, Threadless become more acquainted with their group and fabricate a business sector before they dispatch their item.
10. Crowdsource Talent :
Last however not the slightest, crowdsourcing discovers organizations new individuals. Enormous organizations, for example, eBay and Facebook too utilize along these lines to discover volunteers or representatives. Crowdsourcing gives both the organizations and the volunteers an opportunity to think about their capacities and who realizes that you get a solid match for your organization.
We trust that you are presently persuaded of how critical is crowdsourcing is for the development of your business. It offers you some assistance with finding new gifted individuals and contract them, make procedures, know the conduct of the clients and considerably more. Crowdsourcing is rapidly turning into a vital instrument to stay on the ball in the commercial center.
Right around a radical new year lies ahead and it is the perfect time to investigate your business objectives and how you are going to find a way to accomplish them. Whether it is another business opened or you are driving a business for a long while, the developing promoting patterns are liable to pull in your consideration.
Email advertising in the wake of being left on the reel for quite a while again came renewed getting a charge out of more center from all around. 2016 with a variety of new methodologies in email outline and computerization is prone to be an awesome year with loaded with guarantees for email showcasing. Here are our singles out 10 executioner email showcasing patterns that each business need to move in 2016.
1. Gmail will offer style and media query support
Gmail for long abhorrently abandoned itself in the group of new email administrations with new look-wise methodologies. Be that as it may, this year can be a turnaround time for the main mailing administration. By taking after some upgraded survey and outline models and bolster it can simply offer an entire restored feel to the supporters.
Gmail is liable to add two imperative viewpoints to their mailing administration, separately as style backing for their web-mail customers and for versatile applications hotly anticipated media inquiry support. With these two creators, advertisers and ESPs will have the capacity to guarantee incredible client experience both on desktop and versatile.
2. Mobile will be principal device for email opening
Until a year ago, 49% of email opened on cell phones however in the last quarter of the year this figure surged ahead immensely. In 2016, versatile get to and opening of messages on cell phones will dwarf desktops by immense edge.
As organizations keep on turning their back towards costly desktop suites getting to messages on desktop will facilitate shrink and a huge part of this will change over to versatile. Additionally, with the fast expansion of cloud-based programming, on-reason programming suites will keep on contracting bringing about email get to past limits of gadgets and area.
3. More emphasis on personalization
Continuous email promoting is getting famous with the new innovation permitting proactive and light-footed criticism on client access. Impact email sending has quit gathering any compelling result long prior and in the days to come will just add to negative client input. Email beneficiaries are currently inspired by messages that are tended to individual taste, inclination and center ranges instead of simply their first name. Drawing in messages that are prone to have greater odds of business transformation or reaction ought to at any rate offer some individual traits interfacing the beneficiary in a flash.
4. More emphasis on video and animation content
Video and activity in email substance will keep on earning more significance and find more extensive application in the months to come. Other than pulling in supporters' consideration initially the moving and element components can likewise instinctively convey recommendations and aide beneficiaries towards certain activities. Utilization of moving materials such as clock likewise can improve the active visitor clicking percentage hugely. Making clients react to realistic and moving components is urgent instead of simply including such components since they look cool.
5. Aesthetic appeal in details will rule
With spotlight on outline and visual impacts administering the web no one is really intrigued any longer in straightforward, plain content messages. Making wonderful stunningly outlined messages has now turned out to be greatly simple because of a variety of apparatuses. From utilizing great typographic variety to the utilization of out and out pictures to utilizing the right blend of white space with particular difference of shading, stylish bid rules preeminent here and there are an excess of approaches to guarantee that.
6. Modular email templates will rule
In 2016, secluded composed layout for messages will change it up of look-wise decisions with the same email content. The objective of secluded layouts is to be offer snappy and simple outline choices by altering the configuration components. This permits planning messages effortlessly while guaranteeing stylish claim, quality and consistency. This likewise messages computerization to produce results as planning messages through such layouts is liable to take a great deal less time than regular.
7. Social media and Email marketing will become more and more intertwined
Online networking no more can simply say that email is dead. As by numerous clients online networking is progressively being considered as a misuse of potential time or only a habit of marking, messages are being considered more important. Clearly, the restored part of messages fusing new outline approach played a major part in this. In 2016, we can see these two aspects of showcasing coming all the more closer and being more interlaced. While online networking is thought to be a perfect medium to construct email list, the email content get wealthier by fusing some online networking content. In the months to come this pattern is liable to cultivate much more.
8. Interactive emails adding more substance
Messages that drive client association as of now collect higher engagement from the client. By guaranteeing client intuitiveness inside of the email advertisers can guarantee much higher active visitor clicking percentage, movement for the comparing site and business change.
Straightforward examinations like picture rollovers and activitys like rain or falling snow that can be halted by the email beneficiary with a tick can add enjoyable to the experience and make an enduring impression. Propelled level motor email substance and alternatives to control them can make a straightforward email battle mainstream. Imaginative knowledge and ability is the key for such trials.
9. Time to bid adieu to batch and blast emails
Email that is made for all endorsers and that are sent at one abandon any thought to individual inclination is alluded as clump and impact email. Sending such summed up mass delivered email is no more viable because of expanded spotlight on personalization. In 2016, such messages are liable to be deserted as a battle procedure of past period.
10. In-depth and consistent tracking will lead campaigns
At long last following the viability of email crusade and as needs be changing in accordance with buyer requests will be vital like never before. Concentrating on information driven fabulousness with respect to the client gratefulness will be the key perspective in the following of email battles. A definite comprehension of the information concerning email opening, availability, active visitor clicking percentage, contrasting components from different battles and their yield and business transformation rate from email beneficiaries, all these and numerous more information driven measurements can simply give you a chance to track results in points of interest.
Let’s Wrap Up
At long last, it is the imaginative center and methodical methodology that will make an email outdoors emerge from others. With the developing innovations and configuration approach email promoting now is one of the quick changing regions of advanced advertising that can be viable for the individuals who can address these rising patterns.
Anthem, based in Indianapolis, said hackers gained access to as many as 80 million records.Credit Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
After an online attack on Anthem, by far the largest breach in the industry, security experts warned on Friday that more attacks on health care organizations were likely because of the high value of the data on the black market.
Anthem, one of the country’s largest health insurers, said the hackers did not appear to have stolen information about its customers’ medical claims. But medical identification numbers were taken, along with Social Security numbers, addresses and email addresses, which could be used for medical fraud.
According to a federal database, many much smaller attacks across the country have included both medical records and financial information.
Medical identity theft has become a booming business, according to security experts, who warn that other health care companies are likely to be targeted as a result of the hackers’ success in penetrating Anthem’s computer systems. Hackers often try one company to test their methods before moving on to others, and criminals are becoming increasingly creative in their use of medical information, experts say.
“The industry has become, over the last three years, a much bigger target,” said Daniel Nutkis, the chief executive of the Health Information Trust Alliance, an industry group that works with health care organizations to improve their data security.
The publicity surrounding the breach, which exposed information on about 80 million people, is already generating phishing email scams, in which criminals posing as legitimate businesses try to persuade people to sign up for bogus credit protection services and provide personal information about themselves.
On Friday, Anthem sent out an alert to its customers warning them of the scam, which the company described as an “opportunistic” attempt to take advantage of news of the breach, but the company emphasized it had no evidence that the scam artists were the hackers.
The company, which operates under a series of Blue Cross plans in states like California, Connecticut and New York, is working with federal investigators to determine the source of the attack. Some signs continued to point to China, which has previously been thought to target health care companies, although the investigation is still in its early stages.
If Chinese hackers are responsible, it raises an immediate and hard-to-answer question: Are they acting on behalf of the government? Or are they independent actors, seeking to sell the information they have obtained?
The difference is a big one. The United States has already indicted five members of a People’s Liberation Army unit that is thought to be responsible for stealing intellectual property, usually designs from American and European companies. But the group is not known for stealing large amounts of personal information.
The key is the hackers’ motive. While they could be preparing to sell the information on the black market, they may also be searching for intelligence on government officials or senior executives who mask their personal information, but tend to provide real names and real numbers when dealing with health-related matters.
“The question is whether this is about espionage or theft,” said one government official who was briefed on the investigation.
As a rich source of personal information, health care organizations — like hospitals, doctors’ offices and insurers — are increasingly going to be vulnerable to attacks, according to security experts. “Anthem is not the last of these organizations,” said Cameron Camp, a researcher for ESET, which specializes in data security. “We’re going to see that style of attack again.”
Medical identify theft is on the rise, experts say, because it pays. In black-market auctions, complete patient medical records tend to fetch higher prices than credit card numbers. One security expert said that at one auction a patient medical record sold for $251, while credit card records were selling for 33 cents.
After the large data breaches at major retailers like Target and Home Depot, the black market for credit cards has been flooded. And after the bank becomes aware of the theft, those cards are usually canceled quickly.
In contrast, patient medical records typically include information not easily destroyed, including date of birth, Social Security numbers and even physical characteristics that make them more useful for things like identity theft, creation of visas or insurance fraud by falsely billing for expensive medical or dental procedures that were either never done or performed on someone else. Some criminals have also tried a form of so-called ransom ware in which they threaten to reveal medical information unless they are paid.
“The whole thing is evolving,” said Barbara Filkins, an analyst with the SANS Institute, which has studied the risk to the health care sector.
Hospital systems, for example, are increasingly asking for photo IDs and driver’s licenses in an effort to block patients who have stolen someone else’s medical identity, said John Barlament, a lawyer at Quarles & Brady in Milwaukee. The use of medical identity fraud is growing, he said. “It’s a one-way trend here,” he said.
The push to digitize patient health records in hospitals and doctors’ offices has also made medical records increasingly vulnerable, according to security experts. Moving medical records from paper to electronic form allows both patients and providers better access, but it has also made patient records susceptible to breaches, whether unintentionally or through a criminal attack.
About 90 percent of health care organizations reported they have had at least one data breach over the last two years, according to a survey of health care providers published last year by the Ponemon Institute, a privacy and data protection research firm. The founder, Larry Ponemon, a security expert, says most were because of employee negligence or system flaws, but a growing number are malicious or criminal.
Last year, 18 health care providers reported data breaches because of some form of hacking. Information at Centura Health was compromised last year after a phishing scheme obtained access to employee email accounts. The data included, in some instances, Social Security numbers, Medicare beneficiary numbers and clinical information for 12,000 patients of the facility, based in Englewood, Colo. In another case, a keystroke logger virus that infected three computers for a few weeks early last year at the student health center at the University of California, Irvine, may have captured patient’s health and dental insurance numbers and diagnoses.
Health care providers have sharply increased their spending on data security in the last year, but they remain technologically far behind other industries, say experts.
“When we go to a health care show and you look at the screens of different systems, it’s like we’re looking at Windows XP,” said Bob Janacek, a co-founder and chief technology officer of DataMotion, an email encryption and health information service provider. “But you go to a banking show and they’re talking about how to slice a billionth of a second off a transaction to get a competitive edge, it’s just totally different.”
In the new electronic records world, security experts say the risks of a data breach are found on many fronts. For instance, there are systems and protocols that allow for patient medical records to be encrypted and emailed from one provider to another, but some doctors are sending clinical records through personal email accounts using their own smartphones or tablets.
The Anthem breach has become the subject of intense regulatory scrutiny. Several state attorneys general are also conducting their own investigations or considering doing so, including George Jepsen, the Connecticut attorney general.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a group of state insurance regulators, said it planned a multistate examination of the insurer. “We are in agreement that an immediate and comprehensive review of the company’s security must be a priority to ensure protection of consumers who are covered by Anthem,” said Monica Lindeen, the association president and the Montana insurance regulator, in a statement.
Officials at eBay said hackers gained access to customer data, including names, birth dates, and passwords. It does not appear that credit card numbers were taken, they said.
By Nicole Perlroth | New York Times May 22, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO — In the latest high-profile breach of a company’s computer network, hackers have infiltrated the online marketplace eBay, gaining access to the personal data of 145 million customers, the company said Wednesday. The hackers broke into an eBay database containing names, e-mail addresses, birth dates, encrypted passwords, physical addresses, and phone numbers. There was no indication that the attackers obtained financial information such as credit and debit card numbers or gained access to customer accounts at PayPal, which is owned by eBay, said Amanda Miller, a company spokeswoman. The company has not seen evidence of fraudulent activity that could be linked to the breach, she said. Still, hackers could use the stolen data for identity theft. Personal information — such as e-mails, passwords, and birth dates — is regularly sold on the black market to criminals who use it for phishing or identity theft. Security experts warned that the stolen information would make eBay customers easy targets for phishing attacks, in which criminals send e-mails that bait victims into clicking on malicious links or direct them to fake login screens where they are asked to enter more valuable information, such as a Social Security number. “Expect an uptick in phishing. Do not click links in e-mail or discuss anything over the phone,” warned Trey Ford, a strategist at Rapid7, a security firm in Boston. EBay discovered the breach earlier this month when the company’s internal security team noticed that some of its employees were engaged in unusual activity on its corporate network, said Mark Carges, the company’s chief technology officer. He said eBay uses several different security technologies, which alerted staff to suspicious activity. EBay contacted the FBI’s San Francisco office as well as an outside computer forensics firm. Working together, they found that hackers had been inside eBay’s corporate network since late February. By studying computer logs, eBay discovered that hackers had stolen the credentials of several of its employees and, with their user names and passwords, gained unauthorized access to eBay’s corporate network. Once inside, they were able to copy a database containing information on all 145 million of the company’s customers, according to Alan Marks, eBay’s senior vice president of global communications. Marks said eBay stored its financial data separately. Still, the company advised users with the same password for eBay and PayPal to change passwords immediately on both. Though notification laws differ, most states require that companies notify customers of a breach only if their names are compromised in combination with other information such as a credit card or a Social Security number. But there are exceptions for encrypted information: As long as companies scramble consumer information with basic encryption, the law does not require firms to tell customers about a breach. In eBay’s case, the company stored users’ names, e-mail, and physical addresses and birth dates in plain text but encrypted their passwords.
Federal authorities in the USA may be hard-pressed to arrest TelexFree Inc. co-owner Carlos Wanzeler, who apparently fled to Brazil, a country that is not compelled to turn over its citizens to the United States when they are accused of crimes here. Wanzeler, 45, is believed to have left his home in Northborough for Brazil by way of Canada, according to officials briefed on his disappearance. He had nearly four weeks to go missing, from the time federal agents raided TelexFree’s Marlborough office in April until last Friday, when Department of Homeland Security investigators arrested Wanzeler’s business partner, James Merrill, on Route 9 in Worcester. Wanzeler and Merrill, 53, were both charged Friday with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Their company, TelexFree, sold Internet phone-service plans but grew into a global, billion-dollar pyramid scheme, prosecutors alleged, by luring thousands of people around the world to invest in the company. Merrill is in custody, with a detention hearing scheduled for Friday in Worcester. But Wanzeler, who has dual US-Brazil citizenship, is a fugitive, according to the US Department of Justice. A warrant for Wanzeler’s arrest was issued last Friday. Wanzeler’s lawyer, Paul Kelly, said Monday, “We are aware of recent legal developments and are evaluating the appropriate actions to be taken on behalf of Mr. Wanzeler.” If convicted, Merrill and Wanzeler could each face up to 20 years in prison. It’s a long way from the 1990s, when the two men met as Wanzeler and his family sought work at Merrill’s cleaning business. The pair went on to become business partners in commercial cleaning and then moved into a series of telecommunications businesses. Last month, state and US securities regulators filed civil fraud charges against TelexFree and its principals, just days after the company sought federal bankruptcy protection. The Securities and Exchange Commission froze the assets of the company and its top people, after one executive during the raid tried to leave with $38 million in cashier’s checks tucked in a bag. Wanzeler’s flight to Brazil is just the latest frustration for participants in the TelexFree system who have lost money. “It looks bad on the authorities if they completely lost him and he went to a different country,’’ said Katherine Aguilar, a 20-year-old Worcester student who had invested $2,000 in order to help pay for school. “It kind of makes you wonder, what are they doing? Don’t they keep close eyes on these people?’’ Brazil is not only Wanzeler’s native home but the center, in many ways, of TelexFree’s operation. A third partner who has not been charged in the case, Carlos Costa, lives in Brazil. And the company has targeted many Brazilian immigrants in its alleged scheme. The Brazilian government has frozen about $350 million of TelexFree’s funds, Wanzeler told investigators at the Massachusetts Securities Division, according to the US attorney’s complaint against the company. Records from the Brazilian Ministry of the Treasury show that TelexFree bank accounts in that country have received about $446 million in US dollars, according to the complaint. The ministry materials also showed that transfers were made from TelexFree bank accounts to Brazilian bank accounts belonging to Wanzeler, and from there to US accounts in Wanzeler’s name. Last week in federal court, lawyers for Wanzeler and Merrill asked to have some of their assets unfrozen in order to meet their living expenses. Wanzeler’s lawyer, Kelly, also asked the judge to let him keep $3 million in a Singapore account rather than moving it back to the United States, arguing that the money was frozen so there was no need to move it. However, Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton on Friday ruled that Wanzeler, Merrill, and their associates must repatriate any monies they have overseas that is related to TelexFree. He also ordered them not to open any new bank accounts or destroy any documents. Source: Boston Globe
Maxing out your payments — not the charges on your cards — may in the future help to improve your credit score
Credit reports, which track your management of credit cards and loans, increasingly include more details about when and how you pay your debts over time. Whether that extra information will eventually have a broad impact on your credit scores — the three-digit numbers that summarize your credit report and are used by lenders to size you up — remains to be seen. For decades, credit reports contained essentially the same information, said John Ulzheimer, a credit authority with CreditSesame.com. For instance, in the case of credit cards, your credit report typically showed your monthly card balance and whether you were current on your payments. But more recently, he said, the major credit reporting agencies — such as Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — have started including not only the minimum payment due on the account but also how much you actually paid. That means that it’s now easy to see whether you pay your balance in full before putting new charges on a card, Ulzheimer said, or whether you carry over balances from month to month. A spokeswoman for Experian said that lenders began reporting payment amounts to credit bureaus more frequently in 2009, after the economic downturn. The information benefits consumers, she said, because it offers “tangible historical proof that they make on-time payments and how large the payment was.” For now, this greater level of detail in credit reports isn’t reflected in FICO scores, which are widely used by lenders as a metric to evaluate whether a potential borrower is a good credit risk, said Anthony Sprauve, senior consumer credit specialist with FICO. In part, Sprauve said, that’s because lenders are not yet “broadly and consistently” reporting the more detailed payment data every month to all three bureaus, so it’s not clear whether paying a balance in full each month can truly predict a borrower’s ability to repay debt. He said that FICO would want to see the data over a period of time and for large numbers of consumers before incorporating payment amounts into the calculation of FICO scores. TransUnion, however, does incorporate payment amounts into some of its credit-scoring products, like its CreditVision scores, which are used to evaluate risk for new accounts, said Charlie Wise, a vice president in TransUnion’s Innovative Solutions Group. He said payment information is relevant because it helps lenders know if a consumer was using cards mainly for convenience or was a “revolver” who carries a balance. For new accounts, consumers who pay off their balance each month “tend to be less risky” than revolvers, he said. A spokeswoman for the credit bureau Equifax said that it offered “trended data” about customers’ payments and credit card use. But there is “no consideration” of using the distinction between “transactors,” who pay off the card, and revolvers, who don’t, in a way that would negatively affect a person’s creditworthiness, she said. Rather, the data are used mostly to help lenders target consumers for special offers and promotions. Here are some questions about credit scores and credit reports: ■Does the inclusion of payment data in my credit report mean I should change the way I manage my cards? It’s yet another reason, besides avoiding interest payments, not to carry a balance on your card, Ulzheimer said. Traditionally, you could assume that you would maintain good credit as long as you made your minimum payment on time, but that may change. Paying in full each month will eventually result in higher credit scores, he predicts. “Consumers who want to earn the highest scores are going to have to start using their credit cards in such a way that it allows them to pay in full each month, rather than simply paying some lesser amount before the due date,” he said. ■How should I manage my credit cards to maintain a good credit score? Paying at least the minimum payment on time each month is a “must do,” Sprauve said, because your payment history represents more than a third of your FICO score. But you should also watch your “credit utilization” — the proportion of your available credit you use — which represents about 30 percent of your score, he said. Using no more than 30 percent of your available credit line will help you maintain a good score, he said. Maxing out, missing payments, or paying less than the minimum all tend to lower your score. ■How can I check if the payment information in my credit report is accurate? You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus every year. You can order them using a central website, AnnualCreditReport.com.
The ex-husband and business partner of Janna Bullock, the socialite property developer being sued for millions of dollars over alleged frauds including one involving a luxurious mansion in London’s Belgravia, has been ordered by a French court to be extradited to face criminal charges in Russia. Meanwhile, Russian authorities have issued an international warrant for four-times-married Ms Bullock's arrest. Alexey Kuznetsov is the second billionaire to have had his extradition to Russia ordered by the court of Aix-en-Provence in as many weeks, following its ruling that Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov should be despatched to Russia to face fraud charges. Mr Ablyazov denies the charges and claims they are politically motivated. Mr Kuznetsov and his glamorous then-wife Janna built up a property empire she once declared was worth $2bn, mainly in a Russian district where he was the local finance minister. He fled Russia after a former business associate was murdered, reappearing in the South of France. However, the Russian authorities issued an international arrest warrant for him, claiming he had embezzled billions of dollars of state funds. Police arrested him in July near Saint Tropez – a favourite playground of Russian oligarchs - and he has been in jail ever since. It has now emerged that the court of Aix-en-Provence has approved his extradition. The French decision was welcomed in London by lawyers trying to seize assets from Ms Bullock that they claim were bought with money owed to their client, Gazprombank. One source close to the case said: “We welcome this development. It puts renewed pressure on Janna Bullock to reveal what happened to the missing money.”
Mr Kuznetsov’s lawyer, Gregory Rincourt, told AFP: “Basically, this is an issue fabricated against him. Facts are not established . And given the current state of the Russian judicial system, he can not receive a fair trial , not to mention the conditions of his detention.” Ms Bullock also strenuously denies allegations of fraud, claiming the numerous legal cases against her are attempts by Russian business rivals to steal her assets from her. Legal experts said it was unlikely that the US authorities would act on the Russian arrest warrant. Mr Kuznetsov's legal team is expected to file an appeal against the extradition ruling. The Independent revealed last month that Ms Bullock was being pursued by Gazprombank over millions of pounds it claims was stolen from it when it lent funds to the couple to develop properties in Moscow. Gazprombank alleges that Ms Bullock spent its money buying a host of luxury properties around the world. They included a luxury mansion in Belgravia's exclusive Eaton Square which a company allegedly financed by Ms Bullock bought from the Duke of Grosvenor, the richest British man. Her alleged company later sold the mansion for £20.5 million after it was substantially renovated and extended. The proceeds have subsequently been frozen by a court order, according to the RIA Novosti state sponsored Russian information bureau. The Duke, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, or other representatives of his Grosvenor Estates empire, may be called as a witness in the case.
WASHINGTON — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has never been one to shun the public spotlight. But he can’t have enjoyed parrying with the press in a nationally televised news conference Thursday to answer allegations that his administration shut down traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge linking New York City and New Jersey last September as political payback aimed at a Democratic mayor who declined to endorse him for re-election last year.
The bridge scandal has tarnished Christie’s political image as a tough but pragmatic and effective governor with bipartisan appeal who many experts had projected was in the top tier of potential Republican presidential contenders in 2016. Up until recently, mainstream and moderate Republican political strategists had been licking their chops at the prospect of Christie running for the Republican nomination as the best candidate with the potential to appeal to independent and even some Democratic voters. Christie stood out among other potential candidates like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio because he has demonstrated appeal beyond conservative activists and could broaden the vote for Republicans in the next election.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Christie apologized for the bridge controversy Thursday in a nationally televised news conference that went on for well over an hour. The governor insisted that staff members lied to him about their involvement in the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge last September that snarled traffic In Fort Lee, New Jersey. Email and text messages obtained by news organizations on Wednesday strongly suggested the lane closures were orchestrated by Christie aides as retribution directed at Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, who had refused to endorse Christie’s re-election bid last year.
At his news conference, Christie announced that he had fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly after he said she lied to him about her involvement in the bridge controversy. One email released Wednesday from Kelly, said simply, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” The email was sent to one of the governor’s top appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a longtime Christie friend, David Wildstein. His email response was simple: “Got it.” The Port authority has the responsibility for operating the GW Bridge. Wildstein resigned his position last month.
Christie’s Political Future at Stake
All of this comes as Christie prepares for his inauguration as governor for a second term later this month and amid continuing speculation about his presidential aspirations in 2016. If Christie has been truthful and he was completely in the dark about what his staff was doing, he may be able to overcome this in the long term. But if there are more revelations in the weeks to come and if it turns out he knew more than he says about the bridge shenanigans, Christie’s national political standing may be damaged beyond repair, leaving the 2016 Republican presidential field to a competing group of true conservatives with little proven appeal to independent voters and political centrists.
One of the more memorable lines from Christie’s news conference was, “I am not a bully”, a response to questions about the image he has created during his tenure as governor and whether that may have encouraged his staff to react aggressively to political opponents. It was a line reminiscent of what President Richard Nixon famously said during the height of the Watergate scandal in the 1970’s when he said, “I am not a crook.” Unfortunately for Nixon, his claim turned out not to be true. Christie will have work extra hard in the months to come to back up his statement that he is not a political bully and he may have to smooth down some of his rough edges if he hopes to present himself as a viable presidential contender two years from now.
Obama Looks For Comeback in 2014
2014 is shaping up as a crucial year in Barack Obama’s presidency. 2013 was a year of setbacks for the president, due largely to the fumbled rollout of his signature domestic achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Obama will be under enormous political pressure to right the ship this year to avoid the fate of other two-term presidents who found themselves adrift halfway through their second terms. The most recent example was President George W. Bush who saw his public approval ratings plummet in the aftermath of the war in Iraq and his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. His image in the polls, by the way, has only recently started to creep up, and he’s been out of office since early 2009!
President Obama has a lot of work ahead to recoup his political standing with the public. A year ago, the president began the year with a Gallup approval rating of 52 percent. But that number tracked downward throughout the year and by last month his Gallup approval number had fallen to only 41 percent. Most political analysts will tell you that a key indicator of how the president’s political party will perform during a midterm congressional election is the approval rating. If Mr. Obama’s stays low throughout this year that could be good news for Republicans in the elections and could keep the Obama White House in a political funk right through the final two years of his presidency.
Income Inequality Versus Obamacare
2014 is a congressional election year in the U.S. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are at stake along with 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 state governorships. The stakes are enormous for both parties. At this early stage most analysts see the Republicans holding on to their majority in the House. Democrats would need to pick up 17 seats to win back the House and historically the second midterm election of an eight-year presidency usually goes against the president’s party in Congress.
Republicans, though, do have a realistic chance of winning control of the Senate, now held by Democrats. Republicans need to gain six Senate seats in order to win the majority and the reason many experts give them a chance is because many of the Senate seats Democrats are defending are in Republican-leaning states where conservative activists have traditionally fared better at getting their supporters out to the polls than Democrats have. Still, the battle for the Senate is expected to be close and a number of individual races will get national attention this year.
Republicans are expected to renew their focus on the problems with Obamacare as their top priority for the election cycle. Democrats want to pivot to issues associated with the general theme of income inequality—restoring unemployment benefits for the long term jobless, raising the minimum wage and pointing out where they believe the health care law is succeeding.
The first salvo goes to President Obama. He will deliver his State of the Union Address on January 28th and that will be his best opportunity to lay out an agenda for the year and put Republicans on the defensive over issues like income inequality, social mobility and extending unemployment benefits for the long term jobless.
Republicans are likely to respond with continued attacks on Obamacare and a philosophical argument that the private sector, not government, is best suited to spark economic growth and create new jobs.
Low-quality education is jeopardizing business growth in Cambodia, and local graduates will not be employable in skilled jobs if the government does not quickly implement educational reforms, business executives warned Thursday at the Cambodian Market Intel 2013 seminar in Phnom Penh. During an hourlong panel discussion among five foreign business executives and the secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), the businessmen said Cambodia would struggle to attract foreign investment without improving the quality of secondary and university education.
Martin McCarthy, managing director and country representative of oil and gas conglomerate Total, said his organization has trouble finding local engineers capable of working on its projects. “Total has its own university and courses at local universities, because university is too late. We must start reforms at ages 14 or 15…with math, physics and chemistry,” Mr. McCarthy said. “We tend to find that students spend the first two years in university finishing what they learned in high school, and then once they graduate, we have to train them again,” he said. “We then wait another two years before sending them out on a project because they are not prepared,” he added. An International Labor Organization (ILO) report released Thursday shows that less than half of Cambodia’s 7.2 million workers had completed primary school, while 35.5 percent had completed secondary education and just 3.8 percent had a university degree. “The speed the country is growing at with the gross domestic product, and a middle class that needs better products and services…is challenging,” said Rami Sharaf, CEO of RMA Cambodia, an international trade firm that brought brands such as Ford, Jaguar, Dairy Queen and Costa Coffee to Cambodia. “With this growth, the pool of applicants and workers cannot keep up,” he said. Mr. Sharaf said that Cambodia would struggle to compete within the Asean Economic Community, which is set to create a single market among the 10 Asean nations by 2015, if it does not take steps to make its workers more employable through high-quality education. “We need to focus on the universities to help guide students and invest in applied sciences. What is needed here is to build the right task force within ministries…so we can have a proper roadmap to see what workers are needed. Currently, there is no proactive approach,” he said. Sok Chenda, CDC secretary-general, said that the private sector also had a responsibility to ensure that workers are qualified. “I’ve talked with the prime minister about this…. We take it very seriously. But education and vocational training is not a government affair alone,” Mr. Chenda said. In response to Mr. McCarthy’s comment regarding the lack of qualified workers for Total, Mr. Chenda said there needs to be more confidence that jobs in the oil and gas sector will be available. “How can we from the government side or parents from their side think about engineers yet…when, for example, we don’t have enough oil and gas to provide jobs in that sector. You need to show there is more confidence in that sector first,” he said. Mr. Chenda also said the government is drafting a new investment law, which he would make sure includes a provision requiring investors to train their employees. “Investors must provide proper training to do something for vocational training. We will add it to the new law,” he said. Grant Knuckey, CEO of ANZ Royal bank, who moderated the panel discussion, said jobs in the banking sector have increased 20 percent in the past year, and to keep up, he is leading an initiative with the Association of Banks in Cambodia to train future bank staff. “People are coming into the sector without vocational skills…financial analysis, risk analysis…. We aim to recreate an efficient body to provide fundamental-level training for entry-level bankers,” he said. Gordon Peters, managing partner of Emerging Markets Consulting and another panelist at the discussion, said his company has been working with the ILO to conduct a regional study on employers’ views of their staff. Mr. Peters said that a majority of employers said that recent college graduates were not equipped with the skills they needed for employment. “Preliminary data in Cambodia show 20 to 30 percent of firms are reporting college graduates don’t have the necessary skills to meet their needs,” Mr. Peters said.
