Archive for the ‘Finance’ Category

Personal vehicle finance is a way of financing the vehicle for personal usage. This includes financing of cars, light trucks, SUVs and even mini-vans. You can even finance a used or a new vehicle also. There are certain conditions though which are generally applied before to finance for a vehicle. The model and year of the vehicle together with the actual cost of the vehicle are taken into account in order to ascertain affordability. The vehicle finance is made available at various affordable rates by different financing companies.

Further, the policies and plans of Personal Vehicle Finance differ slightly with different finance provider or the lending company. Initially, you must make your choice of the vehicle along with the dealer from whom you wish to deal in with. Once you do it, further of your formalities get done hand in hand. You apply to the finance company giving the details about your transaction as well as your own financial position.

On the other hand, the company takes a look on your credit scores, employment-ability, and your bank statements. Based on the verification, the company takes a decision if how much money should be granted to you. Later, you get a confirmation regarding your eligibility for vehicle finance. Upon the loan approval, a down payment is made and the vehicle is taken into possession by you. Finance is then approved and a cheque is handed over to you for the required amount of money. However, there are some finance companies which may make the direct deposit into your bank account.

The interest rate for personal vehicle finance varies with person and with lending company respectively.

A borrower of reasonable or good credit score is eligible to apply for personal vehicle finance. After choosing the vehicle as well as the financier, the borrower presents his relevant documents in support. The application is reviewed. The finance company verifies your eligibility. You are then asked to direct deposit down payment. You get the fund to make a drive. You can make the loan application online as well as offline, processing online is preferred though.

In the financial job market, there are many obstacles for graduates seeking to rise quickly in their professional lives. Financial organisations, ranging from banks to international stock-brokers, adopt high standards for their middle and upper management professionals. Indeed, the delicacy of the marketplace and the attitudes of individual clients towards their financial situation requires a high level of experience and good aptitude for a management position. The financial graduate who is just leaving university to find a job, however, can accelerate the process of rising quickly in the field of finance by choosing the right entry-level finance job.

The first consideration for professionals looking for entry-level finance jobs is their short term goals. If a graduate is concerned with making a good salary immediately, working with an international company or a larger bank may be the wisest move. However, those who want to build experience and rise through the ranks may wish to consider smaller organisations, such as financial planning firms, where there is more contact between executives, managers, and entry-level workers. This is an important consideration, as it can set you off on the right or wrong foot immediately.

Another important thought on entry-level finance jobs concerns the amount of upward mobility available for exceptional finance graduates. The graduate, who works for an international bank, can certainly rise to prominence within the company and the industry in general. Indeed, there is plenty of opportunity for such a professional to rise to local, regional, national, and international positions. For the graduate who works with a smaller company, mobility may be more difficult because of the relatively fewer positions between president and entry-level worker.

A third consideration on entry-level finance jobs is the nature of the job that a graduate accepts. Indeed, the chances of rising through the ranks decrease if a professional doesn’t enjoy their job and bring the same level of effort day in and day out. A professional who wants to help people directly may wish to work as a financial planner or advisor and rise to departmental management after years of commitment to client success. Another professional that thinks of finance in terms of larger companies, or even governments, may desire to make their way as a stockbroker or corporate financial professional, rising through the ranks by networking with prominent clients. All these considerations are important when thinking of the best entry-level finance job for a particular graduate.

International Money transfer is an essential part of your international move and/or business, which, if handled correctly can boost your bottom line or settling funds dramatically. Anybody looking to move overseas, send money to family or conduct business with an overseas company will need to purchase or transact in the destination currency. In order to complete any property acquisition ahead of your move or just simply transfer your existing assets over to your new country, the method you choose will make a big difference.

In today’s volatile currency markets, a small change in the currency rates, coupled with the high commission charged by most banks can make an enormous difference in the net currency amount received when converting your currency, you are placing what is possibly your life savings into someone else’s hands. Depending on the size of transaction, this could make a tangible difference of several thousand dollars; money you may prefer to put towards starting your new life! This can leave you exposed to the market fluctuations and could give you a handsome boost to your funds or put a big hole in your budget.

To start with you have several choices how you move your money:

1. Use your normal Bank and accept the charges and the fact that you may not be talking to an expert when you discuss the transfer.

2. Use a specialist international currency transfer company

3. Use a normal money transfer agent (again accept the charges)

4. Buy a huge amount of traveler’s cheques or take cash (not recommended)!!!

Lets discuss each one with a bit more detail:

Possibly the most important piece of advice I was given when emigrating was that the high street banks were not the best people to entrust with your money transfer overseas. How do you know that the bank teller has any idea what you are talking about (not being belittling but it probably isn’t an everyday service)? They charge commissions, transfer fees and then to cap it all off they give a reduced exchange rate.

Essentially, the high street money transfer agencies are similar to the banks. They may know more about the transactions but will hit you with commissions, charges and not the best rates.

Travellers cheques and cash speak for themselves – don’t do it! They are easily lost/stolen, some countries only allow a limited amount of cash to be carried into the country and in the case of travelers cheques, you may have to pay to buy them and then to cash them in. Just plain don’t do it!!!!

Last, but not least, it’s the international currency transfer companies. I had no idea that international currency transfer specialists even existed, never mind the exceptional services on offer.

Naturally, securing the very best rate of exchange becomes all important. There are several money transfer companies that offer an alternative to the banks – in fact “alternative” is too weak, they outclass the banks by a mile! When we first heard about the services on offer it really did seem to be too good to be true and we were very skeptical. We thoroughly researched the major high street banks in the UK and the rates they were offering (adding the fees and commissions!) and then compared to the service we were offered. Again, there had to be a catch.

The transfer company had no commissions, transfer fees and also gave a rate that was close to 3 cents to the pound better than the banks. All the funds would be transferred electronically to the bank account of our choice normally within 2 working days. We were even offered a choice of payment methods which included direct debits/debit cards/electronic wire transfers and the ability to “book” a rate in advance for a small deposit and then pay the balance prior to the contracted transfer date.

We had to find out how these people could offer such a service so quite bluntly asked. The answer was very simple. This was a dedicated, specialist company that dealt on the Forex markets in large volumes – this meant that there would be a low profit margin on each individual deal but the overall volume made it worth while. Because they are a specialist company, they could pass on the savings to their customers and the use of modern, electronic transfers ensured the costs were low with no need to pass them on to us! A true Win-Win situation.

The other added bonus is that these people are dedicated foreign exchange experts who research the markets and accurately forecast the trends and can advise action accordingly. If it makes sense to “book” a rate for settlement up to 2 years ahead then that will be recommended – you pay a deposit and commit to the deal and then they buy the currency at the agreed rate of the day. They hold the currency on your behalf and then at the agreed date you pay the balance and the money is transferred. This protects you against fluctuations and allows you to budget accurately.

Did you know that some of the most successful people in finance and investments never pursued finance in college? Did you know many never even went to college? There are people who have built successful careers in investments or the financial industry grew and learned on the job.

Like I said, there are many branches to this tree. Accountants, CPA’s, and analysts must go through significant educational requirements before finding finance jobs. While these careers are built on heavy education and commitment, there are other areas of finance that do not require stringent or specialized education before entering the job market.

Stockbroker and Financial Advisor jobs

Stockbrokers, Registered Representatives and financial advisors are basically salesmen in the finance industry. That is not to demean what they do, it’s actually true. Once you are a licensed stockbroker and working for a firm, you are a phone broker. Many of the top firms will require 2 or 4 year degrees before hiring you for a job, but a finance or investment related degree is usually not required. Many smaller firms do not require college at all. They are looking for brokers with talent, drive and the ability to communicate and persuade. If you can convince the firm that you can earn money, you can get in. There are successful stockbrokers and advisors who make $200,000 or more and many of them were car salesmen, insurance agents, collections salesmen, real estate agents etc. Training is ongoing and most should decide after 6 months or one year whether this is the finance career or job they want.

Read more on

http://myfreeinfo4u.com/finance/finance_jobs_finance_career.html

The current rough state of economy doesn’t mean that there will be absolutely no finance jobs. It just means that the finance jobs will be fewer, and the competition for them will be steeper. So if you are a finance professional, and happen to be looking for a finance job in these tough economic times, here are three steps, which if properly taken, can push you ahead of the pack in the competition for the few finance jobs available.

1.     Update Your Skill Set. Unique circumstances call for unique skills, if one is to sail through them successfully. Most professionals looking for the top finance jobs right now are equipped with skill-sets which were adequate for the better times, but which might be considered inadequate for the current circumstances. Simply put, to beat your competitors in the search for top finance jobs, you will need to have skills that they don’t have. Having a unique skill-set gives an employer a reason to consider you for a job in preference to another candidate. And this applies whether you are looking for the top finance jobs in the financial sector, the middle office finance jobs in governments and non-profit organizations or even for the more ordinary commerce and industry accounting jobs.  The unique skills in question need not be anything really fancy. Having, for example, a certificate in project management (which you can earn in a couple of weeks) puts you ahead of another candidate without such a certificate, even if you have the same basic qualification. Similarly if you are looking for commerce and industry accounting jobs, you might be well advised to approach the potential employer armed with at least some basic understanding of the workings of the business or industry you are considering working in. Armed with such a basic understanding of the underlying industry or business puts you at least one step ahead of another equally qualified finance expert who lacks such understanding.

2.     Work on Your Resume. The presentation of your resume can make a great difference in your search for top finance jobs, and is likely to have an influence on the employer, even before they get to look at its contents.  You might consider enlisting the help of a professional resume service, to help with the presentation of your resume. Remember the number of otherwise qualified candidates who get otherwise shoved out of the recruitment process simply because of poor resume presentation is huge – ensure you don’t fall for the same trap.

3.     Consider enlisting the help of a finance recruitment agency. In a bid to reduce the workload involved in the recruitment process, many employers are increasingly turning to recruitment agencies for their staffing needs. This is especially true for executive jobs, like the top finance jobs, whose recruitment process might involve some level of head-hunting, and which employers might feel uneasy doing themselves, preferring to delegate it to recruitment agencies instead. Many employers are also increasingly turning to these finance recruitment agencies even for jobs which don’t necessarily involve head-hunting, like commerce and industry accounting jobs and other middle office finance jobs. This means that anyone looking for any sort of finance job is best advised to at least deposit their resume with the one of the major finance recruitment agencies. These finance recruitment agencies usually charge very nominal fees for their services, and the services they provide are very often worth what they charge.

Asset finance allows companies to collect funds for the purchase of assets they might need to make their businesses run successfully. At times, paying a huge amount of cash at one time for buying assets can be really hard to manage. Moreover it would significantly affect the company’s working capital. With asset finance one can raise the capital to buy assets and the money can be returned to the finance company through regular payments over an agreed period of time.

Asset finance can be used for purchasing new and used cars, coaches, light and heavy commercial vehicles, plant machinery and office equipment. With the help of asset finance solutions, you can buy equipment for your business without spending a large sum in one go.

In other words, it saves you from the trouble of arranging a large amount of capital for buying much needed assets.

Major Types of Asset Finance Available in the UK

Hire Purchase

This typical credit facility is readily available where the financier allows the hirer the right to possess and use an asset in return for regular payments. Here, the hirer first finds the asset he wants and negotiates the purchase price with the supplier.

After the hirer pays a deposit of 10-20% to the finance company, he can take the asset directly from the supplier. After a balloon payment is made at the end of the term, the title of the goods is transferred to the hirer.

Lease Purchase

Lease Purchase is often confused as a regular lease. It is similar to a hire purchase agreement with the only difference being that in a Lease Purchase the hirer needs to pay a deposit of 10-15% as a multiple of the repayments. The payment for the remaining balance and interest is done in instalments.

Moreover, a Lease Purchase agreement is based on either a fixed or variable rate. The monthly instalment can be reduced by the inclusion of a balloon.

Contract Hire

In Contract Hire, a rental agreement is made between the supplier and the customer. Here the customer hires the asset for a fixed period of time and after the completion of the period, he returns the asset to the supplying dealer. With contract hire, the customer gets the chance to use the new asset without the risks associated with ownership.

Finance Lease

With finance lease, one can get up to 100% finance for the acquisition of plant equipment required in a business. Here, the ownership of the goods remains with the finance company which rents the goods to the hirer over a predetermined period. Initially, the hirer needs to pay the documentation fee and an initial payment of a multiple of rentals. The remaining cost of the asset is paid back over the agreed time period.

Operating Lease

Here an agreement is made to rent the asset for business purposes for a predetermined period. At the expiry of the agreed lease, the asset is either returned to the financier or an offer to purchase it for a mutually agreed price is made. One major line of difference between an operating lease and a finance lease is that the primary rental period for an operating lease does not cover all the capital costs and the hire charges.

Looking at these various types of asset finance, it would not be tough to choose one for buying expensive equipment without forking out a huge sum of money at one go. But it is essential to understand asset finance and its various types properly before applying for it.

There are many finance companies that can help one to get competitive and tailored asset financial solutions to suit one’s personal and business requirements. It is advisable to take professional help to avoid any sort of complications in the future. One can take help from any reputed asset finance based consulting company to get a better deal for one’s business.

 Florida FHA manufactured home loans, Florida Mobile home loans

Florida Mobile home loan financing, up to 97% w 580 FICO

Florida mobile or Florida manufactured home buyers should know the many advantages of the FHA mortgage loan programs. FHA loans were created to help increase Florida home ownership. For the Florida home buyer the FHA program can simplify the purchase of a home, making financing easier and less expensive than a conventional mortgage loan product. Some highlights of the Florida FHA loan program include:

For Florida mobile or Florida manufactured home buyers FHA guarantees “eligible” Florida loan applicants the ability to obtain Florida mortgages on manufactured homes with No money or Little money down .FHA loans feature low down payments and flexible guidelines to make it easier to for Florida homebuyers to qualify! FHA loans are popular with Florida first time home buyers but they can be equally attractive to Florida move-up buyers and Florida homeowners looking for a home improvement loan. With an FHA loan you can borrow up to 97% of the purchase price of the Florida home. Please keep in mind that the FHA home loan will be based on the homes purchase price or the appraised value.

Minimal Down Payment and Closing costs.

Down payment less than 3% of Sales Price Gifts are allowed Seller can credit up to 6% of sales price towards closing and prepaid costs. 100% Financing available No reserves required. FHA regulated closing costs.

Easier Credit Qualifying Guidelines such as:

  No minimum FICO score or credit score requirements. FHA will allow a home purchase 1 year after a Bankruptcy. FHA will allow a home purchase2 years after a Foreclosure.

Apply Today for an FHA Home loan at

http://www.fhamortgagefhaloan.com/

 Florida FHA mobile home loans

 FHA Mobile Home Lending Guidelines

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sets forth these guidelines for determining if a Florida mobile or manufactured home qualifies for an FHA mortgage loan in Florida:

The Florida mobile or Florida manufactured home must be constructed in accordance with the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards. A red tag is attached to the rear of each section of homes that comply with the standards. The Florida home must be taxed as real estate by the local tax assessor’s office. The Florida mobile or Florida manufactured home must have been built after June 15, 1976. The Florida mortgage must have a term of at least 30 years from when amortization begins. The mobile home or Florida manufactured home must be on a permanent foundation. The axles and tongue must be removed from the Florida mobile or Florida manufactured home. The Florida mobile home or manufactured home must have adequate skirting and insulation, and the crawl space must have adequate ventilation.

If you would like to determine if your Florida mobile or Florida manufactured home meets the guidelines for section 184 financing from FHA, call one of our Florida mortgage pros at 1-800-570-0448. We’ll be glad to help you determine if the property that you are interested in can be used as collateral for a  Florida FHA mobile home mortgage.

Florida Manufactured  Home Loans

http://www.FHAMortgagePrograms.com offers several options for Florida mortgage applicants looking for FHA financing for a Florida mobile or manufactured home with land. The truth is with Florida annual double digit appreciation on Florida homes and Florida payrolls lagging behind at 6% or less, traditional Florida homes are becoming far out of reach of the average Florida mortgage applicant. At we recognize the Florida housing trends and know that Florida manufactured homes offer great value with terrific per square foot pricing that today’s traditional Florida homes simply can’t compare. Refinancing a Florida Manufactured or Florida mobile home today is not nearly as difficult as you might think. visit www.FHAmortgagePrograms.com for more information.

Years ago, Florida mobile homes were considered substandard and were not held in high regard by those who owned one. Today’s Florida manufactured homes sure has gone a long way to changing that opinion. Many Florida Manufactured homes offer great amenities that would cost you tens of thousands of dollars more to achieve with a traditional Florida home. Better still, today’s Florida mobile homes are actually built to a higher standard than those required for traditional block homes. For instance, in Florida , it is not uncommon to see a 1900 square foot middle class home on the market for over $300,000.00 dollars. A savvy Florida home buyer can purchase a quarter acre lot outside of Florida , and put a 1800 square foot Florida manufactured home for a package price of around $135,000.00 with typically far more featured built into their home. Now that’s buying up and a perfect option for Florida First Time Buyers!

Historically, Florida manufactured and mobile homes were considered a poor investment for the mortgage market because of home depreciation concerns. After 30 years of data, this has simply been shown to be inaccurate. The typical Florida manufactured or mobile home loan secured by a Florida manufactured home tied to land appreciates using the same principles one applies to traditional stick built homes: Supply and demand. That’s why we believe a quality land and Florida mobile home mortgage package is really a good investment.

Our Florida manufactured home loan terms allow for:

·         Very Competitive low Fixed Rate Loans ·         1/1 Adjustable Rate Mortgage option to Qualified Applicants ·         Up to 97% financing for Qualified Applicants ·         Streamline Refinance Loan program for reduced costs to improve your rate and terms ·         Single Wide mobile home financing ·         Double Wide manufactured home financing ·         Yes, we offer financing for Triple Wide mobile homes as well ·         You can even do a Cash Out Refinance for Qualified Borrowers ·         Down Payment Help programs are typically allowed ·         Up to 6% seller concessions are allowed to qualified home buyers ·         We can finance ANY Florida mobile homes built after June 1976 that bear the HUD required seal ·         All Florida manufactured homes financed must be tied to land. We cannot finance only the Florida mobile home without the land.  Florida FHA Mobile Home Loan For Mobile home W/Land

 You can finance a Florida manufactured or mobile home with land  using the low rate FHA loan. Getting a low interest rate Florida mobile or manufactured home loan is easy using the FHA mortgage program. The reality is that in many Florida communities, manufactured homes that are a Florida homebuyers primary residence is one of the most difficult types of Florida mortgage loans to get a competitive low interest rate home loan on. Enter the FHA mortgage program. Learn more. Call 1-800-570-0448 or inquire using our quick quote form!

In many instances, the actual purchase price for of a Florida mobile or manufactured home with land is much lower than a conventional home and allows a wider range of prospective Florida home buyers to become home owners. The FHA mobile home loan allows for both Double Wide and Single Wide manufactured home financing under FHA underwriting terms and conditions (which can be reviewed here).

You’ll get a high quality Fixed low rate mortgage on a Florida manufactured home, and in all cases, you will get a much higher loan-to-value than you will ever find in the conventional or secondary loan market.

Best of all, motivated Florida sellers can contribute up to 6% towards the payment of your closing costs. Also, gifts from FHA/HUD qualified sources may be used to meet 100% of the minimum down payment requirements. Get started today with a low rate mobile home loan by calling 1-800-570-0448.

 To take advantage of the FHA program in Florida, give us a call 1-800-570-0448 or use our quick application to find out more about the many FL mortgage programs we can make available. Or Apply now for a FL FHA home loan.

When analyzing a Florida mortgage applicant credit report, it is important to focus upon the general pattern of credit behavior rather than isolated occurrences of late payments.  Often times, Florida mortgage applicants will experience a period of financial difficulty in the past and does not necessarily translate into an unacceptable risk.  Reasonable explanations of the credit derogatory and evidence of offsetting factors (such as a new job or promotion with greater stability and pay, for example) will be necessary.  All derogatory credit information must be explained, in writing, by the borrower.

The following is a brief synopsis of the credit underwriting guidelines for FHA mortgage loans:

Lack of credit history:  If a Florida mortgage applicant does not have a minimum of 3 trade lines on their credit report, alternative forms of credit may be used.  This would include items such as auto insurance payment history, utility bills, etc. 

Included credit obligations:  Any installment loan (e.g. student loans, car loans, etc.) with less than 10 months remaining does not need to be included when qualifying for a FHA home loan.  However, consideration is given to a large debt of over $100 a month, regardless of the number of months remaining.  Furthermore, payments on auto leases with less than 10 months must be included in the qualifying ratios.  The minimum payment on all revolving accounts (i.e. credit cards) is also factored in.  If the borrower has an open revolving account without a balance, $10 per open account should be included when qualifying. Any loan where the borrower has co-signed for another party is included with their debts unless the borrower can prove that the the other party has made the payments on their own for a minimum of 12 months.

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy:  FHA requires a minimum of 2 years since the discharge of the bankruptcy.  An explanation of the bankruptcy will be required.  Furthermore, the borrower should have re-established credit (i.e. secured credit card) with no late payments.  

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy:  FHA will consider a borrower still paying on a Chapter 13 bankruptcy if the payments to the court have been made for a minimum of 1 year in a satisfactory manner (as verified with the courts) and with the approval of the court trustee.

Federal Debts:  A Florida mortgage applicant is not eligible for a FHA loan if he/she is delinquent or in default on any federal debt (such as a HUD or VA mortgage, student loans, SBA loans or a tax lien against his/her property).  Borrowers can become eligible by bringing any delinquent accounts current, making satisfactory repayment arrangements with the creditor (generally a 3 month history will be required), or paying the account in full.

Judgments:  Judgments must be paid or have 12 months of arranged payment history

Collection Accounts:  Collections do not need to be paid  (LOX) needed

Foreclosure:  A borrower who has had a property foreclosed upon, or who has given a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure within the previous 3 years, is generally not eligible for a FHA home loan.  However, if it was the result of extenuating circumstances beyond the borrower’s control (such as the death of a spouse, loss of employment, or serious long-term illness, etc.) and the borrower has since re-established good credit, an exception may be granted.  However, extenuating circumstances do not include the inability to sell a house when transferring from one area to another.

Non-purchasing Spouse:  If a married borrower is purchasing a property by himself/herself, the credit obligations of the spouse must be included with the application and will be factored in with the borrower’s credit obligations and used to determine the financial capacity of the borrower.  Furthermore, the non-purchasing spouse may be required to sign a security instrument or documentation relinquishing all rights to the property.    

To Learn more about FHA financing visit the links below   

Today car becomes very essential for every humanâ??s life. There are many people who have their own car but many people donâ??t have a car. They have not enough credit to buy a new branded car so they need car finance to do so. Car finance UK is so simple but it is not simple to get it in cheap interest rates. So that when you search for car finance UK you should try to get financed from that company who can offer you a cheap rate loan. It is necessary to minimize your burden on your finances and repaying ability.

In UK there are various lenders who offer cheap car finance for new and used car. You should try to get various loan quotes from various lenders and have to compare it for cheap rate finance before searching for car finance UK. There are a large numbers of lenders who offers cheap car finance in UK. It is suitable that you should not recognize a lender’s propose without comparing the car loan quotes. Before financing a car you need to check all the documents and the deals that are offered by your car financier. It would be your best decision to shop around for the best loan deal.

Many people can not have enough cash or saving to buy a car but they need car also so they wander for finance companies to get their dream car. Some of them get cheap rate finance but some of them pay higher for their finance. So they need to search online for various car finance UK companies. There are a lot of car finance websites available in which they provide various scheme and their other information related to car finance. So donâ??t wander hither and thither and go online search for best car finance UK.

If you have a bad credit history and you are unable to find car finance company that offer cheap rate finance, you should go online and search a website that can fulfill your need. For guaranteed cheap rate on car finance UK, prefer borrowing it aligned with your esteemed asset like home. So pertain to an online lender for cheap car finance in the UK. But ensure that you have compared well the online financier so that you have a proposal of how cheap rate loan can be getting in the UK.

An Incident Response Plan

As these scams are on the rise in financial institutions, if a financial institution is prepared, and in today’s world, they have to be, the consequences will be minimal. In the event of phishing and pharming scams, staff members in a financial institution should know how to deal with this type of situation effectively.

To ensure the customer’s safety and privacy, an incident response plan should be in place and is required by examiners to be in place. Included in the plan should be an organized approach as to how the problem is going to be handled as well as having a clearly laid out plan to address the situation.

The following should be considered in regard to an Incident Response Plan:

1. Start by assessing the situation so that you know exactly what your bank is dealing with; if an incident has occurred, it’s usually up to the CEO and CIO to handle the overall incident response along with members of a CSIRT.

2. Fight the attacker

1. Educating the end user

2. Redirecting pharming clicks to an education page (most attacks are pulling images from your site)

3. Attempt to shut down the phishing site yourself

4. If needed have a competent vendor to respond to the situation for counter attack; this helps identify who will take down the website as well as which agencies to contact.

5. Exploit the phishing website

6. Communicate with customers

1. Post Bulletins on Website to ensure customers are aware of the situation

2. Have employees assure customers that security controls are in place for the institution.

7. Contact authorities such as Secret Service, FBI; in addition, contact Financial Service Vendors for support on abnormal activity on customer accounts.

8. Feed bogus information to the pharmed sites.

9. Review abnormal activities on Customer Accounts and bogus accounts

10. Implement 3rd party monitoring companies

This is not intended to be a complete incident response plan, but trigger the thought process on items to be covered.

Preventative Actions

At one time or another your institution will be affected by a fraud scam, therefore being prepared with a good response plan for employees as well as providing customer education, in addition to having the resources (either in-house or outsourced) to handle the problem efficiently and effectively are the most effective preventive actions.

Prevention of course is primary insofar as keeping phishing and pharming scams at bay, and therefore as a preventive measure, customers who use online banking in any financial institution should be warned to use caution when opening any type of email with links that appear to come from their financial institution. Even if the message looks legitimate, prudence is always best. Educate customers to be proactive rather than reactive.

Alert customers not to click any links that come in emails, especially if they appear somewhat suspicious. In addition, if the customer has any doubt about the e-mail message, alert the customer to call their financial institution directly to determine whether it could potentially be a phishing or pharming scam.

Provide customers with Security Awareness Training by developing a web page about information disclosure in addition to providing a closely monitored email address for this activity should be set up by your institution where customers can send suspicious activities.

About the Author

Mr. Gale Yocom is a recognized technology expert and President of the Dallas-based security specialist company Covetrix. For the past ten years his company has provided full service networking and security solutions to government entitities, financial institutions, and commercial businesses across the U.S. Performing security audits, penetration testing and implementation of security controls, he brings a wealth of knowledge and information to Internet security.

In today’s high tech world, maintaining the privacy and protection of customers and employees’ information grows more and more difficult particularly for many financial institutions. These days’ scammers are getting bolder and more brazen in their abilities to get personal information from banking customers as they aggressively target the smaller locally owned community financial institutions.

In fact, a recent customer reported a complex, malicious, and targeted attack took place on their institution’s customers and employees. A well-recognized phishing activity trends website reported that financial institutions saw a continuing rise in phishing activities with 92.5% of attacks targeted on financial institutions.

On average, a phishing site stays online for 3.8 days. The relevance to the number of days online is that the longer it remains online, the more possibilities for the scammer to gather personal information. It is imperative that we are prepared for this type of incident and the response that is needed.

Phishing and Pharming Attacks

There was a time when only the larger financial institutions such as Wells Fargo bank were targeted for phishing and pharming scams, but that’s no longer the case. The increase in phishing attacks on community financial institutions stems from the fact that smaller financial institutions are simply more profitable and are usually less protected from fraudulent activities.

As mentioned above, one of our local community financial institutions was hit with a complex and sophisticated vishing/pharming/phishing telephone scam that focused on customers as well as on the bank’s employees. Fortunately, we have been preparing our client for years for these types of attacks, and therefore they were on the alert, so the attack caused minimum disruption.

Sharp customers and employees recognized that the e-mail messages were a scam because of poor grammar and content in addition to the salutation being addressed to “member” or some other non-descript person. A genuine message from a financial institution always addresses the customer by their full name. Furthermore, the scams did not provide a means for contacting the institution if there were any questions, but instead told the customers and employees in the e-mail message not to reply. No legitimate institution would ever tell you not to reply.

But even with preparation and after years of working in the Internet security arena, we were surprised at the combination of attack vectors used.

Combination of Attack Vectors

The scammers’ used a variety of strategies starting with a mass email and pharming scam as an attempt to steal personal information using a Do-IT-Yourself Phishing kit. The initial attack was then followed up with telephone calls to certain area codes with spoofed numbers and using a technique called Vishing. Besides, using pharming, phishing, and vishing tactics aimed at stealing valuable information such as credit cards, social security numbers, IDs and passwords, the attackers didn’t stop there.

The scammers also included Spear Phishing, an email spoofing fraud that targets financial institution employees in an attempt to gain unauthorized access to confidential data. Because of the banks watchful eye, they caught it in time, but these types of attacks are getting bolder and more commonplace and require a great deal more vigilance in keeping personal information away from scammers.

Why Customers Are Fooled

Approximately 19% of recipients respond to Spear-Phishing, which today is one of the most menacing threats to Internet users. Unfortunately, users do not clearly understand the importance of checking for authenticity, which should include specific indications that the site they are being sent to is secure.

As a busy society, we are so focused on getting the job done quickly and efficiently, we often don’t check for important clues, which is why many users receiving messages or paying bills online don’t watch out for the clues that indicate whether an e-mail message or site is fraudulent.

An Incident Response Plan

As these scams are on the rise in financial institutions, if a financial institution is prepared, and in today’s world, they have to be, the consequences will be minimal. In the event of phishing and pharming scams, staff members in a financial institution should know how to deal with this type of situation effectively.

To ensure the customer’s safety and privacy, an incident response plan should be in place and is required by examiners to be in place. Included in the plan should be an organized approach as to how the problem is going to be handled as well as having a clearly laid out plan to address the situation.

The following should be considered in regard to an Incident Response Plan:

1. Start by assessing the situation so that you know exactly what your bank is dealing with; if an incident has occurred, it’s usually up to the CEO and CIO to handle the overall incident response along with members of a CSIRT.

2. Fight the attacker

1. Educating the end user

2. Redirecting pharming clicks to an education page (most attacks are pulling images from your site)

3. Attempt to shut down the phishing site yourself

4. If needed have a competent vendor to respond to the situation for counter attack; this helps identify who will take down the website as well as which agencies to contact.

5. Exploit the phishing website

6. Communicate with customers

1. Post Bulletins on Website to ensure customers are aware of the situation

2. Have employees assure customers that security controls are in place for the institution.

7. Contact authorities such as Secret Service, FBI; in addition, contact Financial Service Vendors for support on abnormal activity on customer accounts.

8. Feed bogus information to the pharmed sites.

9. Review abnormal activities on Customer Accounts and bogus accounts

10. Implement 3rd party monitoring companies

This is not intended to be a complete incident response plan, but trigger the thought process on items to be covered.

Preventative Actions

At one time or another your institution will be affected by a fraud scam, therefore being prepared with a good response plan for employees as well as providing customer education, in addition to having the resources (either in-house or outsourced) to handle the problem efficiently and effectively are the most effective preventive actions.

Prevention of course is primary insofar as keeping phishing and pharming scams at bay, and therefore as a preventive measure, customers who use online banking in any financial institution should be warned to use caution when opening any type of email with links that appear to come from their financial institution. Even if the message looks legitimate, prudence is always best. Educate customers to be proactive rather than reactive.

Alert customers not to click any links that come in emails, especially if they appear somewhat suspicious. In addition, if the customer has any doubt about the e-mail message, alert the customer to call their financial institution directly to determine whether it could potentially be a phishing or pharming scam.

Provide customers with Security Awareness Training by developing a web page about information disclosure in addition to providing a closely monitored email address for this activity should be set up by your institution where customers can send suspicious activities.

About the Author

Mr. Gale Yocom is a recognized technology expert and President of the Dallas-based security specialist company Covetrix. For the past ten years his company has provided full service networking and security solutions to government entitities, financial institutions, and commercial businesses across the U.S. Performing security audits, penetration testing and implementation of security controls, he brings a wealth of knowledge and information to Internet security.

Mr. Yocom is known for effectively uncovering weaknesses in institution’s security practices and has impressively strengthened the security posture of many financial institutions. Mr. Yocom can be reached by contacting him at gale@covetrix.com or by visiting him on the web at www.covetrix.com