North Bay Man Victim of Identity Theft – Protect Your Personal Information

North Bay Man Victim of Identity Theft – Protect Your Personal Information

When I think of identity theft, I always think that this is something that happens to someone else, never me. Last week, I was a victim of identity theft. Hopefully, my story will help you and save you the aggravation that I experienced.

I woke up at 3 am one morning with a feeling that something was wrong. I went down to my home office to check my email. Within ten minutes of logging on to my email account I started receiving automatic notifications from my credit card company. Not enough funds. Not enough funds. Not enough funds. I received a total of 16 emails going from $2400, $1800, $900, $700, $600, $500 $223 $80$ $24, $13, $6.00 $4.25 and so on. I knew that I had not made any purchases lately with my credit card, so I looked into it immediately. As these emails continued to come in I sent emails to my credit card company, notifying them of the fraud. I wrote messages like: Please call me. They took another $700. Please block my account. And finally, help. I even called the 1800 number on the back of the credit card to access the 24 hour support line. Apparently the 24 hour customer service line was not staffed that night and I was at the mercy of the fraudsters.( The credit card company was open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, but not in a row.)

Out of desparation I called VISA USA who then forwarded me to VISA International. VISA International placed a block on my card to protect the $3.10 remaining on my credit card. My credit card company called me three days latter, and I made a claim which will take 90 to 120 to investigate. In the meantime, I am out the money. I applied for a new credit card, which took 4 weeks to receive. Have you had an issue with identity theft? Please comment and share your experiences on the topic of Identity Theft.

Just for fun, I called all of the other credit card companies at 4 am. Out of the 7 companies I called, they all had a support line that was open. The credit card company that I deal with, was the only company that did not have a support line for fraud that was open 24 hours a day.

The ironic things was that if the credit card company was not asleep at the wheel, the entire fraud could have been averted. Perhaps, credit card companies consider fraud as a cost of doing business and justify their high interest rates to account for this built in loss?

As a side note, you will have 30 days to file a report with the credit card company, dont miss this deadline. Missing this deadline will make it harder to retrieve your money. One thing I should have done was file a police report with the police. (OPP)

Protect your personal information and check out this list of 10 Tips to Prevent Identity Theft. If only I had read this before my theft, I could have been more prepared to deal with the situation. Please Retweet.(RT)

Adam Gour
Blog Post for #MAD405

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Pivotal Payments Completes Portfolio Acquisition from American National Payments

One of the fastest growing payment processors in North America adds over
2000 merchants and 300 million dollars in bankcard volume annually

MELVILLE, NY, March 31 /CNW Telbec/ – Pivotal Payments announced today the acquisition of a merchant portfolio from American National Payments of St. Louis, Mo.  The acquisition adds over 2000 merchants to Pivotal Payments’ North American portfolio and enhances its sales channels with the addition of an established ISO sales partner.

Pivotal Payments continues to be one of the fastest growing payment processors in North America and the acquisition of the American National Payments’ portfolio is another in a series of acquisitions Pivotal Payments has completed over the last 5 years.   This growth is an integral part of Pivotal’s strategy to enhance its footprint throughout North America as a trusted, innovative and dynamic merchant services provider.

“Pivotal is excited with adding American National Payments to our portfolio,” said Philip Fayer, president and CEO, Pivotal Payments. “The addition of ANP as an Executive ISO partner, combined with Pivotal’s efficiencies and technology, will allow us to further expand and serve our clients’ merchant processing needs. The ANP acquisition supplements our strong organic growth momentum.”

“We are very happy to have concluded this transaction with Pivotal. ANP prides itself on its exceptional customer service and we are confident that our merchants will be in good hands with the Pivotal Payments team.” said Michael Lineback, Owner of American National Payments.

About Pivotal Payments

Pivotal Payments is a leading provider and processor of merchant services such as credit and debit card processing, electronic check conversion, merchant cash-advance programs, loyalty/gift card programs, and terminal management solutions. The company provides these services to small and mid-sized retail businesses, mail order/telephone order merchants, e-commerce, chain stores, franchises, restaurants and dealerships. With offices across North America, Pivotal Payments has grown to over 350 employees and over 1,000 agents and serves over 60,000 customers. The company processes over US$8 billion in annual transaction volume.

Company and product information are available at www.pivotalpayments.com

About American National Payments

American National Payments, a privately owned corporation founded in 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri, offers a comprehensive suite of payment processing solutions designed to help merchants, banks and associations process credit, debit and gift cards as well as offering check processing and payroll solutions. American National Payments has committed itself to powering business growth by creating, delivering, and supporting innovative, highly-reliable payment systems and providing top notch merchant support. In conjunction with a nationwide network of distribution partners ANP also embraces an active role in the community, participating in several philanthropic activities throughout the year.

Company and product information are available at http://www.americannationalpayments.com

For further information:Daniel Aitken
Marketing Director,
PIVOTAL PAYMENTS
(866) 364-9818
daitken@pivotalpayments.com 

Pivotal Payments Teams with Hypercom to Roll Out Optimum Terminals

Hypercom Corporation (NYSE: HYC) today announced that Pivotal Payments, a leading North American merchant services provider, has begun to purchase and is deploying up to 33,000 Optimum countertop and mobile card payment terminals to merchants throughout Canada over the next 36 months.

The multi-million dollar rollout is believed to represent one of the largest in the country, and significantly strengthens Hypercom’s high security product footprint in Canada.

“Our Canadian merchants demand cost-effective, innovative, reliable and secure EMV payment systems, for this reason we have selected Hypercom’s Optimum product line,” said Frank LoSchiavo, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Pivotal Payments.

“We are paving the way in electronic payments and transaction security, expanding our footprint in Canada, and we are doing it with well respected leaders like Pivotal Payments,” said David Cronin, President and Managing Director, North America, Hypercom Corporation.

Hypercom’s high security Optimum 4200 product family for North America consists of powerful 32-bit multi-application devices that share the same platform, user interface, and software toolkit to maximize efficiency, application portability, and offer customers a broad range of options to serve any market need.

About Pivotal Payments (www.pivotalpayments.com/ca)

Pivotal Payments is a leading provider of merchant services such as credit and debit card processing, electronic check conversion, merchant cash-advance programs, loyalty/gift card programs, and terminal management solutions. The company provides these services to small and mid-sized retail businesses, mail order/telephone order merchants, e-commerce, chain stores, franchises, restaurants and dealerships. With offices across North America, Pivotal Payments has grown to over 300 employees and over 1000 agents. It has customers in the USA and Canada and processes over $8 billion in annual volume.

 

“Dr Debit – Automotive Dealership Profitability”

“Merchant Pricing” versus “Interchange Plus Pricing” Which has greater savings?

Picking the right pricing model will shave $7,000 to $150,000 from your Auto Dealerships’ payment processing expenses, over 5 Years.

Most Automobile Dealerships use a “Merchant Pricing” model based on a negotiated rate with their Bank, usually between 1.49% and 1.85% percent plus 6 to 25 cents per transaction.

With the “Interchange Plus Pricing” structure your Payment Processor sets their margin at a fixed rate that is tied to the fluctuating Interchange rates. Usually the ”Interchange Plus Pricing” model is only offered to large Automobile Dealer Groups and Associations based on their high sales volumes, usually exceeding 100 million a year. The savings are then passed forward to the Automobile Dealership through lower fees.  “With Interchange Plus Pricing, not only do Automobile Dealerships receive deep discounts on their processing but they also appreciate the transparency in pricing” says Dr Debit.

Your Discount Rate is based on Interchange rates that are calculated twice per year by VISA and MasterCard.  In the Spring and the Fall the Interchange rates can either go up or down based on market conditions.

A “Discount Rate” is not really a Discount but rather the cost that VISA and MasterCard charge for the privilege of accepting credit card payments stated as a percentage of your Dealerships’ Sales.

With the “Merchant Pricing” model the Automobile Dealership is at the mercy of their payment provider throughout the 4 year term of their contract. When Interchange rates go up, the fine print in your contract states that the Payment Processor has the right to raise your rates provided they give you 3 months notice.  How many times has a payment processor called you to tell your Automobile Dealerships discount rate has gone down?

The advantage of the Interchange Plus Pricing is the mark-up your Payment Processor charges you remains fixed for the duration of your contract. Therefore at any given time, an Automobile Dealership can be guaranteed a predictable rate based on the cost of Interchange.

There are several other ways that Dr Debit assists Automotive Dealership’s save money with their Point of Sale Terminals. Please read our other post, as part of our series coined “Dr Debit – CFO TIPS for Automotive Dealership Profitability”

As a Payment Processing broker, we research the best rates from all Payment Processors. Our core business is the Automotive Industry. Through our partnerships, we are the largest Non Bank payment processor; processing $8 billion dollars plus annually with 40,000 plus clients.

Dr Debit offers a free statement analysis service to Automobile Dealerships’ and a review of your entire payment processing system and terminals.  We will compare your current pricing model with “Interchange Plus Pricing” and show you the savings.

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Dr Debit Merchant Services Inc is a Social Media Sales Organization of Pivotal Payments Direct Corp. that is a registered ISO/MSP of Peoples Trust, Vancouver CA.  MasterCard is registered trade mark of MasterCard International Incorporated. ® Trade-mark of Interac Inc. Emergis licensed user of the Trade-mark.