The Chennai Police on Friday claimed that it had arrested a Srilankan Tamil, mastermind behind a major credit card scam. The racket was involved in cloning credit cards using a skimmer, an embossing machine and other equipment.

The Police arrested HariKumar on October 15 when he tried to buy things using a fake credit card in Perambur. When interrogated, he disclosed that the brain behind the scam was Umesh alias Jatti, a Srilankan tamil settled in Canada. He said that Jatti had recently moved to Chennai. The police recovered four fake credit cards from Harikumar. The case was then handed over to central crime branch for further probe.

Special teams were able to catch Umesh, a marine engineer, from Porur. When interrogated, he revealed that he had obtained several blank credit cards sent from Malaysia by some agents. He said that he had also obtained particulars of several credit cards from his friends in Canada, where he lived for several years. He engraved and embossed the particulars on the blank credit cards. He also prepared fake driving licences, PAN cards. Passports to show to the suspicious shopkeepers while buying things.

The police recovered 24 fake credit cards and several blank cards from his house.

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Today, the House Financial Services Committee approved the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) by a vote of 39 to 29. This is the first step in creating a new regulatory agency that will protect consumers. The CFPA is an important piece of the Obama administration’s plan to tighten lending regulations and help prevent future financial failures.

The bill would give states more authority to regulate large national banks with their own stronger consumer protections on interest rates and fees associated with credit cards and mortgages. However, it would allow federal regulators to exempt banks from state laws on a case-by-case basis.

The CFPA would enforce provisions in the CARD Act that protect consumers from sudden rate increases on unpaid credit card balances. It would also create rules that would make credit card terms more transparent and easy to understand.

“Consumers feel they need some type of protection right now. This week, many Citi customers received a large rate increase to 29.99% for no apparent reason,” says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook.

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Have you ever thought about how much you would pay to keep your credit card?

Years of no annual fees, favorable grace periods, and reasonable interest rates probably kept you from pondering such a question. But as major credit issuers search for ways to replace the revenue they stand to lose as a result of the CARD Act of 2009, you may soon be forced to determine just how much you’re willing to pay for the convenience of paying with plastic.

After announcing a paltry third-quarter profit of $101 million last week, the CEO of Citigroup, Vikram Pandit, said “Looking forward, we will continue to focus on sustainable profitability of growth, repaying TARP and helping support America’s economic recovery.” Of course, at the same time, Citigroup is notifying consumers across the country that interest rates are increasing, annual fees are returning, and grace periods are shrinking. And Cit

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Estate planning is important for individuals who own sizable amounts of property. But uncertainty surrounding the estate tax makes it difficult for them to choose and implement strategies to reduce the tax.

Under current law, relatively few estates need to be mindful of the estate tax. Typically, a person can leave everything to his or her spouse, undiminished by any tax, thanks to an unlimited marital deduction. (There are different, less bighearted rules for surviving spouses who are not United States citizens.) In addition to the marital deduction, there is a sizable exemption for property that goes to children and other recipients — $3.5 million for 2009, up from $2 million for estates of individuals who died in 2006 through 2008. Assets in excess of the exemption are taxed at a top rate of 45 percent.

Back in 2001, President Bush and a bi-partisan Congress cut a deal for the estate tax to disappear in 2010 and reappear in 2011 with an exemption of only $1 million and a top rate of 55 percent for property in excess of $1 million. M

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New business owners face the challenge of building a corporate credit history. In the meantime, they will need to bank on their personal credit history when applying for loans or business credit cards. In this article, let us talk about how you can increase your chances of getting approved for a business credit card even without a business credit history.

Build a Strong Personal Credit

When you submit your business credit card application, issuers will be checking your personal credit report to decide whether to give you an approval or not. Needless to say, having a good or excellent credit history will surely win the approval of your credit card issuer. If you have bad credit, the credit card company may not be as lenient in approving your application.

Before applying for your chosen business credit card, order a copy of your credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax, TransUnion. Check if there are errors in your report which can pull down your score. I

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