Charlotte Mooney

How Much Is a Million?

Do you know what a million dollars in banknotes looks like? Or perhaps a billion, or even a trillion? No, neither did I, until I read about it last night. For anyone remotely interested in the financial crisis, banking regulations, Basel III, or even just... Read >

The Mobile Wallet

Shoppers in the UK are now able to make payments using their mobile phones. So, could your Sim card replace your credit card? And how does it work? A new mobile wallet service called Quick Tap has just been launched in the UK. A joint venture between O... Read >

Card Payment Technology Update: Mobile Card Processing

Mobile Card Processing is an emerging technology targeted at small businesses that traditionally would not be able to accept payments by credit or debit cards. Think about it: people like chiropodists, mobile hairdressers, babysitters, plumbers, taxi-driv... Read >

Desperate Housewives Pay the Mortgage with a Credit Card

Housing charity Shelter has disclosed that over 2 million desperate UK householders have resorted to paying their mortgage or rent with a credit card. A Shelter survey, conducted in August 2010, revealed that 6% of UK households had used plastic cards to ... Read >

Identity Theft Insurance: Do We Really Need It?

Are you aware of the threat posed by identity theft? Are you concerned enough to spend your hard-earned cash on ID theft insurance? Has anyone tried to sell this product to you when you ring to activate a new card? Well, Barclaycard used to, through id... Read >

Frustrated PlayStation Enthusiasts are Hacked off by Security Breach and Network Closure

77 million Sony PlayStation subscribers have been warned that their credit card details and other confidential personal data may have been stolen by hackers, in what has been described as the largest identity theft on record. The cyber attack came to ligh... Read >

UK Bankers Score Spectacular Own Goal over PPI Misselling Row

UK bankers have scored another spectacular own goal with their failed attempt to overturn rules governing the mis-selling of PPI. PPI stands for Payment Protection Insurance, a financial product commonly sold by banks, card issuers and other lenders to cu... Read >

Looking Backward: When the Credit Card was Just Science Fiction

The credit card has been around, in one form or another, for most of the 20th Century. These days they are a ubiquitous and indispensable part of our lives that nearly all of us just take for granted. We use our plastic credit and debit cards all the time... Read >

Electronic Pickpocketing: Fact or Fiction? A New Credit Card Scam

There have been some alarming reports circulating recently about security problems with contactless, or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), cards. These include credit, debit, or ATM cards, all of which can be enabled for contactless transactions by an... Read >

Origins of the Credit Card as Told by Nathanael West

There are many urban myths surrounding the origins of the modern-day credit card, but, like many others, I had always believed the much-vaunted assertion that the origin of the credit card lay in the 1950s, with the advent of Diner's Club. The internet ab... Read >

Card Fraud is on the Way Down but are Consumers Still too Complacent about Security?

Life assistance company CPP released its annual 'Card Fraud Index' report this January, revealing that around 13 million Britons have now been the victims of card fraud. The trend for a reduction in fraud continues, however: 2010 saw an encouraging 3% fal... Read >

13-Year High for Credit Card Interest Rates

Consumer misery shows no sign of letting up in 2011, with credit card interest rates hitting a 13-year high, according to research carried out by price comparison site moneyfacts.co.uk. The average credit card charge now stands at 18.9%, over 4% higher th... Read >

Future Global Shocks: Warning of Cyber Attacks Still to Come

As part of its wide-ranging study 'Future Global Shocks', which is looking into possible disasters ranging from global pandemics to volcanic eruptions, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development today issued a report warning world leaders ... Read >

Stephen Fry and Two New Teenage Credit Card Fraudsters: Spot the Difference

Two British schoolboys, Nick Webber and Ryan Thomas, were arrested earlier this year on charges of a multi-million pound internet credit card fraud. It is alleged that they managed to hack into over 65,000 bank accounts and sell the details on a dodgy int... Read >

What is a Hacker?

The online attacks against international payment websites continue to make the news and, if you believe the media hype, look set to escalate into all-out cyber warfare. It has already been dubbed "The First World Information War". 'Operation Payback' bega... Read >