Michelle Jun – Page 5

April 25, 2014

Taking on Debt

A discussion about debt these days often brings topics around student lending and the financial status of Millennials and following generations front and center. I have only scratched the surface of this predicted massive financial blowout, I’ve found these bits of information to be both useful and unsettling:

1. Gap in Data

There is “lack a full understanding of how student debt affects financial decisions and how future problems in repaying student loans may impact other parts of the economy because the student loan market is “quite opaque,” according to Rohit Chopra, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”

2. The Next Bailout (which is already happening)

“[W]hile today’s grads may be part of the most educated generation in history they are also the most indebted twentysomethings the world has ever seen.”

3. There are about 80 million Millennials!

“The sheer number of millennials — about 80 million — makes them a significant force in the U.S. economy. But many of them have trouble accurately answering basic personal finance questions, spend more than they make and are worried about their debt”

4. Stats and Facts from Pew’s Recent study on Millennials:

• About half of millennials with student loans say this debt has made it more difficult to make ends meet.

• Unemployment remains high. Pew says 13 percent of the 18-to-24 age group were out of work in the first month of this year.

• The share of young adults living in their parents’ home reached a historical high in 2012, three years after the Great Recession ended.

• Most millennials say they would like to marry. But many, especially those with lower levels of income and education, don’t think they can because they don’t have “a solid economic foundation.”

• When compared with the Gen Xers and boomers, millennials have less wealth and income than the two immediate predecessor generations had at the same stage of their lives.

5. Tips on Paying for College

Some useful tips for those heading off to college despite the enormous price tag. I doubt that many college bound students calculate their return on investment…but in the least, some good research will likely pay off.

It’s no surprise there have been new approaches to ease this financial burden:

SoFi offers a new model to help students refinance their federal and private student loans by directly connecting borrowers with lenders.

GiveCollege and GradSave provide crowdfunding platforms so that aunts, uncles, friends can contribute to a student’s

Pave offers a “fair, innovative financial agreement that’s affordable for talent and meaningful to backers” Students provide a portion of their future earnings to funders once they graduate and make more than 150% FPL.

Kalamazoo Promise Anonymous donors are sending their city’s students to college debt free.

March 19, 2014

New Developments for Song-Beverly

A couple notable developments on California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act, which limits retailers from collecting certain types of personal information from its customers.

California’s SB 383 (Jackson) passed the Senate earlier this year, which addresses the Apple v. Superior Court decision. This bill would extend Song-Beverly protections to online retailers and prohibit them from collecting certain types of personal information when consumers purchase “electronically downloadable content” unless for fraud detection and prevention purposes. A pretty narrow bill, to address a pretty narrow ruling.

Consumers can’t be required to provide their email addresses, unless for an “incidental but related purpose,” when shopping at a brick and mortar store any longer, a result of Capp v. Nordstrom.

Why might might consumers be spooked about giving out their email addresses or zip codes at the point of sale? If you haven’t read this article in Forbes, it explains why very simply.

Not Song-Beverly related, but more in following up on data breaches and their aftermath as some consumers try to figure out how to dig out from identity theft or try to keep their financial lives from being wrecked. Brian Krebs has confirmed that credit monitoring services are not helpful in his recent post, “Are Credit Monitoring Services Worth It.”

February 20, 2014February 20, 2014

Bitcoin Roundup

There is SO much dialogue around digital currencies/virtual currencies/cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin is front and center. Here are a few articles I’ve found particularly interesting:

1. A VC’s perspective: Why Bitcoin Matters – Marc Andreesen’s NYT Op Ed

2. What’s new in the regulatory world stateside: New York Regulators Promise Tough Bitcoin Rules – Bloomberg

3. New currency meets old hardware (Bitcoin ATMs): Bitcoin ATM coming to the U.S. -CNN

4. Bitcoin is not immune to hackers: Bitcoin Exchange Mt.Gox Apologies About Crippling Hack – Reuters

And, I saved my favorite for last:

5. Follow Bitcoin’s ups and downs with PYMTS’ Bitcoin Bubble Tracker.

January 22, 2014March 18, 2014

10 (Mostly) Interesting Links on Data Breaches

Data breaches are on the minds of a lot of people today, beyond the usual group of privacy and security professionals, privacy advocates, and lawmakers as a result of the Target breach.

I’ve compiled a list of 10 interesting links on data breaches (including some regarding their intersection with payments and privacy:

1. Over 660 million breaches–The Target breach is certainly substantial, but certainly not a new occurrence. To date, according to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s tally which they began in 2005, 662,081,528 records have been breached.

2. EMV (Chip and PIN) Cards Touted as the Solution–More influentials and groups are taking on the position that EMV or chip and PIN cards, are the solution to prevent hackers and cybercriminals to get access to personal data–Target’s CEO and the National Retail Federation are beating this drum lately.

3. But Really, EMV Cards Are Not A Swift Solution–Certainly, faster adoption of chip and PIN, or EMV cards, will likely lower fraud, and will place the US among Canada, Europe and just about everywhere else in the plastic card carrying world. And, issuers have been sending out credit cards with chip and PINs (I have a couple) to US cardholders. But, the technology remains pretty useless until merchants have the proper readers and software to accept the cards. It likely won’t be a few years until chip and PIN take over, as payment networks, Mastercard, Visa and American Express have given their merchants until 2015 to obtain hardware and software to accept EMV cards…

4. Encryption–Heartland Payment Systems took a beating in 2008 after their 2008 breach, with one of their big clients, TJX Companies losing an estimated $171 million in that breach. But, Heartland was able to turn it around and is now touting end-to-end encryption.

5. There Is No Federal Data Breach Notification Law–The public knows about data breaches as a result of 46 state and the D.C.’s data breach Laws. Otherwise, we likely would have no idea how many records with personal information have been breached or may have fallen into the wrong hands.

6. California Is The First State To Pass A Data Breach Notification Law. This happened back in 2002.

7. California Adds Onto Its Data Breach Law— SB 46 expanded California’s data breach law to require notification when passwords and usernames are included.

8. What Is The Customer’s Liability?–If an individual finds there has been fraud, it will depend on how a transaction was made. Bottom line, using a credit card is best at the checkout or online. (PaymentsLaw.com is mentioned!)

9. The Payments Landscape Will Forever Be Changed, Or Not–Such large data breaches do bring about larger discussions on whether or not significant changes will be made. A few experts give their 2 cents.

10. What To Do If Your Info Was Hacked—Good tips on what to do if you get a notice your information may have been hacked, from Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

January 7, 2014March 18, 2014

New Year, New Laws

Along with new goals, new resolutions, and feelings of renewal, the new year also brings the beginning of many new laws in California.

Here’s a link to a summary compiled by myself and Paul Soter on relevant new laws in California in the areas of consumer finance, payments and financial privacy.