Need Business

Google to unify privacy policy across products

Google Inc. GOOG-Q said it will revamp its privacy policy and terms of service to unify the policy across a wide array of its online offerings to make it shorter and more uniform.

The online search giant said on its official blog that it expects to roll out the revised guidelines in over a month’s time, consolidating more than 60 separate privacy policies it is using for a range of its online products.

Google said it has currently more than 70 privacy policies covering all of its products.

The announcement comes days after Google’s decision to personalize its search feature drew a storm of controversy by critics concerned by privacy and anti-trust issues.

U.S. reg

Read all post…

Tags: Policy, Privacy Policy

Posted in Business News Today | No Comments »

Car loan default – what, when and how?

Technically, a car loan default happens when a customer repeatedly fails to make the agreed car loan payments to the lender/bank that lent the money for its purchase. But is there a prescribed number of payment failure mentioned? Yes. Usually, the car loan agreement that you signed with your lender/bank will have these terms clearly spelt out.

Probably the next big thing on your monthly budgets after the mortgage loan is the car loan. And you would not want to default on this for obvious reasons. One, it will destroy your credit history and two you might lose your car to the repo man! But when does a default actually happen? Does making a deferred or skipping the payment for a month or so constitute a default?

Read all post…

Tags: Car Loan, Car Loan Default, Loan Default, When

Posted in Business Experience | No Comments »

$25 billion mortgage settlement in works

The five banks— Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Ally Financial, all major mortgage lenders in Georgia — and the state attorneys general could adopt the agreement within weeks, the Associated Press reported Monday, citing unnamed government officials briefed on the discussions.

The agreement could change mortgage lending guidelines and make it easier for those at risk of foreclosure to restructure loans. About 1 million homeowners could see the size of their mortgages reduced.

Those who lost homes to foreclosure are unlikely to get homes back or benefit much financially from the settlement. About 750,000 Americans affected by deceptive practices will likely receive checks for about $1,800, the AP reported.

Criteria for deciding who gets a principal reduction or payment aren’t yet known.

It would be the biggest settlement with a single industry since the 1998 multistate tobacco deal.

Georgia had the fourth highest rate of foreclosure filings in the U.S. las

Read all post…

Tags: Billion Mortgage, Mortgage

Posted in Business Titles | No Comments »

24 million customer accounts hacked at Amazon’s Zappos (Reuters)

The popular retailer, which is owned by Amazon.com, said customers’ names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of credit cards numbers and scrambled passwords were stolen.

But it said the hackers had not been able to access servers that held customers critical credit card and other payment data.

“We were recently the victim of a cyber attack by a criminal who gained access to parts of our internal network and systems through one of our servers in Kentucky,” Zappos chief executive Tony Hsieh said in an email to staff which was posted on the company’s blog on Sunday.

“We are cooperating with law enforcement to undergo an exhaustive investigation,” he added.

Zappos said it was recommending that customers change their passwords including on any other website where they use the same or similar password.

The company, which is well known for its customer service, said due to the high volume of customer calls it is expecting it will temporarily switch off its phones and direct customers to contact via email.

Tags: Customer, Million Customer

Posted in Business Titles | No Comments »

Stock futures up on report IMF may boost Europe funding

– Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, putting the S&P 500 on track for a second straight advance after sources said the International Monetary Fund wants to boost its lending facility as the euro zone battles a long-running debt crisis.

* Sources told Reuters the IMF needs to raise up to $600 billion in new funds to lend to countries struggling with the fallout from the debt crisis.

* Greece was set to meet with creditors in the latest attempt to snap a deadlock in negotiations to slash the country’s debt and prevent a default.

* “There is no question the market seems to be decoupling itself from the euro news but Europe also seems to be stabilizing as we see the market is beginning to focus on the economic news and of course, earnings,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

* Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported fourth-quarter results early Wednesday.

Read all post…

Tags: Boost, Boost Europe

Posted in Business Experience | No Comments »