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You want to buy a one-of-a-kind item on a little-known company's website, and you wonder if it's safe to type in your credit card number.

Your hesitation might be warranted, especially when you're using your best credit cards . Although generally it's safe to trust major online retailers, it's a good idea to do some preliminary research on an online company with which you've never done business. How can you tell if the website is safe for your credit cards?

Avoiding Credit Card Fraud Online

Look for clues on your computer screen

After you move to the order page where you type in your credit card number, there should be an "s" after " in the URL. That indicates that the site uses encryption technology, which scrambles information, such as your credit card number, to protect it from hackers as it's transferred from your computer to the online retailer's computer system. Other clues, says the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, include a closed padlock or an unbroken key on your screen.

*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.

Like many other Americans, I am finding it hard to make a living these days. Every time I go to the grocery store or fill up with gas I ask myself, "how long is this going to last?" I often wonder how I am going to make it. It would be easy to throw in the towel and give up. However, that is not an option. I must endure. Times will get better eventually. I started searching for ways I could increase my income and improve my financial situation. I am happy to say that I have found several legitimate ways of earning extra income to get me through the roughest financial times.

Second Job

I have taken on second and even third jobs. I search the freelance boards daily for writing and other work-at-home assistant jobs. Frequently, I find work. Often, the pay is not much, but when you are struggling every little bit helps. I have also applied to all the department stores that are going to need help with the upcoming holiday rush. Frequently, these temporary jobs can turn into full-time employment.

Garage Sale

PONTIAC - Crowds and crowds of smiling people ready to celebrate the holiday season attended the 30th Holiday Extravaganza Parade in downtown Pontiac Dec. 3. Scores more enjoyed free children's activities and family fun as part of the Children WinterART Festival and the Gallery of Ice before the parade.

"I was absolutely thrilled with the Holiday Extravaganza. We had so many people lined up to view the parade," said Holiday Extravaganza advisory board member Fran Anderson.

The event is a collaborative effort between the communities of Auburn Hills, Pontiac, Waterford and White Lake, but residents from across Oakland County came out in droves to join in the fun. The event ran smoothly and even the weather cooperated with no rain or snow to deter people from traveling.

"It just made for a wonderful day," said Tom Kimble, chairperson of the Holiday Extravaganza advisory board.

It was still cold, however, making the fire pit area where participants were creating s'mores a popular place.

This fall, state testing results were released, and we were pleased to learn that all of our students made impressive gains. Our Academic Performance Index (API) is 793. We are working hard to improve our delivery and alignment of core content and are aiming for an API more than 800 for this next school year. In addition, our 2011 graduates collectively received more than $500,000 in scholarships and grants to attend post secondary education. We graduated 161 students and more than 82 percent were accepted into a college of their choice. In fact, more than 51 colleges and universities across the nation accepted our graduates, including Brown University, NYU, Santa Clara University, University of California, and University of San Diego.

On a regular basis, high schools across the country participate in an accreditation process to engage in the cycle of continuous growth. This year is our year. Through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) we will fulfill a self-study. After the completion of the self-study a review committee will visit us in the springtime to ascertain firsthand how we are doing; they will identify areas of strength and areas of growth. In June of 2012 we will receive our accreditation status. Please visit our school website to about this process.

This year we have prioritized Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs. On a weekly basis our teachers and administrative staff work in PLCs to engage in critical conversations about teaching and learning. These sessions allow us to align our instructional practices and perform comprehensive assessments. This is very exciting and rewarding work. Our wonderful teachers, staff and administration are pleased to increase the quality of our instructional program and believe in the power of PLCs.

In an effort to increase the quality of our school culture we are using three specific programs. They are called Sources of Strength, Student Advisory, and Building Effective Schools Together (BEST). All of these programs are research-based and increase the quality of our students' social and emotional development.

Under the direction of talented and dedicated coaches, our student athletes had a phenomenal fall season. Both our football and girls volleyball teams won state titles for the third year in a row. Student athletes qualified for and competed in state championship or regional competitions in many other sports including golf, tennis, cross country and soccer.

RALEIGH, N.C. , Dec. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, Inc. (" Piedmont ") and Crescent Financial Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRFN - News ) (" Crescent "), the parent company of Crescent State Bank (the " Bank "), announced today the expiration of Piedmont 's partial tender offer to purchase up to 6,442,105 shares of common stock of Crescent for $4.75 per share in cash without interest and less applicable withholding taxes.

"Today's acquisition of Crescent stock is a significant step forward for us," said Scott Custer , the chief executive officer of both Piedmont and Crescent. "By combining the strengths of both banks, we have created a strong platform from which to serve North Carolina 's businesses, business owners and professionals with our simple, direct approach to community banking."

The tender offer, as extended, expired at 5:00 p.m. , New York City time, on December 21 , 2011. Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the depositary for the tender offer has indicated that, as of the expiration of the tender offer, approximately 6,114,104 shares of Crescent common stock had been validly tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to the tender offer. In addition, 18,760 shares of common stock were tendered pursuant to guaranteed delivery, which permits shares for which proper notice of guaranteed delivery was provided to be delivered by the holder to the depositary by the expiration of the guaranteed delivery period on December 27 , 2011. Piedmont has accepted for purchase pursuant to the terms of the tender offer all shares that were validly tendered and not withdrawn in the tender offer and payment for such shares will be made promptly in accordance with the tender offer following verification by Crescent's transfer agent of the number of shares of Crescent common stock validly tendered in the tender offer. Upon the acquisition of those shares validly tendered and not withdrawn, Piedmont will increase its ownership of shares of Crescent common stock from approximately 66% to 88%.

About Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, Inc.:

Check imaging offers a wide range of document imaging options for financial institutions, designed to simplify teller processing. Sold by software providers or fulfillment partners, discovering which features of bank check scanners prove to be valuable will assist you with making the correct choice for your corporation or branch.

Teller automation is a vital function in creating bank efficiency, providing confidential transactions that are cost-effective for banks, and convenient for customers. Since nearly every adult in our country relies on a financial institution for cashing or depositing checks, bank check scanners need to be extremely reliable, with precise accuracy during processing. Reputable companies will be honest about their warranty return rates, giving you an inside peek at how often a scanner requires repair, or performs with maximized up-time operation. Scanning malfunctions lead to errors, thus leading to a teller unable to properly service the customer and increasing the cost to the bank. When customers cannot rely on a financial institution to process their checks the moment they need them cashed or deposited, they become irritated and often seek other options.

Adaptive Thresholding

Adaptive thresholding is a feature that allows tellers to capture the most difficult to read documents using multiple thresholding settings to provide the highest quality bitonal image available. The scanner uses advanced technology to automatically select the image with the most clarity, allowing tellers to focus on time-sensitive customer service and cross-sell issues, rather than worrying about errors caused by poor images from the scanner. Some scanners use up to four different magnetic algorithms to scan and verify the MICR line on the check for proper posting to the customer's account. The device compares both the magnetic and optical readings to insure proper reading of the MICR line, all on its own. This process is called OCR MICR verification, and is considered a valuable asset to organizations seeking a simple program to reduce costly human intervention.

The programmers of bank check scanners often forget that a major financial institution deals with an extremely high volume of customers, at an even higher pace. A system that is too complicated for tellers to learn and use not only cuts into a bank's daily routine, it defeats the purpose of automating the check scanning process. Documents should be read properly the first time and not require human intervention to correct or fill in missing information from the check. This is a waste of time, and an extremely frustrating situation for both the teller and the customer who is waiting to complete the transaction on the other side of the counter. As most people are right-handed, the majority of tellers prefer feeding documents from the right side of the scan, rather than the left. This preference is what comes naturally to most people, and as subtle as it sounds, switching sides will enhance the teller's speed with each customer. The ability to drop anywhere from one to a large quantity of checks into the machine single-handedly, without any obstacles in the way, saves financial institutions an incredible amount of employee time and money.本文出自 Mr.J ....

Has it ever crossed your mind to sit down and calculate how much you spend on insurance every year? If you do the sum, you will be surprised at how much you fork out for all the different types of cover. You'll also, in all probability, find that you are paying for some types of cover more than once - and every element will be adding up to cost you more than you need to pay each year.

Typical areas which end up being duplicated are theft, loss of income, legal expenses and death. It commonly occurs because people often don't have a full understanding of what their cover involves, especially if it has been arranged through a third party, such as a broker or adviser.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) recently published results from a survey which showed that add-ons like breakdown recovery and legal expense cover are commonly attached to car insurance premiums, unless the customer says otherwise. Payment protection cover often overlaps with permanent medical insurance, meaning that people take out extra cover for loans and mortgages etc, without realising that the permanent medical insurance policy has got it all covered. For these people, they don't need to bother making any provisions for payment protection, it's just a waste of money.

The Financial Ombudsman has offered the following supplement to this issue: "People... often do not realise until they make a claim that they have been paying for a policy that provides very little, if any, benefit".

It would seem that many people do not even understand what they are actually covered for. The case of Amanda Lariviere from West Yorkshire is the perfect example. Amanda was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and her reaction to the chemotherapy meant she was unable to go back to work. She received a tax bill at the end of the year, and to raise the money to pay the bill, she went into her mortgage provider to arrange a re-mortgage to free up the cash. Luckily, the financial adviser at her building society asked her to bring her life insurance details with her, and discovered that the policies were not covering life at all, but critical illness. Amanda had been paying £80 a month for these Norwich Union and Scottish Provident critical illness policies, without really understanding what they were!

The legendary coasts of North Carolina are counted among the hottest attractions in the United States. With quality accommodation opportunities, the North Carolina coast attracts tourists from all over the globe. In this article, we have tried to put some useful information to help you in planning your visit and stay in North Carolina.

Offering something to everyone, North Carolina is a diverse and year round vacation destination in the USA. With peaceful and tranquil shores, world famous national parks, numerous historical places and splendid museums to relive history and culture, the place offers the visitors a plethora of opportunities to make their vacation unforgettable experience forever.

North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states both by population and economically. It is located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States offering a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684feet high point Mt. Mitchell. The state is one of the most visited tourist spots in the USA with numerous attractions in or around it. Miles and miles of beaches with peaceful natural beauty as well as fun-filled recreational activities are perfect places for vacationers looking for a romantic getaway or a family vacation. A visit to Cape Hatteras, the first national seashore of the USA and Roanoke Island, famous for first English Settlement in North America, not only offers a wonderful beach vacation but provides an abundance of the United States history.

In addition to these beautiful and historical beaches, you would find a plethora of other attractions including the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Roanoke Island Festival Park, Elizabethan Garden and Nags Head Woods to enjoy your vacation time in North Carolina. One of the key highlights for the visitors in this state is the availability of a number of marvelous museums displaying the latest technologies as well as the science of ancient era. For the people who love the ocean, North Carolina is nothing short of a paradise. They can enjoy numerous water activities such as swimming, scuba diving, fishing, and surfing in the warm ocean water during their vacation.

With growing number of people coming every year to visit the Outer Banks, accommodation facilities have been developed to the great extent in this area of North Carolina. Vacation rentals are the best possible options available in North Carolina being close to the tourist attractions in each of the popular area of the state. Offering a home like environment with all modern facilities, vacation rentals offer incredible comfort and flexibility. Offering a huge variety of size and amenities to meet your requirements, coupled with freedom and privacy, vacation rentals make your trip more enjoyable and hassle free. They offer a fully equipped kitchen that allows you to cook whatever and whenever you like to eat. This helps you to cut down your expenses and make your trip cost effective. For those who visit the outer banks of North Carolina more frequently, vacation rentals are the best possible alternative to stay in.

Dr. Max Ruhl, who served Northwest for 23 years, was inducted tothe Mid-America Education Hall of Fame in early November.

Ruhl was selected because of his willingness to reach beyond hisprofessional position to make significant contributions to thefield of education.

"It was truly humbling to be honored in that way," Ruhl said. "Itmakes you realize all the people who helped you get to thatpoint."

During the Kansas City School Districts' difficult time of possiblylosing their accreditation, Ruhl stepped in to add his assistance.He is recognized for the impact he made with programs such as theResidential Internship Program, which brought many qualifiededucators to the district.

"Helping out with that program was one of my proudest moments,"Ruhl said. "It was to the point where things had to get better, orthey were going to go down a long ways."

*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a small business story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.

Offering a must-have product or service is one of the most effective ways to attract customers to your small business during the holiday season, but only if they know that you've got it. While print, mail and Internet campaigns are traditional marketing strategies that you can use to highlight your business's unique products or services, don't overlook opportunities to get one of your business's products or services in a gift list story (Best Gift for under $25, Top Gifts for Golfers and so on) in local media. This may be one of the best holiday marketing strategies that your small business hasn't tried.

If you haven't targeted media gift list stories as part of your holiday marketing strategy, here are six tips for how to take advantage of this powerful (and free) technique.

Prepare a pitch for your product or service. It should, of course, lead with the product or service name and description. In addition, include you business's name, address, telephone number, hours, email address and website address. Highlight what sets your product or service apart (Is it new? Is it only available from your business? Does it do something quicker, better, in a unique way? Is it green, organic or healthy?) and for whom it would be the perfect gift (a sports lover, cook, college student, favorite uncle, etc.). Be sure to include the price and any other relevant details, such as shipping cost or color choices, as well as a picture, if you have one.

Get the word out. During November and December, local newspapers, regional radio and television programs, and websites often run stories highlighting unique, innovative or special gifts. Send each your gift description with a note describing why you believe that it would be perfect for inclusion in a "Best Gifts for the Holidays" story. If you have any personal contacts in the local media, alert them to your pitch, since they may be able to help you get it to the right person on staff.