MyCRA Specialist Credit Repair Lawyers

Tag: remove bad credit history

  • It’s not credit for Christmas, says DnB

    Christmas credit may not be ‘on the cards’ for shoppers this year. Due to concern about financial security in Australia, it is predicted shoppers will continue to tighten their purse strings over the Christmas period, with less predicted to spend money on non-essential items and credit usage predicted to drop, according to credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    Findings from Dun & Bradstreet’s latest Consumer Credit Expectations Survey, which measures expectations for savings, credit usage, spending and debt performance during the December quarter 2012, show half of Australia’s households are less likely to spend on non-essentials in the coming months.

    The survey showed:

    • One in three (29%) are more inclined to save than they were 12 months ago.
    • 56 per cent of Australians are concerned about their personal financial situation.
    • 37 per cent of households less likely to use a credit card to pay for non-essential items over Christmas compared to the same period last year, while just 16 per cent plan to apply for a new credit product or limit increase.

    Dun & Bradstreet notes that the Reserve Bank’s decision to lower interest rates due to slower economic growth comes as households reduce debt and increase savings as a buffer against economic instability, including the risk of rising unemployment. The bank is now predicting more moderate and sustainable credit growth off the back of this trend in consumer behaviour.

    Dun & Bradstreet General Manager, Danielle Woods, says the conservative consumer outlook could have a significant negative impact on businesses reliant on the Christmas rush.

    “An increasing number of Australians are concerned about their financial security and this is weighing heavily on their plans for the Christmas period,” Ms Woods said.

    “Prioritising saving over non-essential spending is a positive for the balance sheets of Australian households and the Reserve Bank is certainly encouraging this behaviour, in light of uncertain employment conditions. However, it could have detrimental flow on effects for businesses that are looking to Christmas to drive an uplift in sales.”

    However DnB also says, while consumers are planning to avoid non-essential spending and non-essential credit usage during the Christmas period, a significant proportion will need to rely on existing lines of credit to cover the cost of living.

    Forty per cent of 35-49 year olds will use credit to cover expenses they couldn’t otherwise afford, up from 35 per cent during the December quarter 2011. In addition, 60 per cent of this demographic are expressing concern over their financial situation and one in three (35%) would last no longer than one month on their current savings without full-time employment.

    This survey reveals a similar sentiment from Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released in September this year, showing one in seven Australian households is spending more than it earns, as the working poor struggle with monster mortgages and surging power bills.

    “Nearly 8 per cent of the nation’s richest households were living on credit, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported yesterday.

    Of the top 20 per cent of households earning the most money, 3 per cent could not afford to pay a gas, electricity or phone bill on time during 2009-10.

    Of the poorest 20 per cent of households, one in five could not pay their bills on time and one in four spent more than they earned”, it was revealed in news.com.au ‘Aussie strugglers living beyond means’.

    So it seems the trend is continuing that most people are batting down the hatches and reducing their spending in order to pay down debts – but there are sections of the community who are still struggling due to rising costs of living and over-commitment. This seems apparent regardless of income. So for those people, credit for Christmas may be a reality.

    Causes for over-commitment can be a simple inability to manage money – wanting more than they can afford. Or in some cases, over-commitment can be a gradual thing – sometimes caused by expensive credit as a result of bad credit history. There have been reports that possibly as many as 3,000,000 Australians are impacted by bad credit history.

    If someone lands with a bad credit rating, it can completely change their financial situation. The black marks placed there by creditors show up on the credit file for 5 years. Bad credit can limit choices and can perpetuate the debt cycle by leading people to choose loans with higher interest rates and more fees, so the struggle to make repayments can be even harder.

    If the person with bad credit history wants to try and start again with credit, it may be possible to wipe the slate clean  and remove bad credit history, particularly if it should not be there, or was incorrect in the first place.  If the credit file contains inconsistencies, that person may be a good candidate for credit repair.

    A credit repairer can work with creditors on behalf of the client to identify inconsistencies and negotiate to clear the credit file of those defaults, clear-outs, writs and Judgments which contain errors, are unjust or just should not be there. A clear credit rating would give them the financial freedom to use credit whenever they need to at competitive rates.

    For advice about credit repair contact a  Credit Repair Advisor on 1300 667 218 or visit MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs website www.mycra.com.au.

     

  • The TIO just got more muscle to penalise Telcos in small business disputes

    The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) reports in some areas they’ve almost tripled their workload  and it has just been given new powers to handle complaints with a higher total value, which should pave the way for the Ombudsman to deal with more small business issues as they relate to the telecommunications industry. We look at what this will mean for small business, and look at general figures for Telco complaints, and how this may affect consumer credit files and credit file listing complaints.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    From 1 July 2012, the TIO will have the power to give legally binding directions to service providers of up to $50,000 in value, and to make recommendations up to $100,000. This is an increase from direction powers of $30,000 and recommendation powers of $85,000. There will also be a change to the way it classifies a small business.

    “The adjustment to our monetary limits means that consumers who previously had disputes too large for us to deal with will now have access to our fast, free and independent service,” Ombudsman Simon Cohen said in a statement to the media last week.

    The TIO says the changes will be of particular benefit to small business consumers. At the same time as the constitutional change on monetary limits commence, the TIO will adopt a more flexible approach to defining a small businesses, making TIO services accessible and relevant to these consumers.

    New Small Business Definitions for TIO

    The TIO can assist small businesses with an annual turnover of less than $3 million and up to 20 employees (or up to 100 staff in the case of seasonal operations or manufacturing businesses).

    Even where these conditions might not be met, the TIO will consider other aspects such as the issues in dispute, the nature of the business (for example, whether it is not for profit or it operates from home), and whether the business is independently owned and funded by a small number of individuals who make most of the important business decisions.

    In the past, the TIO would also take into account the amount in dispute and the business’s yearly expenditure on telecommunications. These criteria have now been removed.

    Prior to these new powers, the TIO announced its intention is to expand its role beyond dispute resolution to helping improve telecommunications services. The TIO says it aims to achieve this by contributing to better customer service and complaint handling and working with industry to identify broader issues affecting consumers.

    Consumer Complaint Numbers Through The Roof

    In the magazine TIO Talks, it reported on its most recent survey of TIO services. It counted 52,231 new complaints received between January and March 2012. Almost two-thirds were about mobile phone services – with two significant trends in new mobile phone complaints coming from consumer issues about over-commitment resulting from inadequate spend controls, and complaints about excess internet usage charges. It revealed the staggering figures that numbers for internet data usage complainnts  have jumped 180 per cent in 12 months. The TIO Reports:

    New complaints about overcommitment caused by inadequate spend controls increased to 4,282 in the January-March 2012 quarter, compared to 2,181 in the same quarter in 2011. In the same periods, new complaints about disputed internet charges increased from 981 to 2,823 (180 per cent).

    “It is well known that more internet browsing and downloads are now done on mobile phones and other mobile devices. With this change in consumer behaviour, we have seen complaints about excess data charges almost treble over the last year,” Ombudsman Simon Cohen said.  “The incidence of these complaints will reduce if consumers are only contracted for services they can afford, and where spend management tools such as notifications and usage meters are accurate and reliable”.

    Credit File Listing Complaints from Telco Industry

    Every day as credit repairers, we forward complaints to the TIO about consumer complaints and bill disputes which have seen them not only having billing issues, but having those issues impact their ability to obtain credit through being defaulted.

    We would agree that internet data usage complaints are rampant. Data usage on mobile phones seems to be one of the biggest sources of confusion for consumers. Some clients have trouble understanding their accounts (and often claim the plan they were put on was not appropriate for what they intended to use their mobile and/or internet for), and when they are hit with massive bills, they struggle to make the repayments; others claim they have great difficulty getting billing issues and disputes sorted out at the time they appear, and end up having defaults put on their credit file because they refuse to pay a bill they disagree with; and then some are simply the victim of internal errors within the telco industry – wrong accounts, wrong names, wrong plans, wrong addresses – and all of these things contribute to negative credit file listings that they often don’t know anything about until they apply for credit and are refused.

    Understanding Bill Disputes with Telcos

    MyCRA’s Legislative Compliance Officer specialising in Telco credit listing complaints has given people a few quick tips to take heed of when disputing Telco bills:

    1. Attempt to resolve the dispute with the Telco first. If a bill has just popped up you don’t agree with, let your Provider know, and DOCUMENT ALL CORRESPONDENCE WITH THEM (and document who you speak with).

    2. Get all responses in writing. The matter may seem at an end, but sometimes people believe they have sorted it out only to find out later they have been defaulted anyway.

    3. If the matter can’t be resolved internally, take your case to the TIO.

    4. If at any stage people have a credit file listing from a Telco which they believe shouldn’t be there, they should contact a credit repairer, and give them all the information so far. They can then work on the person’s behalf. Credit file listings can be difficult for the individual to remove. If people request Creditors remove bad credit history, most people are told listings cannot be removed, but can be marked as ‘paid’ if the account was settled. This may not be enough to obtain credit with most lenders in the future, and these listings will be on a person’s credit file for between 5 and 7 years. With their knowledge of credit reporting law, a credit repairer will negotiate with the creditor as well as escalate the matter to the TIO on the client’s behalf if necessary. This gives people the best chance of actually being able to remove bad credit history which shouldn’t be there.

    A New Consumer Protection Code

    A revised Telecommunications Protection Code is currently being considered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) which, if adopted, will require telcos to provide their customers with notifications when they have used 80% and 100% of their data usage in the plan. After 24 months telcos will be required to extend notifications to voice and SMS usage. These changes come after pressure from ACMA for Telcos to offer better protection for consumers, or face external regulation.

    Image: suphakit73/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

  • Company obligations on phishing scams

    What is the obligation or responsibility of companies to educate consumers on phishing scams? Yesterday, we blogged about the prevalence of phishing scams. Phishing scams are designed to extract personal details and financial data either directly from the user or by way of a computer virus. We look further into this issue and look at what companies are doing to educate their customers, and whether they should be obliged to do so and go further in preventing financial loss, identity theft and a damaged credit rating. This post was written for National Cyber Security Awareness Week 2012, of which MyCRA is a partner.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    After the blog post went up yesterday, a staff member read it and told me he had received such a phishing email just the day before. It was meant to be from one of the major banks, of which he is a customer. The email requested his bank account name, account number and PIN number to verify his online banking – as according to the email, the bank was having security issues.

    Working at MyCRA and dealing with these issues for our clients, my staff member, Luke was pretty hip to the scam. But we got to talking about how many people could potentially fall victim to this kind of email. After all, Luke did actually have an account with the bank, and the email looked quite legitimate.

    Luke called the bank in question and explained the email he had received.

    “Yeah of course that is a dodgy email,” the bank’s worker says, sounding a little surprised that someone would call to verify this.

    The customer service operator’s standard advice was that the bank would never request personal details via email. He said they have the details, but if they did need them, they would be requested during the general banking process, rather than emailing the customer.

    This is a good general rule to remember for most company emails. They will never ask for your details – they already have them.

    But what about the attitude that people need to just assume these days that they will have a phishing scam tried on them? That is dangerous ground for companies.

    I bet if you ask most older Australians if they know about phishing, they will say, “yep – but I don’t get to throw the rod in much these days.” Many people – and not just older Australians are left vulnerable to scams when using internet banking and all the other myriad of things that need to be done online in today’s society.

    When I looked at the bank’s website, there’s a pretty extensive section on banking security, as well as lots of information on scams. This is great stuff. But what could be even better, is some direct warnings to their customers about the prevalence of specific scams when they involve the company, and what to do should they come across them. This would go a long way to preventing their customers from falling for phishing scams in the first place.

    The Computerworld article I featured yesterday PayPal, Amex phishing: What you need to know also talked a bit about company obligations. Here is an excerpt from that story:

    IDC Australia senior market analyst ,Vern Hue, said that companies needed to be extra vigilant with security as the emails could prove to be an opportunity for cyber-criminals to deceive people into believing that emails and other communications came from a legitimate source…

    He recommended that organisations put in place formal business communication policies and guidelines around acceptable use of social media and financial services.

    “The onus is also on the organisation to better secure its perimeters by putting in place network and content management protection technology, such as the next generation intrusion prevention systems [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][IPS], which offer a better capability in detecting threats from social media.”

    PayPal, American Express lessons

    Credit card and financial institutions need to secure their weakest link–the human–according to Hue. Organisations should also begin to educate their users on the importance of being vigilant on the internet and educate them on the potential damages one could potentially face if they should fall victim to such attacks.

    “Financial institution need to spearhead the move to inform their users on the need of proper patching and upgrades in order to keep them safe from these attacks and to also educate them that if ever in doubt, users should call and notify the financial institution to verify the origin and authenticity of the communication,” Hue said.

    A blog post late last year by Dynamic Business writer Hamish Anderson titled Financial institutions, social responsibility & phishing scams pleads with big business whose identities are borrowed for the purposes of scams to take an active approach to educating consumers. Here is an excerpt:

    “Big organizations all decry their credential about social responsibility, or environmental sustainability, or corporate ethics, but how many of these social stances encompass combating phishing or alerting the public?

    As the saying goes, forewarned is to be forearmed. With the large purses that these companies have, surely there is a strong argument for these companies to inform people when they know there is a scam focusing on them as a brand. I recognize that many of these brands Tweet about scams as they become apparent, but it often appears that accounts from the Government (such as @SCAMWatch) are more aggressive, are dedicated to scams and more responsive.

    There thus exists a gap to for business to be more socially responsible and to help the public not fall prey to the various scams which exist,” Mr Anderson writes.

    Here here! With the former Attorney-General’s statistics of a staggering 1 in 6 Australians falling victim, or knowing someone who is a victim of identity theft – this ‘social responsibility’ towards informing customers of potential scams to befall their computers in the company’s name seems to be well overdue.

    The implications for identity theft and the difficulty a victim may face to not only recover their financial losses, but to remove bad credit history after full-blown identity theft does warrant a very active approach to stamp out the constant attempts fraudsters make to steal money and identities.

    Let’s promote cyber security awareness amongst all sections of the community, and stamp out phishing scams. If no one fell for these scams, they wouldn’t exist.

    Above image: noomhh/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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  • Are you at risk of identity theft?

    How much are you putting your life, your personal information and your credit file at risk of fraud? Test your awareness of identity theft, determine what you don’t know and take some steps to protect you and your family. This initiative is part of Privacy Awareness Week 2012, of which MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs is a partner.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    Last year, as part of Privacy Awareness Week, the Asia-Pacific Privacy Authorities developed an Id Theft Self-Assessment Test in which you are asked 11 questions on various topics. At the end, you will receive an assessment of how at risk you are of identity theft.

    Here’s some things you may not know about identity crime…

    Identity crime is an area which is ever-growing and ever-changing.

    It is reported that 1 in 6 people in Australia is a victim or knows someone who has been a victim of identity theft or fraud in the past 6 months.

    Victims are not always ‘gullible’ as may be the impression in the wider community. Many experts say it is not a matter of if you experience an identity theft attempt, but when.

    It can originate from someone you know – for example an acquaintance obtains identity documents or credit card details to impersonate you. Or more increasingly it comes from professional fraudsters whose main occupation is to steal personal information and financial details in order to commit fraud.

    Fraudsters are after your personal information. The internet is a big source of personal information and its ever increasing use makes you more vulnerable to identity crime than ever.  This means identity crime can have very long arms – often it originates from overseas crime syndicates. Social networking, online banking, company databases and email scams can all be havens for today’s cyber- criminal.

    You can also fall victim to a number of rampant telephone scams, credit card skimming, or criminals can also take to going through your rubbish bin for anything they may be able to use to steal your identity.

    Identity theft is increasing because the pay-offs are huge for criminals. It is estimated identity crime costs Australians $1 billion a year (OECD Committee on Consumer Policy, Online Identity Theft, February 2009, p. 37).

    In cyber circles alone, world estimated costs for cybercrime are staggering.  Cyber-crime expert Mischa Glenny says that while there are no precise figures out there, the White House suggested in 2009 that cybercime and industrial espionage inflicts damage of around U.S. $1tn per year, which is almost 1.75% of GDP.

    “Traditional bank robbers must be absolutely gobsmacked when they hear sums like this being hoovered up by cyber- criminals week in, week out,” he says.

    How can I be affected?

    We consider if someone is alerted to having money stolen from credit cards early, or perhaps is able to call their bank and stop fraud in its tracks – that they are the lucky ones.

    The unlucky identity theft victim is unaware of the fraud until their identity is misused, and their credit rating with it. When identity theft damages your credit rating – it is because the fraudster has been able to overtake credit accounts, or has gained access to enough personally identifiable information about you to forge new identity documents.

    This gives the fraudster access to credit cards, loans, even mortgages which allows them to extract significant amounts of money without you realising it straight away.

    If credit accounts are not repaid – after 60 days you may be issued with written notification of non-payment and the intention for the creditor to list a default on your credit file. It is at this moment that some people who were previously unaware of any problems find out they have been victims of this more sophisticated type of identity theft.

    But often the credit file holder has also had their contact details changed – and this means it is not until they apply for credit in their own right and are refused that they find out about the identity fraud. This can be a significant time after the initial crime.

    Some signs to watch out for include:

    1. Strange unaccountable withdrawals on credit or personal bank accounts. It may not need to be a big amount to indicate fraud. Many criminals do ‘test’ amounts to begin with before extracting more significant amounts.
    2. Phone calls or emails from what often appear to be legitimate companies, asking for money or personal details. If you have given bank details or personal information in this way either online or on the phone there is a high chance it was a scam. Verify with the company in question.
    3. Can’t log in to social networking or bank accounts.
    4. Credit refusal
    5. Bills or letters of demand sent to you for accounts you don’t know about
    6. Missing mail – particularly credit card statements which could indicate someone has overtaken your accounts. In this case no news is not good news.

    What can I do if I suspect I am a victim of identity theft?

    Notify Police immediately. Many people do nothing due to embarrassment, or because they don’t believe the fraud was significant enough. But is only through this crime getting reported that statistics get collated, and we start to have any chance of catching the criminals.

    Notify creditors. You may need to cancel credit accounts.

    Obtain a credit report. This report is free once per year for every Australian who holds a credit file. It will indicate to you whether any of your contact details have changed, or whether there have been credit enquiries on your account. If you act quickly enough, you may be able to stop your credit rating from being affected by black marks which would come from fraudsters obtaining credit in your name.

    Notify credit reporting agencies of the possible fraud. They will be able to put an alert on your credit file.

    Police may assist you in obtaining a Victims of Commonwealth Identity Crime certificate, if they believe you are eligible. You can apply to a magistrate in your State for this certificate, which may help in recovering your credit rating or credit accounts. Victims need to have had a Commonwealth Indictable Offence committed against them. For more information, visit the Attorney-General’s website www.ag.gov.au.

    What steps can I take to prevent identity theft?

    1.Keep virus software up to date on your computer. Install automatic updates and perform regular virus scans.
    2.Keep your privacy settings secure on all social networking sites.
    3.Keep our passwords and PIN numbers secure. Don’t carry PIN numbers with your credit/debit cards, change passwords regularly and use a variety of passwords for different purposes.
    4.Check all your credit card and bank statements each time they come in.
    5.Cross-shred all personally identifiable information which you no longer need.
    6.Buy a safe for your personal information at home.
    7.Do not give any personal information or credit card details to anyone via phone or email unless you are sure the site is secure, and or you can verify the company details.
    8.Be aware of who gets our personal information and for what purposes. What can these people do with the information they are gathering? For instance, is it really necessary for the site you are registering on to have your date of birth?
    9.Keep up to date with the latest scams by subscribing to the government’s ‘SCAM watch’ website. For a list of ways your computer can put you at risk, visit the governments Stay Smart Online website www.staysmartonline.gov.au.
    10.Check your credit file.

    If you or someone you know needs help to remove bad credit history on their credit rating following identity theft, contact MyCRA Credit Repairs, www.mycra.com.au or call tollfree on 1300 667 218 for confidential advice and help restoring your good name.

    Image above: Chris Sharp/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

    MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs is proud to be a partner for Privacy Awareness Week 2012.

  • Slam Scams! Surge in phone scams reported in Australia

    To continue with passing on information from the Fraud Week campaign we look at phone scams – the most popular form for delivering scams in Australia, now apportioned to over 50 per cent of the overall scams reported. All Australians need to know that their personal information is as valuable as their bank account details. Giving personal information or account details over to people who call on the telephone could leave people vulnerable to identity theft and potential credit file misuse.

    By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    The Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce is urging Australians to slam the phone down on scams following a surge in reports of scams delivered over the phone in 2011. Read more at: Phone No. 1 choice for scam delivery: ‘Slam Scams!’ Fraud Week campaign.

    A report released yesterday by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) titled 2011 Targeting Scams revealed a significant shift in scam delivery methods. Whereas the trend in recent years has been for scams delivered online, in 2011 over 50 per cent of scams reported to the ACCC were perpetrated by phone.

    The ACCC says consumers and small businesses contacted them almost 43,000 times in 2011 to report scams they had received by phone. Australians lost over $27.7 million dollars to these scams throughout the year.

    Common phone scams reported in 2011 included:

    Callers pretending to be from government: In 2011 the ACCC saw large numbers of advance fee scams initiated by telephone. Many involved scammers posing as representatives from government departments, for example offering fake grants, rebates or refunds in return for up-front payments.

    Callers pretending to be from companies: In 2011 it was also common for scammers to pose as staff from well known companies and organisations asking for personal details, payments or remote access to the victim’s computer. Scammers posed as representatives from banks, computer companies like the recent Microsoft Phone scam, telecommunications services, postal and logistics services, and solar panel installers.

    Scam SMS: Text messages are also commonly used by scammers to send competition or prize scams. Scammers often try to snare many people with one SMS sent en masse – this is known as spamming. Scammers may request personal details or payments in scam SMS messages. If you respond, you could also be charged at premium rates or find yourself signed up to a costly subscription service.

    Personal information is a valuable commodity. Remember – if someone is calling YOU they should not need to request personal information. If in doubt – hang up!

    The ACCC gives this advice for protection against phone scams:

    “Be cautious if you are contacted by someone claiming to be from government or a well known company and they request personal details or up-front payments.

    If you are in doubt about the authenticity of a call, don’t commit to anything. Instead hang up and call the company or government department directly using their official customer service number to verify that it is genuine. Never use contact details provided by the caller, instead find the number via an independent source such as a phone book or online search.
    Never confirm or provide personal details, credit card numbers or other account information over the phone unless you initiated the call and trust the other party.

    If you receive a phone call out of the blue about your computer and requesting remote access – hang up – even if they mention a well-known company. Never give an unsolicited caller remote access to your computer.
    Remember that you can still receive scam calls even if you have a private number. Scammers can obtain your number fraudulently from black-market sources,” the ACCC says.

    If people think they may have given out personal information or account details to scammers, they should contact the Police immediately. They should also contact their financial institutions to let them know they could be a potential identity theft victim.

    They should also contact the credit reporting agencies and request a copy of their credit report. A credit report is free every year and will alert people to any changes on their credit file that they didn’t initiate. They may also be able to ‘flag’ their account to stop activity while the possible identity theft is being investigated.

    For help with restoring your credit rating and to remove bad credit history contact MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs on 1300 667 218 or www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

    Image: Andy Newson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net