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Look for These Security Features Before Borrowing Online

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How many hours of the day do you spend online? One study from 2019 shows the average person spent more than 100 days out of the year online, and that was before the coronavirus caused many of us to stay home.

Now that we’re nearly a year into the pandemic, most people are spending even more of their lives online — from connecting with friends over video to binge-watching the latest series to drop on Netflix. You may even be doing your banking entirely over the web.

If you plan on taking out an installment loan online, you’re in for a simple and convenient borrowing option. But this convenience may come with greater risk as you’ll be exchanging financial data over the Internet.

To make sure your data is safe whenever you share it, check out these tips. They’ll help you lock down your personal information.

Read Every Privacy Policy

Legitimate installment loans direct lenders that provide online loans will focus on their digital security for two reasons.

  1. It’s the law. In the U.S., there are online privacy laws that dictate how online direct lenders can use your data. They also have to abide by federal financial laws that regulate how all financial institutions handle your information.
  2. It’s good for business. An online lender’s reputation can either drive business or scare it away. They don’t want to be involved in a data breach any more than you do, as this breach of trust casts doubts on their ability to protect their customers.

Double-Check for SSL

If you use Chrome, your browser does this naturally. Google has made it mandatory for websites to use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. If one doesn’t, Chrome won’t load the page properly, and it will warn you that the website may be predatory if you choose to proceed.

However, there’s a way to check for these things manually. A website with SSL will have the following features:

  • Address that starts with HTTPS
  • Closed padlock next to the URL
  • Valid Certificate information

Click Before You Accept Cookies

The request to track your cookies happens so often that you probably don’t think twice before accepting it. You probably clicked accept at some point to get to this page. But when it comes to borrowing online, reading over how they track them gives you a good indication of whether an online direct lender uses firewall.

A firewall is a security device that monitors the activity on a network. It’s designed to catch unwanted traffic that includes viruses or active hackers that can snatch data shared between your computer and a website’s server.

Some firewalls use cookies to function properly, so you’ll be able to spot them in the list of cookies a lender collects.

Remember Security When You Borrow Next

There’s a lot to keep track of when you’re gearing up to borrow. You have to check your credit, compare lenders, and shop around for rates and terms all before making sure your choice fits your budget and needs.

Although you may feel like you couldn’t possibly add one more task to your long to-do list, make sure you remember to check your lender’s approach to security. If you can find a lender that can take your data seriously, chances are they’ll take your financial wellbeing seriously, too.

 

Why There is a Need for Investing in Renewable Energy Projects

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Renewable energies are sources of clean, inexhaustible, and increasingly competitive energy. They differ from fossil fuels principally in their diversity, abundance, and potential for use anywhere on the planet, but above all in that they produce neither greenhouse gases – which cause climate change – nor polluting emissions. Their costs are also falling and at a sustainable rate, whereas the general cost trend for fossil fuels is in the opposite direction despite their present volatility.

Clean Energy Is Increasing Popular

Growth in clean energies is unstoppable, as reflected in statistics produced in 2015 by the International Energy Agency (IEA): they represented nearly half of all new electricity generation capacity installed in 2014, when they constituted the second biggest source of electricity worldwide, behind coal.

Clean energy development is vital for combating climate change and limiting its most devastating effects. 2014 was the warmest year on record. The Earth’s temperature has risen by an average 0.85 °C since the end of the 19th Century, states National Geographic in its special November 2015 issue on climate change. Meanwhile, some 1.1 billion inhabitants (17% of the world population) do not have access to electricity. As such, one of the objectives established by the United Nations is to achieve to access to electricity for everyone by 2030, an ambitious target considering that, by then, according to the IEA’s estimates, 800 million people will have no access to an electricity supply if current trends continue.

The transition to an energy system based on renewable technologies will have very positive economic consequences. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), doubling the renewable energy share in the world energy mix, to 36% by 2030, will result in additional global growth of 1.1% by that year (equivalent to 1.3 trillion dollars), an increase in well being of 3.7% and in employment in the sector of up to more than 24 million people, compared to 9.2 million today. It will also significantly reduce air pollution.

Considering the importance of energy sustainability, the gravity of climate change and its impact on our planet, and the prospects for economic growth an increase in renewable energy can have, a transition to a system majorly operating on renewable energy is not only desirable but absolutely required.

RE Royalties and the Green Investing Revolution

That’s why Bernard Tan started RE Royalties. His goal was to help build renewable energy projects faster through innovative royalty financing, while leading the way for socially conscious investors. Many of RE Royalties’ clients have great project opportunities, but are too small to secure traditional financing to fund their growth plans. Typically, these projects need $1M – $20M in financing and want to maintain ownership of their assets.

While the royalty business model is well-proven and the renewable industry is not new, the combination of the two is very innovative. RE Royalties is the first royalty company to focus solely on the renewable energy sector. They provide capital in the form of a cash payment or loan, in exchange for a percentage of future revenues from operating projects. RE Royalties’ clients retain 100% control of their assets and businesses, and there are no restrictions on how the funds are used.

“The capital we provide can be considered an “advance” to our client, and the periodic percentage payments can be considered “royalties” to our investors, explains Bernard. We call it Renewable Energy Royalties.”

The idea for the business came when Bernard was working with a local clean technology company to help with their financing. The company had a promising technology that looked to harness the kinetic energy from tides and canals to generate clean electricity.

Not only did they have the technology to generate clean renewable electricity from an unlimited resource, but they also had an established development partner, the government was waiting to provide them with permits to install at various sites, and a long-term revenue contract to buy the electricity at a very high price. The only stumbling block was raising capital.

RE Royalties was started to create an alternative and an opportunity to make a difference for future generations. Bernard then contacted Peter Leighton, who was experienced in the renewable energy sector and joined the company as co-founder.

RE Royalties officially launched in January 2016. In March 2016, the company closed it’s first deal and acquired it’s first royalty in British Columbia, Canada.

Since then RE Royalties has built a portfolio of royalties in Canada, the United States and Europe. These long-term royalties are on over 400MW+ of solar, wind and hydro projects that are currently in operations or will be in the near-term. These projects play a significant role in combating climate change, as they will displace over 300,000+ tonnes of carbon per year from entering the atmosphere.

The company also announced a Green Bond offering, which allow participants to align their investments with their values while earning a fixed 6% return. Green Bonds are an exciting opportunity for socially and environmentally conscious investors who want to ensure their investments are helping fight climate change.

In contrast to buying shares and owning a piece of the company, RE Royalties Green Bonds are a loan from the investor to the company to be used exclusively for investing in renewable and sustainable energy projects.

Learn more about RE Royalties Green Bond offering here: https://www.reroyalties.com/green-bonds

Image source: Cafe Credit.

How to Achieve Your Financial Goals Quickly and Responsibly

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In this day and age, having an emergency fund of cash on hand is critical. From skyrocketing healthcare prices to increasing unemployment rates, you can never fully anticipate the events of the future. As you work to accomplish many financial achievements, it is important that you are always investing in the security of your future. You may not know what the future holds, but you can be prepared for any unexpected circumstances that come your way. In a world of uncertainty, preparation is key. In this article, we will share the ways that you can achieve your financial goals both quickly and responsibly. [Read more…]

Vital Things You Need To Consider Before Selecting A Public Insurance Policy For Your Business

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If you own a small business or are a sole trader, you need to protect your customers and business with Public Liability Insurance. This insurance can cover your supplier, customer, or member of the public should they sue your company for damage cost to their property. Though it’s possible to avoid damaging other people’s property, unwanted accidents may also occur. These may impact your pocket significantly and cripple your business. That’s why you need to contact Mark from Public Liability Insurance Australia to help you process a policy. However, before choosing this policy, here are some things you need to consider. [Read more…]

How to Invest your Savings for Short-Term or Long-Term Goals? 

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Wondering how you should invest your savings for ensuring long-term or short-term growth? You should definitely take a deeper look into short-term and long-term investment definitions and what they essentially entail before zeroing in on the right mix of both types of instruments for creating future wealth, meeting financial objectives, spreading out risks and building future security for yourself and your family.  [Read more…]