Another reason to engage in People to People lending and borrowing
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About six months ago, my wife and I sent the final payments into our two biggest credit cards. We had struggled with the credit card debt for the better part of five years, but, with the help of a large bonus and other miscellaneous cash, we were able to crush the remainder in one fell swoop. This would be the end of our dealings with the credit card companies, right? Wrong.
Last Friday I received yet ANOTHER set of cash advance checks to use for “special vacations or emergencies.” They keep telling me that “because of my strong financial history” they are offering me this great deal of quick cash at “only” 14.99%. Only 14.99%? I have kindly called them several times explaining that I didn’t have any use for their money anymore, and that they could stop sending these checks for security purposes. Each assures me that I will receive no more mailings, and, for good measure, attempts to convince me that I should do a balance transfer or increase my credit line. Uh, yeah, go ahead and increase it, so you look even more ridiculous with a $0 balance on a $40,000 credit line.
My biggest beef with these guys is not that they’re out to make a buck. Where I get angry is that every customer service representative seems to solve the problem, but I find out later they were unsuccessful. It is just too large a risk to have checks coming in the mail that could be used to throw me right back into debt. I’ve already stopped nearly all credit card offers using OptOutPreScreen.com. Why can’t they follow suit and just stop?
Has anybody else had any luck in stopping these mailings?
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Today I participated in a fraud risk assessment for the company I work for. This assessment is essentially a brainstorming session where people discuss the various ways employees could rip off the company. I was amazed at the expansive list of fraud scenarios we came up with. I was even MORE amazed at the detail in which certain people in the room described their “hypothetical” scenario. But that’s a whole different topic entirely…
In any case, the exercise caused me to start thinking about the various ways individuals are ripped off. Although this is certainly not an extensive list, it’s not bad for a mini-brainstorming session.
This was a tough habit for me to start. For one thing, I bought a shredder that only cut up to 5 pages at one time and overheated after a few minutes of shredding. I recommend not buying the lesser quality versions if possible. That being said, I don’t recommend going without a shredder just because you can’t afford a good one.
This protects you agains the type of fraud referred to as phishing. One way to check for false links it to hover over the link and read where it will take you. My wife often receives phishing emails from EBay and Paypal with the link addresses pointing to a much different website. The best way to combat phishing in my opinion is to use another method of making the required change. For instance, if you receive an email from Paypal telling you to update your credit card information, go to their website and make the change there.
This is straightforward. Make a copy of the front and back of any credit card and other identity documents you carry. Also, if you don’t need a particular credit card or identity document, don’t carry it.
One piece of advice that may help: don’t be like my college buddy who kept the copies IN HIS WALLET. His wallet was stolen along with the copies leaving him to struggle through the credit card cancellation process.
This protects you agains the type of fraud typically referred to as pretexting. Ask the caller who they are associated with and if you can have their phone number to call back. If they mention a company, look them up online and call them on a number you know is correct. If you don’t recognize the company name and they give you a phone number, do a White Pages lookup to confirm their story. Although in this instance it’s very unlikely I would give them any personal information at all.
Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you can now download free copies of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus once a year. This is a good way to stay on top of unauthorized credit lines. Keep in mind that the information is typically 30, 60, or even 90+ days old depending on how often your creditors update the bureaus.
You can request your free credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Removing your name from these lists will reduce the amount of unsolicited credit card offers you receive. Unscrupulous people can use your preapproval offers to open credit lines in your name.
To opt out of the lists for all three credit bureaus, visit OptOutPrescreen.com or call 1-888-5OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688.)
This sounds obvious, but you would be amazed at the number of people who still have their social security number printed on their checks. Some banks don’t even allow social security numbers on their checks anymore because of the large liability associated with it.
Most Internet veterans know to look for this lock symbol, but people like my grandfather may not. Depending on your browser, it can be on the bottom status bar, next to the address bar, or some other place in between. Even though I know to look for this symbol, I am often guilty of making a quick purchase without taking a second to stop and look for it.
As I mentioned earlier, this is certainly not a complete list. If you have additional suggestions for protecting yourself from identity theft and fraud, please leave a comment.
If you are interested in a more in-depth look at fighting identity theft, I recommend FightIdentityTheft.com which really goes into detail on this topic.
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