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You've seen it on TV and on the Internet. You've seen it in the mail. You've seen it in buses, cabs, and trains. You should be afraid... very afraid.
The message everywhere is pretty much the same: "Identity Theft is the Nation's #1 Crime!" or "Identity Theft Now Surpassing Drug Trafficking as the Nation's Biggest Threat!"
Recently, the "Big Three" credit monitoring bureaus have been marketing assorted variations of "Identity Protection" products.
Most banks tell me I’m only liable for the first $50 of fraudulent charges to my credit card if my identity is stolen. Is that true?
Every day, your personal information is used by someone, somewhere, for something. Most of these uses are perfectly legitimate and legal.
Most companies vow to keep your personal information safe and secure. But what happens when a company you’ve done “business” with, such as a retailer, a grocery store, a magazine publisher, your Internet, phone, or cable service provider, (oops!) loses your personal information?
What is a Fraud Alert?
A fraud alert is a notification, or a “flag,” used by the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Trans Union and Experian) to call attention to potentially suspicious activity on your credit report. When you or someone else tries to open a new account (for instance, by applying for a new credit card, car loan, cell phone), the creditor will be required to contact you by phone to verify that you really want to open a new account. If you aren’t reachable by phone, the account should not be opened.
Over the last three years, some 49 million Americans were told that their personal information was lost, stolen or improperly disclosed by government agencies, banks or various other companies, according to a recent survey by Harris Interactive.
Identity Theft – it’s happening to more and more students!
If you’re the parent of a college-aged son or daughter, you may have heard your undergrad say something like these words, which I recently heard from my own:
“Mom/Dad, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that I found my credit card. The bad news is that I’m not sure what happened to it while it was “lost.”
Did you know that it takes an average of 14 months before victims discover that their identity has been stolen? Once a victim does learn that their identity has been stolen they must spend months sorting out their financial information, while the thief was probably never caught.
You may request your free credit report online, by phone or through the mail. Free credit reports requested online are viewable immediately upon authentication of your identity. Free credit reports requested by phone or mail will be processed within 15 days of receiving your request.
A credit report freeze is an effective tool in preventing one of the most costly and difficult-to-detect forms of identity theft – false new accounts opened in your name. New account fraud occurs when a thief uses your personal information to open up one or more new accounts for credit or services in your name. You’ll never see the bills, since they’re probably being sent elsewhere – so you’ll only learn of the new account when you find out that you have a bad credit score, or when you begin receiving calls or letters from debt collectors.
Prescreened offers of credit or insurance – sometimes called “preapproved” offers – are sent to consumers unsolicited, usually by mail on an irregular schedule. They are based on information in a consumer’s credit report that indicates the individual receiving the offer meets the criteria set by the company making the offer.
So you’ve decided to pay a few dollars each month for some peace of mind in the event you become a victim of identity theft.
You’ve decided to buy some sort of protection for yourself or perhaps your entire family. It may be insurance coverage, it may be a credit protection product, or some combination of both.
Smart thinking. Now, how do you choose the right product?
After years of working, planning, and dreaming, you’ve finally moved into your dream home. Everything’s in place under your new roof.
But you’re a planner. You’re thinking ahead. What about break-ins? What about that expensive flat-screen TV you just bought? What about your jewelry and appliances?
You think, “I’d better get a burglar alarm.” In fact, you already know which one you’ll buy, the kind that “automatically alerts” the authorities in the event of burglary, fire, and so on.
Fast forward. You’ve just returned home from work to find your front door has been kicked in. The alarm, while certainly loud and obnoxious to the neighbors for the thirty-odd minutes it was blaring, has since turned off. No one is around.
You discover that your kitchen has been vandalized. Your TV is gone. Your dresser has been ransacked, the good jewelry mostly gone.
What now?