Ways to stop identity theft

[skymama 37]

I saw a report on tv the other day about identity theft and learned some good information. A reporter showed how he tore up one of those credit applications that came in the mail, taped it back together and sent it back as a test. He put his parent's address on it to see if the cards would be sent and sure enough, the application was approved! The report showed that everyone should definitely shread these applications instead of just tearing them up. There are 2 other important things they said to do.

1. To opt out of credit and insurance applications being sent to you, call 1-888-5-OPTOUT. I just called it. It is a recorded message where you give your personal information so they can match up your records. Then, they will send a form to you in the mail to sign, and you just sign it and send it back.

2. Log into www.annualcreditreport.com and request a free credit report. I believe you can request it once a year for no charge.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[SkydiveStMarys 0]

"It is a recorded message where you give your personal information so they can match up your records."


Riiiiiight suuuuuure...


Your gonna get a lot of junk mail, amoung other things.....



Bobbi

A miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude.

[AggieDave 6]

The obvious no brainer is only carry what you absolutely need in you wallet. You don't need your social security card in you wallet. period! You also don't need 12 credit cards, maybe 1 or two and then you can grab the spare from the house when you're going somewhere special. You don't need all of your kid's social security numbers written down and put in your wallet either. You need your driver's license or state ID and that's about it really.

It amazes me how much other very personal info that people have in their wallets. Then all it takes is someone getting their hands on the wallet and its a race against time for ID theft.

Then there's other obvious things like checking ATM machines for scanners and covering the PIN pad closely with your body while entering the PIN, etc.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[PLFXpert 0]

Exactly

I do all of the above (and then some)---I'm surprised (but I suppose nothing should surprise me) that people don't know these things. You'd think it'd be obvoius when you simply tear something up, then bag it neatly in the same trash bag that someone could quite easily piece it back together

And I still don't understand the people who actually cash the checks that come in the mail stating they've won the lottery. Um, OK, but you didn't play the lottery

Good grief. Some people are just asking for it

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[skymama 37]

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You don't need your social security card in you wallet. period!

Oh, I know! Any person who works should have their SS number memorized anyway. Heck, even my kids know theirs.

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You also don't need 12 credit cards, maybe 1 or two and then you can grab the spare from the house when you're going somewhere special.

It's also smart to have just one card that earns either money or frequent flyer miles instead of all of those department store cards. It's better for your credit score too. They look at available credit along with how much you are in debt when they figure your credit score. If you have a bunch of open credit card accounts, even with no balance on them, you're screwed.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[PLFXpert 0]

You know, in college---b/c I'll do anything for a free T-shirt---I signed up for a bunch of cards.

When they arrived in the mail, I just shredded and trashed them all. I thought (b/c I'd never had a credit card, only my debit card) that you had to activate them and if you never did, then you never completed the sign-up process.

Good Lord! When I graduated and pulled my credit, though my credit score from all three agencies was above 720, I had like 15 cards on there with zero balance that I had no idea what they were. Tracking them all down to close them out took FOR-EV-ER!

Bannana Republic ALWAYS tries to get me to sign up for their store card. I'm all "My AMEX (which is my only credit card) sends me $50- $100/month in a Banana gift card b/c of my points---does your store card do that???"

Good advice---I actually used to mention that in my speeches that I gave to college students on how to graduate with better credit and less debt. You'd think with all my knowledge, I'd have known about the activation thing

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[kelpdiver 2]

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It's also smart to have just one card that earns either money or frequent flyer miles instead of all of those department store cards. It's better for your credit score too. They look at available credit along with how much you are in debt when they figure your credit score. If you have a bunch of open credit card accounts, even with no balance on them, you're screwed.

The right number from a scoring perspective seems to be 3-5. More becomes a negative when the available credit to income raio gets too poor. But your score is also affected by debt to limit ratio - less than 20% is ideal - so more no balance cards has value.

for ID theft issues it seems like restaurants are still the weak spot. I used to have a dedicated card for online purchases.

[mailin 0]

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It's also smart to have just one card that earns either money or frequent flyer miles instead of all of those department store cards. It's better for your credit score too. They look at available credit along with how much you are in debt when they figure your credit score. If you have a bunch of open credit card accounts, even with no balance on them, you're screwed.

True... but for purposes of your credit score its usually a debt to available credit ratio. Lets say you have $10k spread out over 5 cards with combined credit available of $40k. One of those cards ($10k of available credit) is a zero balance - so you close the account. Your new debt to available credit ratio is now: 10/30 or 1/3 of your available credit used up, where as if you left the other acount open it would be 10/40 or 1/4 of your available credit.

Personally, I don't use credit cards anymore. Hubby and I paid them off this year and by the end of the year the only debt we will have is my car (2006 toyota). Once you have an established credit history, getting something like a home loan can be done easily without having to have credit cards.


Jen

Arianna Frances

[SkyPsycho 0]

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***If you have a bunch of open credit card accounts, even with no balance on them, you're screwed.

this is false, alot of people say this but it is entirely untrue.

i have approx. 32 open cards with much available credit on them. all are zero balance. ive had them for many many years. i use absolutely none of them...........ever. i refuse to use credit cards. all i use is my amex, and no matter how much it is every month (usually between 1 and 2 grand) i pay it every time. i always have people telling me those credit cards will make my credit score go down and im in the process of buying another house right now. my credit score is 810. the only revolving credit payment i have is a mortgage on one of my homes.

_______________________________
HK MP5SD.........silence is golden

[skydemon2 0]

I was told if you have a lot of available credit like that it makes the lenders nervous because they are scared youll go on a big spending spree and screw them over. But I don think it affects your credit greatly.

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone!

I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!!

[PLFXpert 0]

It depends---obviously you've had yours a long time w/ no balance and that is likely why your credit is unaffected.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[Cudlo 0]

Yeah.. you can be as careful as you want until you get a nice sealed letter from the Department of Veteran Affairs telling you to watch your financial shit very carefully because some jack ass took a laptop home with everyone's info on it.

_________________________________________
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." - Kierkegaard

[PLFXpert 0]

I got one of those letters from my mortgage company.

DHL (which I don't know about you, but I've had nothing but bad experience with those nuts---FEDEX all the way!) lost one of their packages that containted tapes of all their mortgagee's info, including address, SSN, loan #, etc.

I was soooooo

They offered free credit monitoring, etc.

Thankfully, I got another letter two days later that the package had been recovered and was untampered with.

I check my credit regularly anyways, but that was NOT a fun letter to receive.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.