Protect Your Good Credit

My local Sunday paper contained an article about a woman in Georgia who, as a result of her identity being stolen, has been convicted of a felony. This only reinforces my belief that not only are we all at serious risk, the credit reporting ones may be minor compared to the possibility of criminal […]

Nearly 10 million people fall victim to identity theft annually, costing consumers $5 billion in out-of-pocket losses and businesses $48 billion, according to the FTC.

Yesterday’s Washington Post included an article “Have You Been Stolen?’ in which the numerous recent security breaches of personal data by several large national creditors are outlined in detail. In several of my recent posts, I also noted these breaches and pointed out that this is an increasingly significant threat nationwide.
The Post’s article refers […]

This email notice was just forwarded to me by a friend. While have not yet confirmed this with VISA or MasterCard, scammers are always coming up with new methods of getting your personal information. Therefore, I’m posting the email verbatim to help ensure that as many people as possible can be forewarned. […]

There’s been another ‘breach’ of security and the credit cards of almost 40 million citizens have been compromised. This time, instead of losing the data being sent from one location to another, security at the collection point has been breached.
First of all, according to news reports from CNN and others, the vendor, […]

With all the recent reports of credit data being compromised one way or another, you must take care that you are not creating the risk of exposure yourself.
Wi-Fi advertisements are springing up like yard onions. Every coffee house, sandwich shop, hotel or major transit stop provides free Wi-Fi. While it’s convenient, being able […]

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is the federal legislation governing credit reporting. The Federal Trade Commission and other federal agencies request and review studies of the credit reporting industry. The focus of these studies is to improve reporting accuracy and consumer awareness.
Most of the studies are looking for ways to improve communication between […]

You may have heard recently in the news that a large creditor recorded several million Amercian consumers’ personal information on a data-storage disk/tape and shipped it via “a reliable courier” to the credit bureaus. The only problem is it never arrived and can not be found.
What does this mean? To one of my […]

In the world of real estate investment, there are a number of ways to find great deals on properties. Some of these techniques are perfectly acceptable, reasonable approaches to purchasing real estate. Others, however, take advantage already financially-distressed homeowners by offering so-called solutions which can be misleading.
Homeowners who find themselves in financial difficulty, […]

Specific steps should be taken regarding your credit report, whether you have good credit, bad credit or no credit. With the boon of technology and the information available from various sources, it is extremely important to do everything possible to limit access to your personal information.
Don’t use your social security number for […]