Financial Friday: Credit Report

We have all heard the horror stories of people getting their identity stolen, but have probably thought it would never happen to us. Well, at least that's how I felt until we had a fraudulent charge to our debit card of over $400 earlier this year. This was when I started thinking, "If it was that easy to steal our money, how easy would it be for someone to steal my social?" I have decided that I am going to start monitoring our credit report to ensure that there are no fraudulent charges on it as well.

We have all seen the scam ads about getting your free credit report on TV or on the radio, but the fact is that each person is entitled to one free credit report each year from each of the 3 major consumer credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, & TransUnion). On the FTC's website (Federal Trade Commission)there is tons of information about accessing your free credit report, facts for consumers, fraud, etc. To request your free report, simply print out this form from the FTC website & follow the instructions provided.

Now, you don't have to request a report from each of the three companies at once (or at all). What I plan on doing is requesting a free report from one of the companies every four months, alternating the companies that I am requesting from. For instance, in January I will request a report from Equifax, then from Experian in May, and then TransUnion in September. This will ensure that I am able to check my report for free throughout the entire year.

If you need more information about consumer credit, credit rating, fraudulent charges, identity theft, etc please visit the FTC consumer protection website.

Credit Card Cloning

Ever wondered how crooks steal your credit card information? Well, I have...especially after ours was stolen a couple months ago & used to make a fraudulent $430 purchase out of state. Yahoo! featured a recent video clip from ABC news on this exact subject, simply click on the hyperlink to watch the clip. You would be surprised at how easy it is for theives to steal your information and what you can do to prevent it from happening to you.

One way to guard you against fraud

One way to help prevent potential identity fraud is to opt out from receivng credit card offers in the mail. This doesn't guarantee that you will not be a victim of idenity theft or fraud, but it does help lower the risk. I found this information of the Federal Trade Commisions' website, along with other valuable information.

To participate in the opt out program, follow this link (please be sure to read all information prior to deciding whether to participate):
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t.

You can visit the FTC at https://www.ftc.gov/

*For military, here is a publication by the FTC that I found interesting regarding identity theft:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt02.shtm

Why you should check your bank accounts

I never knew just how beneficial checking my banks accounts and balancing my checkbook would be until today. This morning, I checked my accounts & found out there was a $427.93 difference between my available balance & current balance, so I called my bank. Turns out it was a FRAUDULENT charge! The charge was from another state; someone had our check card information (including expiration dates) & used it to purchase something from a WaWa Gas Station. I asked how could they use the card to buy something at the store when I have the card? The bank informed me that all someone has to do is swipe the card in a machine & it keeps the info that can then be used to put on a new, fake card. This can be done anytime you hand your card to someone for payment (like at a restaurant), so who knows how it happened to us.

Unfortunately, the bank couldn't stop the charge despite the fact that it was pending and had not posted to our account yet. But they did tell me that after the charge clears the account to immediately file a fraudulent claims form & we should be credited the stolen amount. We also had to immediately close the card & have a new one reissued.

This had me wondering, just how safe are we? This has now happened to myself, my sister, & my brother all in less than one year. Granted in my case, the thief would have only had access to the money in my checking & LOC, but that's bad just by itself. I was going to pay bills tomorrow & had I not checked my account, my payments could have potentially been declined. Lessons learned:

1. Pay for more things with cash
2. Never give my card to someone that has to take it somewhere to process the payment (like at a restaurant)
3. Never do a debit transaction (only credit) because someone could be watching & stealing your pin number
4. If making a purchase online or when you have to use credit, try using an actually credit card instead of a charge card so that if stolen the thief doesn't have immediate access to your money (but remember to pay off the credit asap to avoid finance fees)
5. Keep constant watch over your accounts
6. Make sure you have code words for all bank accounts so that a thief cannot pretend to be you at the bank or over the phone (lets be honest, if a thief can make a new check card, they can make a fake id & can get your personal info) & wipe out your accounts
7. Use passwords & security questions that are not obvious
8. Update passwords every few months for security purposes