Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
The recent scandal of the credit card of TK Maxx customers stolen in epic proportions, again, has revived the old financial question – how safe is your credit card? The advent of chip and PIN in the UK in 2006 caused waves warning last year, when consumer credit feared for the safety of their PIN numbers. However, a recent change in the system for reporting credit card fraud and check online you can help increase consumer confidence when it comes to your credit card privacy.
APACS, the UK trade association for payments and the institutions that deliver payment, reports that since Sunday, April 1, 2007, consumer credit card in England, Wales and Northern Ireland would have to change the way in that report cases of credit card fraud. The previous method allows victims of credit card fraud to report to their bank or building society and the police. However, the new rules for banks and financial institutions as the first point of contact for victims reporting these scams, and now eliminating the need to inform the police as well.
These changes in the way the card, check and online fraud reports on the further introduction of the Fraud Act in 2006, and are the product of discussions between the Ministry of Interior, Association of Chief Police Officers ( ACPO) and the financial sector. These new procedures are intended to reduce the level of bureaucracy involved in recording fraud.
Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS, said: “This change simply removes an additional level of reporting and provide greater consistency for the reporting of fraud losses in the UK. APACS will provide the Ministry with fraud Industry figures for check, plastic and online banking fraud losses – these losses will be published as part of the government’s annual figures of crime. ”
Ms Quinn added: “The threat of fraud is unfortunately a part of our daily lives. Although card fraud losses have declined over the past two years, the industry remains committed to a multi-layered approach to tackling fraud card. ”
Earlier this year, announced its full APACS card fraud in the UK 2006 figures, which showed that total losses have decreased by 3% in the past year to 428 million pounds.
If you’re looking for a new credit card, but has doubts that banks and financial institutions offer the best protection against credit card fraud, it may request assistance from a variety of consumer online comparison sites that give advice in which you credit card is best for your personal and financial needs.
Tags: APACS, Association of Chief Police Officers, Credit card, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
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Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Well … You’re right. It is too good to be true, but these guys ads are now appearing again after the Federal Trade Commission launched “Operation New ID bad idea” more than 8 years ago. This operation targeted (and took down) over 50 credit repair organizations and companies that sell consumer pamphlets and services giving them a new credit file under the pretense is 100% legal and in some cases even claimed it is a “government” program!
With the simple era. Companies target consumers with poor credit and the offer to create a new credit file for them by substituting an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your Social Security number (SSN), along with a new direction. The EIN were obtained from the Internal Revenue Service on behalf of consumers. With the EIN and a new direction for companies that either have the consumer apply for credit with the “new information” or the company would apply for them. When the creditor run the application that automatically creates a new credit file because the team could not find the consumer in the database due to the new address and Social Security number.
While there is some controversy among privacy experts as to whether this is legal or not, the actions of the FTC at the time was not up for debate. Advertising companies and attract consumers in order to have them falsify credit applications by providing new information such as your address and Social Security number to obtain credit. This was a direct violation of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and worse yet, companies from advertising to consumers that it was a 100% legal and in some cases, claiming it was a program sponsored by the government . As you heard me say often “In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.”
Privacy experts argue that using an EIN or 9 digits (just a number) instead of ‘SSN is completely legal since creditors are on unstable ground to ask for your Social Security number in the first place. With regard to the truth in lending act to argue that one has to expose “an intent to defraud” a creditor. My question “Is it to hide” adverse credit history intent in itself? “While I am not a lawyer on the legal issue of credit that can reach the conclusion that if a consumer is to create a credit file using the EIN or PIN method that best darn sure you never have a problem paying of their bills. If they do, the more likely they are in a courtroom with a case of fraud of credit. Which brings me to my next subject.
Creating a file Credit legally
Most consumers are not aware of that, in addition to consumer credit reports, both Experian and Equifax own and operate business credit reporting services. By creating a business credit profile a consumer can now create a file of credit legally. While some creditors such as residential utility companies will not allow companies to use credit instead of personal credit, we have had numerous clients who have successfully used business credit to obtain credit cards, car leases and loans. This technique (although controversial) can be very effective when done correctly.
The foundations of the construction of the participation of credit 1.) Setting the appropriate structure for your business (ie Corporation, LLC, etc.).. 2) Obtaining an EIN, as well as a DUNS number (Dunn and Bradstreet ). 3.) Loans and / or purchase products and services from suppliers who reports to business credit reporting agencies such as Experian, Equifax and Dunn & Bradstreet. While construction companies credit requires time just like personal credit, do not be discouraged. Remember, when you set out to start building your business credit that are starting with a clean slate. This is when it becomes imperative to learn from the mistakes of his past. Remember, in the world of credit to those who do not learn from their past are (inevitably) doomed to repeat it.
Tags: Credit card, Credit history, Equifax, Experian, Federal Trade Commission, Social Security, Social Security number, Truth in Lending Act
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Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Internet security company F-Secure have issued a warning to companies about spam a PDF file that when opened direct downloads of malware on the user’s computer by exploiting vulnerabilities in software, creating chaos for their victims unconscious. The opening of any type of spam has always carried a risk, but in recent emails that the majority of infected computers contained enforceable programs. However, this scam is different because it is a PDF file – a tactic that previously has not been used.
Received through an unsolicited e-mail delivery a subject line like “your credit report” or “your credit file” the infected PDF downloads of malware from servers based either in the Far East or North Europe. Tens of thousands of emails have already been sent out, and it is expected that prompted the warning from F-Secure. Despite carrying a title claiming to be some kind of financial report, in fact, the e-mail message body contains no mail, but only an infected attachment PDF entitled “report.pdf.” Once you open the document exploits the CVE-2007-5020 vulnerability in Acrobat Reader and Internet Explorer 7 for download malware that seems to emanate from either Sweden or Malaysia. According to F-Secure the purpose of the attack is hi-jack the user’s computer so that it can be used as part of a botnet to spread more malware that most computers around the world.
The problem is particularly worrisome to security experts because, as F-Secure chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said: “PDF attachments are not normally screened in the e-mail gateways. Executable files are nearly always stripped, but PDF files are not, which means you are receiving across almost the entire world. “His company is now involved in cleaning up the mail servers that have already been infected, and frantically dissemination of the word to others Operators of e-mail.
To make sure you avoid becoming a victim of this type of scam, in the short term, be very suspicious of opening any e-mail bearing titles such as “your credit report” or “your credit file.” Furthermore, you should show extreme caution before opening any e-mail claiming to contain something that you did not request, or from an email address that is not familiar. You should also download the latest security update for Acrobat Reader, as it includes a review of this malware infection. Computer users should also be re-assured that although undoubtedly undergo a period of serious drawbacks are achieved if they are victims of this piece of spam, it will not affect its real credit file or credit rating in any way.
Tags: Acrobat Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Systems, Data Formats, Document, Internet Explorer 7, Portable Document Format, Security
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Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Have you ever wondered why you have a credit history, even if you think you have “nothing to burn?”
Unfortunately, it is a sad fact of life that we are all becoming just a series of numbers and statistics in this growing and sometimes not, the credit-based society.
Even for people like bank managers, who used to be able to exercise “personal view” when considering a loan.
I can not remember, some 20 years ago, when I was the import of visual display terminals from a source in Canada, when I needed $ 50,000 for three days only for certain actions of buyers willing to import. I told my bank manager friend, who has seen my business grow, and he simply marking my mind the extra amount.
Today, personal luxuries, as the ruling are, unfortunately, a thing of the past, just as we are now in an ever more impersonal society.
Fine – but what if someone pushes the wrong button on a computer input, or a malfunction occurs, or worse, someone tries to steal your identity?
Get a bad or adverse credit rating and the current impersonal society – you are almost done for! And you know what? The first to realize it really is when you’re embarrassingly rejected by 549 U.S. dollars a washing machine to use a credit for the purchase in a store busy.
How embarrassing and frustrating!
Worse than that, say you bought your property at a fixed rate mortgage several years ago (now known of course!), And its fixed term is coming to an end. You go to renew, or to find a better supplier, and Boom! You have a bad credit score that you knew about nithing – so you either have to accept the horrible extent of their current mortgage provider offering, or find that all other mortgage providers only help you with a whacking great burden on their interest rates!
Therefore, you have two lines of action here. You can try to address the errors in his file by some faceless person (or computer) to move closer to one or more of the three major credit reporting companies, or you can approach the small number of agencies Credit repair that are emerging in the UK.
You have a great option if you live in the United States, although there are some rogues that between pile, but in general, credit repair companies can do a very professional and quick work on their behalf.
If you look for the best offer, so you can find one or more of these credit repair agencies to do much more than that, and can offer a complete management course credit reporting mechanism on their behalf.
With the massive increase in computerization and the possibility of the machine or error, and the growing identity theft on the Internet, this service should not only save a lot of money, but also help you sleep at night.
Tags: Credit bureau, Credit history, Credit rating, credit report, Credit score, Identity theft, Personal Finance, United States
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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
“It is the purpose of this title to require the reporting agencies consumers adopt reasonable procedures to meet the needs of commerce for consumer credit, personal insurance, and other information in a manner that is fair and equitable for the consumer With regard to confidentiality, accuracy, relevancy, and the proper use of such information in accordance with the provisions of this title. ”
In the words of the U.S. Congress, the previous paragraph is the purpose of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). In short, the Fair Credit Reporting Act is designed to help protect consumers against unfair practices in the reporting system of credit.
While the mission of the FCRA was a noble, a quick glance around the current credit society shows the results have fallen far short of expectations. Following is how the FCRA has been unable to produce a fairer system of credit for consumers today.
Detailing the failures of the system of credit reports
1) Accuracy – is well documented that credit reports contain errors, but it’s worth repeating. Recent studies show that almost 80% of all credit reports contain factual errors, such as duplicate listings, incorrect dates, tradelines in the wrong person to credit reports, and omitted positive credit accounts.
These studies also indicate that 25% of credit reports contain errors significant enough to result in a denial of credit.
How fair is a credit system that can make a person fell to obtain a loan or force them to pay higher interest rates than are necessary on the basis of their actual credit risk? True, you have the right to dispute these inaccurate items with the credit bureaus, but this task is not necessarily easy or foolproof. Depending on the nature of the wrong elements in their credit reports, credit repair can be a frustrating and time-consuming ordeal that are forced to because of no fault of their own.
2) Relevance – Although they do not say it directly, the credit bureaus’ creation of VantageScore is sufficient proof that the current FICO credit score based on the models are not as relevant as they could be. According to the Experian spokesman Donald Girard The VantageScore is “the most sophisticated, highly predictive scoring model that is available in the market” and as a result, the much more popular FICO score is less predictable.
One of the flaws in the FICO score that VantageScore tried to fix is the impact that very old credit accounts on the credit score. According to Dr. Bonnie Guiton Hill, an adviser to President Bush on consumer affairs, “it is our understanding that computer models that predict creditworthiness find most of the information that is more than two years nonessential.” This is why the newly created scoring models like the VantageScore are beginning to ignore credit information that has more than three years. Not used to accurately determine your credit risk.
So why the lenders have been so slow to adopt scoring models like the VantageScore? They claim it is because FICO is rooted in the present system of credit and has stood the test of time. A more cynical answer is that these lenders are unwilling to sacrifice the huge profits that make the burden of higher interest rates on loans granted to people who are relatively low credit risk.
Of course, this cynicism is not simply the result of a general resentment and unfounded. It is born from the observation that seemingly every whim and inconsistency in the reporting system of credit falls in favor of lenders. For example, when looked at logically, it makes sense to close unused credit cards. Not long ago, financial experts suggested people do exactly that to get your credit score look better, showing their lack of need for unsecured credit.
But now we know that closing accounts can actually lower your FICO credit score because it rewards you for having multiple accounts and a large amount of credit available to you. Thus, while the closure of accounts appears to be the financially responsible thing to so, it is probably just a strange coincidence that this behavior so that consumers are less profitable for banks and credit card companies are liable to FICO penalty.
The same goes for paying loans early and voluntarily reducing credit limits. Both actions appear in line with what consumers would expect from the ideal, but neither will have a positive impact on your credit score. Advance payment of installment loans, another common target of a consumer financial officer that lowers the profits of lenders, was not seen in their credit reports. And contrary to what you might think, reducing credit limits lower than your credit score because, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, you will be rewarded for having multiple credit accounts and many credit available to them .
But by another quirk of the FICO credit scoring model, they are rewarded for having multiple credit accounts, but are punished for seeking new credit. Consumers have said that investigations are in addition to their credit reports each time you apply for credit for others Lenders can see that you can be overly you or fails. But it is not desirable that the investigations were lower your credit score at the exact moment when you are looking to qualify for new lines of credit? FICO wants you to have multiple lines of credit, but in trying to appease the score model, will temporarily lower your credit score that helps lenders charge higher interest rates.
It seems that no matter what you do, the deck is stacked against consumers.
So while the VantageScore is a step in the right direction, it is still a long way from producing truly relevant results. This is because the VantageScore maintains many of the same characteristics exhibited by FICO score and still uses the same basis, and very limited, the variables to determine your credit score, such as payment history, amounts owed, and length of credit history.
Your credit score is by taking these variables as recorded in their credit reports, plugging into a predictive model, and the calculation of a single three-digit number. A delay in payment, for example, entered into the formula and reduce your credit score a fixed amount based on the amount of time it takes and how long ago the late payment was reported.
The fundamental flaw in this model, however, is that there is no accounting for why the payment was late. Whether you are late making a payment because the lender did not send him a bill, because the bills were sent to the wrong address, because you wrote the wrong amount of the check because his control returned, or because they exploded all his money on illegal drugs, but that is the same in the eyes of the credit scoring model. Even if you have a sloppy lender blame for the delay in payment, the creditworthiness in the eyes of lenders will be the same as a person charged with a serious drug addiction.
3) Use proper – Given how common it is for a credit score to be a gross misrepresentation of a person solvency, it could be argued that the pervasiveness of credit ratings in the financial market is inadequate. But in today’s society, the use of credit scores goes far beyond determining loan amounts and interest rates.
Employers, landlords, insurers and others can request to see your credit score. In today’s society to their ability to get a job, renting an apartment, or qualify for reasonable insurance premium can depend on your credit score.
Inadequate is a subjective term, but was passed over for a job because of completely irrelevant and possibly inaccurate negative credit items in their credit reports that are connected to a poor credit scoring model to produce a credit score is not indicative your real credit is part of the bill.
The FCRA improvements, but there is still a long way to go
The FCRA’s failure to produce a system where the “accuracy, relevancy, and proper use” of their information is protected has resulted in a reporting system of credit that is not “fair and equitable” to you and a consumer. However, in defense of Congress, the FCRA has been heavily influenced by deep-pocketed industry lobbyists. In fact, when the FCRA was originally enacted in 1971, Senator William Proxmire, a leading sponsor of legislation, they were defeated in what had become of his original intentions for the bill.
Since that time, the FCRA has been modified to be more and more consumer friendly, but there is still a way to go, and as was the case in 1971, the industry’s credit are still very interested in maintaining the status quo.
While the credit and are not able to record information about you, such as their ethnicity and religion, but they also are not required to collect other personal information that is relevant to their solvency. If you’re a model citizen who has worked with the same company for 10 years, has a perfect record of convictions and more than enough money to cover their costs, it is quite clear that they are more credible a career criminal who is a continuing burden on the system. But none of this information is recorded by the credit bureaus or used in the calculation of your credit score. If you and the career criminal have the same types of accounts on your credit reports, your credit score will be the same.
Moreover, while it now has the ability to see what information is contained in their credit reports, you do not have the ability to learn more about the basics of how this information is used to make your credit score. What impact will have to pay a debt is in arrears on their credit? What credit cards should be paid in the first place? What effect will the purchase of a new loan on your credit score? We have vague, based on observation of answers to these questions, but the exact formula is unknown and is subject to change at any time.
Finally, you have the right to dispute the questionable items on their credit reports, but you do not have the right to make this process as easy or necessarily effective. Depending on your unique situation, credit repair can be as easy as sending an online form or as difficult as finding the creditors, fighting with collections agencies, and possibly with legal intervention. The very entities that benefit most from inaccurate reporting of credit are the ones who played an important role in water supply FCRA and continue to resist attempts by consumers to add equity to the credit system. Is that these entities are forced to grapple with when working to assert their right to a fair and accurate credit report.
Tags: Credit card, Credit history, Credit score, Equifax, Experian, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Isaac, FCRA
Posted in Credit Report News | 1 Comment »
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