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| 2007/12/7-13 [Finance/CC] UID:48763 Activity:high |
12/7 Got a weird letter from a bank I've never heard of saying
"Your request cannot be approved at this time. In reaching
this decision, your request was judgementally reviewed and
denied for the following reason(s):
unable to verify identity"
What the hell? I didn't apply for anything, what's going on?
\_ Maybe just a phishing attempt.
\_ Someone may have tried to apply for credit cards in your name,
i.e. an identity theft attempt. I would contact the bank and
ask about it. You should also probably check your credit
and see if there has been suspicious activity lately. If so,
you can put some kind of "Fraud Alert" on it, notifying potential
credit grantors to be careful, but I am afraid I don't know too
much more about that.
\_ The fraud alert is actually quite helpful. Basically it locks
your credit report for anyone inquiries regarding new loans or
credit cards until you call the reporting agencies and ask them
to unlock it. -dans
\_ It's only good for 90 days.
\_ http://www.csua.org/u/k6m
You can do something called a "Security Freeze" on your
credit rating, too, but it sounds like a hassle.
\_ I did that. I got my mortgage and other credit the
way I want then I froze everything. I think getting
your ID stolen is a bigger hassle. YMMV.
\_ No doubt that getting your ID stolen is worse, but
what are the odds of that happening? Aren't you
paying $120/yr for protection against something
that is very unlikely?
1) low but climbing every day 2) I pay nothing.
Even if I had to pay, $120/year insurance would be
worth it to avoid the horror.
\_ I don't think you know how to do a cost/benefit
analysis. The average loss is $5k and if your
chance is 1%, why pay that? Add to that the
hassle factor of not being able to apply for
credit. How do you not pay? Were you a victim
of ID theft? In most states, it costs money.
of ID theft? In most states, it costs $10/mo.
\_ As I said, I don't need more credit so the
hassle factor is zero. Life is more than a
straight cost/bene analysis. If I had to pay
$120 that would be worth it. My credit
rating, time, and peace of mind are worth a
lot more to me than $10/month. Think of it
like this: the odds of an asteroid hitting the
earth anytime soon are near zero, yet a lot of
very serious scientists are looking into ways
to defend the planet if we spot one. Why?
Because if you lose the gamble you're totally
fucked. People spend years tracking down and
correcting ID theft problems. The thieves
don't just grab a few $K and go away. ID theft
is a personal finance asteroid hitting your
life. YMMV and you may find $120 to be worth
a lot more than the time you'd spend cleaning
this up should it happen to you.
\_ No, asteroids have something like a 1/1M
chance of killing 6B each year, so their
"expected" yearly casualty rate is 6k/yr.
That is worth a fair bit of research to
prevent. A 1/1000 chance of losing $6k is
not worth much time or money at all to
prevent. But if it makes you sleep better
at night, do whatever you want!
\_ 6k people a year is *nothing*. It
deserves no research for a death rate
like that by your calculations. OTOH,
a 1/1000 chance of fucking up my entire
financial situation and spending years
cleaning it up is worth it. Your value
judgements are 'confused'. Anyway, for
the record, it cost me $20 for a one time
lock. It costs $10 per time I want to
unlock it for a single transaction. I
have yet to pay the unlock fee. I have
no idea how you came up with this idea
that ID theft = $6k loss. I had more
credit than that on my student card.
How can you ignore the value of your
credit, potentially not getting a job
at places that do credit checks, and
the vast amount of time and agony being
an ID theft victim would inflict? It
is not like you write a check for this
fabricated $6k you bandy about and walk
away. Your life is hosed.
\_ You are a victim of fear:
link:www.csua.org/u/k6w (PDF file)
Most ID theft victims just challange
the credit card charge and walk away.
How much do you think a human life is
worth? The US civil engineering
society estimates $1-10M, so 6k deaths
are easily worth $6B to prevent. I
think you have a seriously confused
sense of priorities. You really think
having a credit snafu is more important
than the loss of 6000 human lives? Wow.
\_ Way to put words in my mouth. If
you really want to discuss this
seriously, say so, but I've made
my position clear, I explained the
costs (zero), the hassle (zero),
and the benefit (> zero) of a
credit lock and you have yet to
acknowledge any of that. IHBT.
\_ The cost and hassle is not
zero. It might be low and
therefore worth it to you, but
claiming that it is zero makes
your whole analysis suspect.
\_ I spent more than $20 on
lunch yesterday. If a one
time $20 fee is too high for
you, you have bigger problems
than ID theft. Keep up the
trolling.
\_ Spoken like a person who has
never experienced ID theft.
\_ I dunno, does having Romanians
charge your credit card count,
so that you had to change it
and dispute the charges?
\_ That's fraud and not
really ID theft.
\_ Are you a victim of ID theft?
How much did it cost you?
\_ I have been and my gf has
been, but the biggest
PITA was my brother. It
took him years to sort
through and even now
sometimes he is affected.
When someone has your
SS# and a DL with your
name on it all kinds of
interesting things happen
and you get to talk to
the police, government
agencies, banks, and
credit bureaus a lot. In
this case, it was a
former roommate of his
that stole his identity.
\_ How much did it cost you?
\_ In $$$ or in time
and trouble? How do you
calculate the cost of
spending a year in jail?
This problem is similar.
My brother missed a job
opportunity in the UK
because he couldn't get
a passport. Do you
just look at the $$$
lost? What about the
trouble he went through
and the emotional
rollercoaster of moving
to UK and then not?
\_ How much did your
incident of ID theft
cost you personally?
It is a simple enough
question, why won't
you answer it? I want
a dollar amount
though a time est.
would be nice, too.
I don't consider you
a reliable reporter
on your brother's
costs, frankly.
\_ Costs in
dollars?
Answer *my*
question.
What if I
said it cost
me zero
dollars, but
a year in
prison? What
would that
mean to you?
/
/
I asked first, I believe. It is hard to
value what a year in prison is worth. More
than a years salary, for sure, maybe 5X
if it was a Club Fed kind of minimum security
prison, much more if it was an ass-raping
AIDS sentence kind of prison. What would
it be worth to you?
\_ See, I knew your attitude was like this, which is why
I don't take you seriously enough to answer. If I said
it cost me $500K you would consider that to be
equivalent to a year in prison? I value my time, my
freedom, and, yes, my identity a lot more than you do.
If I have to go down to the DMV three times to fix my
records that, to me, is a lot bigger pain than 3 days
of salary. So I don't think you really understand how
much being inconvenienced really means to many people.
You just want to boil it all down to some dollar amount
and that's not really useful information to have. For
instance, in my case, I still get notices from other
counties about fines "I" haven't paid and vehicles "of
mine" that have been impounded. Usually it doesn't cost me
much in dollars to resolve these (a phone call and a letter
or two) but that doesn't mean the cost isn't high. I very
well could wind up in jail for some unpaid fine I
didn't know "I" had. When I resolve each of these items
is it truly resolved or will some clerk somewhere screw
it up? So stop worrying about the dollars lost and
focus on the gravity of the situation.
\_ Old age kills a lot more than that each
each, and with much lower variance.
Almost no research is being allocated
on this problem though. -- ilyas
\_ What are you talking about, the
diseases of old age (cancer, heart
disease, etc.) get tons of research
money. -jrleek
\_ I mean mortality itself. -- ilyas
\_ That's being researched as well
"Why we age," etc. -jrleek
\_ I meant the research
spending on this is
completely out of proportion
with the severity of the
problem. -- ilyas
\_ It's at times like this
where there's really
only one response.
You Are A Fucking Moron.
\_ Whereas your response
is about all we need to
know about you. Why don't
you sign your name? Would
you say that to his face?
\_ Politically, research into
mortality itself might
appear to be blasphemous.
After all it's not death
itself that is supposed to
be a problem but merely
suffering... I suppose. |
| www.csua.org/u/k6m Member Center Learning Center Preventing Identity Theft Unfortunately, it's not possible to prevent identity theft and credit fraud entirely. However, by managing your personal information carefully, and with a full understanding of its importance, you can substantially reduce the likelihood that it will happen to you. How to Outsmart Identity Thieves Be careful about giving out personal information. Whether on the phone, by mail, or on the Internet, never give anyone your card number, Social Security number, or other personal information for a purpose you don't understand. Ask to use other types of identifiers when possible, and don't carry your SSN card. To stop a thief from obtaining personal information about you by going through your through trash or recycling bin, tear or shred your charge receipts, credit applications, insurance forms, bank statements, expired charge cards, and preapproved credit offers. Deposit outgoing mail in post office collection boxes or at your local post office. Promptly remove mail from your mailbox after it's delivered. If you plan to go away, call the US Postal Service at 800-275-8777 and request a vacation hold. Minimize the information and the number of cards you carry in your wallet. If you lose a card, contact the fraud division of the credit card company. If you apply for a new credit card and it doesn't arrive in a reasonable period, contact the issuer. Watch cashiers when you give them your card for a purchase. Also, when you receive a new card, sign it in permanent ink and activate it immediately. Contact creditors immediately if your bills arrive late. A missing bill could mean an identity thief has taken over your credit card account and changed your billing address. Especially if you are having service work done in your home, employ outside help, or have a roommate. Be sure to verify that records are kept in a secure location, and are accessible only to employees who have a legitimate reason to access it. Memorize your passwords and personal identification numbers instead of carrying them with you. Avoid using easily available information like your mother's maiden name, your birth date, the last four digits of your SSN or your phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers. You may place an Initial 90 day Fraud Alert by calling any one of the 3 nationwide credit reporting companies. The agency that accepts your request will share your request with the other two credit reporting companies, which will add the alert to your file or request that you provide them additional information. You will receive a confirmation when an alert is added to your file. You have the right to place a security freeze on your Equifax credit file under state law or the Equifax voluntary security freeze program. A security freeze will limit us from reporting your Equifax credit file to third parties, such as credit grantors and other companies and agencies, except those exempted by law or the Equifax voluntary security freeze program or those for whom you contacted us and requested that we temporarily lift the security freeze. A security freeze will require you to plan ahead for all your credit applications as you will need to contact us to request that we temporarily lift your freeze to allow us to report your Equifax credit file to the credit grantor you identify. Under the laws of most states that allow security freezes and the Equifax voluntary security freeze program, it may take up to three business days to process your request to temporarily lift the security freeze. It may take longer if you have lost the security freeze confirmation number which we provided to you when you first requested the security freeze be placed on your credit file. You may not be able to request a temporary lift of a security freeze during non-business hours or on weekends. A security freeze may hinder your ability to immediately obtain credit to make major purchases. Accordingly, if you are credit active and apply for credit on a regular basis and have a security freeze on your Equifax credit file you need to be especially mindful of the need to plan ahead and contact us in advance to request a temporary lift of the security freeze on your Equifax credit file. Equifax Credit Report Control(TM) This online subscription product provides you the ability to easily lock and unlock access to your Equifax credit report online and alerts you of key changes in your credit report within 24 houts so you can take action quickly to stop any potential fraud or unauthorized activity. You may lock and unlock your Equifax credit report for a period of time - or even for specific companies - when applying for loans, credit cards or insurance. Together with Equifax Credit Watch, Equifax Credit Report Control is, we believe, the most effective product to prevent identity theft from ruining your credit. you may request an active duty alert, which will remain on your file for 12 months, by calling any one of the nationwide credit reporting companies. This alert removes your name from pre-screened offers of credit for 2 years. You will receive a confirmation when an alert is added to your credit file. The nationwide credit reporting company that accepts your request for a Fraud or Active Duty alert will share your request with the other two nationwide credit reporting companies, which will add the alert to your credit file or request that you provide them additional information. Other Important Facts Zero responsibility doesn't mean zero problems. Because credit card companies must limit consumer responsibility to $50 in most cases of fraud, and because many new cards include "zero responsibility" protection, some people think there's no reason to worry about credit fraud. But in its most advanced form -- identity theft -- credit fraud can cause wide-ranging long-term problems. Identity thieves can use your personal information to take over your credit accounts and open new ones. They may even use your good credit to get a job, take out a car loan, or rent an apartment. Checking your credit report can help you catch mistakes and fraud before they wreak havoc on your personal finances. Make sure your credit report is accurate and includes only those activities you've authorized. It's also a good idea to review your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies every year -- it's possible that information is reported to one but not the others. Equifax Credit Watch(TM) credit report monitoring service, and get an early alert to new and suspicious activity on your report. Equifax Credit Watch(TM) also gives you up to $20,000 identity theft insurance depending on the program. Equifax Credit Report Control(TM) with your Equifax Credit Watch subscription, providing you the ability to lock and unlock access to your Equifax credit report quickly and easily online. Although the problem is nationwide, states with the highest incidence of identity theft are California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Illinois, and Washington. |