Freezing your credit

[Princess L]

Feb 19, 2007 -- ID theft still No. 1 complaint to FTC
Identity theft remains the No. 1 fraud complaint at the Federal Trade Commission. In fact, it accounts for about 40 percent of all the complaints they receive. Why? It’s low on the priority list with the authorities and it’s a very difficult crime to investigate. Also, judges tend to look at ID theft as no big deal because no one gets hurt physically. Convicted ID thieves don’t go to jail for very long and they often never get caught. So, in the case of ID theft, the phrase, “Crime doesn’t pay,” doesn’t apply. Yet, it’s so detrimental to the victim. It’s even worse when the unsuspecting innocent victim is hauled off to jail because someone stole his or her identity. What everyone seems to miss is that ID theft is preventable, especially in the more than 20 states that allow “credit freezing.” When you freeze your credit, you get a secret code that allows you to freeze and thaw your credit. So, even if a criminal steals your identity, he can’t do anything if your credit is frozen. About 2 million people can freeze their credit right now, but only about 100,000 have taken advantage of it. Sometimes it costs money and sometimes it’s free. But it’s worth looking into. The states where you can freeze your credit are listed below. The rest of the states are considering starting credit freeze laws, which is good news. Let’s hope more catch on.

California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Minnesota
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin

[Oldschool Flip]

Feb 19, 2007 -- ID theft still No. 1 complaint to FTC
Identity theft remains the No. 1 fraud complaint at the Federal Trade Commission. In fact, it accounts for about 40 percent of all the complaints they receive. Why? It’s low on the priority list with the authorities and it’s a very difficult crime to investigate. Also, judges tend to look at ID theft as no big deal because no one gets hurt physically. Convicted ID thieves don’t go to jail for very long and they often never get caught. So, in the case of ID theft, the phrase, “Crime doesn’t pay,” doesn’t apply. Yet, it’s so detrimental to the victim. It’s even worse when the unsuspecting innocent victim is hauled off to jail because someone stole his or her identity. What everyone seems to miss is that ID theft is preventable, especially in the more than 20 states that allow “credit freezing.” When you freeze your credit, you get a secret code that allows you to freeze and thaw your credit. So, even if a criminal steals your identity, he can’t do anything if your credit is frozen. About 2 million people can freeze their credit right now, but only about 100,000 have taken advantage of it. Sometimes it costs money and sometimes it’s free. But it’s worth looking into. The states where you can freeze your credit are listed below. The rest of the states are considering starting credit freeze laws, which is good news. Let’s hope more catch on.

California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Minnesota
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin

Of course you should ONLY do this if you feel your credit infromation has been compromised. Easiest way to find out is to get a free annual credit report from the 3 major credit reporting agencies.

But if you are precautious enough, it shouldn't be a problem. What I would like to know is how many of the reporting incidents were just a front so that they wouldn't be prosecuted for criminal behavior. I know someone (a former tax preparer) who actually ran up a bunch of credit and bought a lot of stuff and then reported he was victimized by fraud. Consequently nothing happened except that he had his credit frozen.

[freespirit]

Americans spend more money then they have. 

[Deadpool]

there is a solution to all this: Cash only.  You have zero cards, any activity on a card is false.  I know, I know, you absolutely have to have a card to rent a car or a hotel room.  Simply go with American Express, nothing else.  That's what I do.

[sandycoosworth]

Feb 19, 2007 -- ID theft still No. 1 complaint to FTC
Identity theft remains the No. 1 fraud complaint at the Federal Trade Commission. In fact, it accounts for about 40 percent of all the complaints they receive. Why? It’s low on the priority list with the authorities and it’s a very difficult crime to investigate. Also, judges tend to look at ID theft as no big deal because no one gets hurt physically. Convicted ID thieves don’t go to jail for very long and they often never get caught. So, in the case of ID theft, the phrase, “Crime doesn’t pay,” doesn’t apply. Yet, it’s so detrimental to the victim. It’s even worse when the unsuspecting innocent victim is hauled off to jail because someone stole his or her identity. What everyone seems to miss is that ID theft is preventable, especially in the more than 20 states that allow “credit freezing.” When you freeze your credit, you get a secret code that allows you to freeze and thaw your credit. So, even if a criminal steals your identity, he can’t do anything if your credit is frozen. About 2 million people can freeze their credit right now, but only about 100,000 have taken advantage of it. Sometimes it costs money and sometimes it’s free. But it’s worth looking into. The states where you can freeze your credit are listed below. The rest of the states are considering starting credit freeze laws, which is good news. Let’s hope more catch on.

California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Minnesota
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin

problem/reaction crisis/colution

...


the solution here will be the rise of credit protection fees, like 20$ a month ... its stating already ... basically instead of the authorities fixing this problem the credit card companies will do it and pass the costs onto us ... tis a shakedown