Taking A Stand Against Identity Theft
The first and most important thing you can do to become better prepared and protected against identity theft is to lose the attitude that "it could never happen to you". Identity theft is much more common than most people believe, and the belief that it won't happen to you leaves you much more vulnerable than someone who actively takes steps to protect themselves against the crime. Identity thieves are able to obtain information they need to assume someone else's identity- often with little effort.Take Care to Protect Personal Information
Do you shred information before you throw it away? The easiest way for identity thieves to gather information to assume your identity is through the paperwork you throw in the trash. You may as well hand a thief your credit card, social security card and driver's license if you're throwing out (without shredding) credit applications, resumes, credit card and utility bill statements.
Sometimes thieves will intercept your incoming or outgoing mail by taking items from your mailbox. With enough information, perhaps gathered through various bank statements or credit card applications, the data can be pieced together by a thief to use your name to apply for loans and credit in your name. You may want to consider mailing documents from a post office mailbox rather than a personal mailbox- the little red flag you put up on your box to signal your mail carrier that you have mail waiting for pick up is also a signal for identity thieves of a potential victim!Preventing Identity Theft
Other than shredding paperwork prior to throwing it away, there are a few other methods you can use in order to protect yourself against identity theft:
Cut credit cards into tiny pieces before throwing away, even if the card has expired, and throw the tiny pieces into more than one trash bag so even if one bag is found the card could not be put back together.
Report any stolen or lost credit cards immediately.
Destroy receipts, tax information, credit card applications, mortgage information or cancelled checks before throwing away- and keep such documents in files in a locked file cabinet inside your home. Don't rule out the possibility of the babysitter or housekeeper or guests taking paperwork lying around your home.
Keep a close eye on your credit reports and credit card statements to watch for anything out of the ordinary, or transactions you know you didn't make. Investigate anything suspicious immediately.If You Are a Victim of Identity Theft
Victims of identity theft often spend months or years trying to recover from the crime. Not only may it cost victims money, but their credit score is going to be ruined and will take work and time to repair. While the three major credit bureaus do have policies for fixing credit scores and reports after identity theft crimes have occurred, it does take a long time for the errors to be corrected and repaired.
Before the report and score is corrected, the victim is going to have a difficult time obtaining any sort of financing (from credit cards to student loans to car loans or mortgages). In some extreme cases, identity theft victims are even arrested for crimes they didn't commit.
Being a victim of identity theft interrupts your life. It is far easier to take appropriate steps to protect yourself than it is to repair your credit reports and credit score after your identity has been stolen.
Go Online For Information On Your Credit Score
The good thing about the twentieth century is the vast advancement in technology specifically with the use of computers. At this time and age, people don't have to worry about almost anything.
One can shop, do business, learn and enjoy the world, communicate with family and friends even at the opposite side of the globe, and make new acquaintances using the computer.
There is no need to leave the comforts of one's home, no need to tire and outdo oneself in borrowing references, and definitely no need to wait for long periods of time for letters and business correspondence to arrive, like knowing your recent credit score in the market.
Consumers can now just access the internet and get the latest updates on their credit reports for no fees and less effort. And a lot more can be obtained by being online.
Other related articles on credit can also be downloaded and looked into via the internet. Some of which are the following: Credit Reporting Bureaus, Guide on Credit Scoring, Credit Profiles, Inquiries on Credit Ratings, Tips on How to Improve One's Credit Score, and so on.
Through online surfing, the consumer can also be given email alerts on any alteration to his or her credit score. Their credit reports and scoring can be monitored daily by just being online everyday.
The consumer can also avail the unlimited services offered by all leading credit reporting bureaus though online. All credit reporting bureaus have their own web sites for consumers to easily locate them.
However, consumers must also be alert and check those credit reporting agencies that offer free credit reports via online. Considerations must be made before availing the services being offered by these online credit reporting agencies.
Many online credit reporting agencies who offer free credit reports and credit scores turn out to be just scams. They might put on the market your home and email address that in turn will send your home junk mails or might hack into your personal profiles online.
Others might offer you programs like free trials and after which will require you to pay for not remembering the cancellation of the program.
Consumers can look for legitimate online credit reporting bureaus which offer their services for a small fee.
They must really do a careful background checking on a target credit reporting agency so as not be lured into a hoax.
When online, consumers can readily get in touch with the concerned credit reporting agencies to make appropriate corrections on their credit score and credit reports to make sure that the creditors and lending agencies are viewing the latest payment history and most accurate personal information in your credit profile
Most lending agencies go online if they want to keep abreast with their client's credit profiles. In this manner, they can also save their resources for much bigger and important financial transactions.
Consumers who are not in a hurry to get their credit scores might just consider ordering it via the usual mail. It might take quite a long period of time, but consumers are assured that their personal records like credit reports and credit history are kept very private.
And to erase the worry of low credit scores and to avoid getting into trouble with your creditors and lending agencies, settle all your accounts on time.
WorldCreditPages.com,
WorldDebtPages.com,
WorldLoanPages.com and
WorldMortgagePages.com
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Banks. Another Possible Scam
On October 31, 2008, I received two messages within a couple hours of each other from two banks. The first message was from a so-called “First National Bank of DeRidder, Louisiana” asking to do a survey and it would credit $99.99 into my account. Of Course, it would not immediate tell me to what account credit would be applied. So, I did the survey using fatuitous name and info. along with a police departments phone number and YES, here it was, the next page asked me for my CREDIT CARD number. How sweet you may say. REALLY??!! Continue reading below.At about 11:10AM, I received the second message from Clarkston State Bank, which would not provide a location address. The phone numbers to this site was a third party numbers for reporting lost or stolen credit or debt cards. However, even when I found the number and contacted the company, the out-going message only gave the street address and not a city, state, or zip. Odd! Clarkston State Bank message is:“Important Message Alert on E Mail Phishing ScamWe have received reports of an email circulating around the internet requesting the recipients to visit a link in the email and complete a survey. This link brings you to a fraudulent website that looks very similar to the Clarkston State Bank website. The survey requests the recipient's card account number and PIN in order to deposit $99.99 to the account for completing the survey. If you received this email solicitation and inadvertently provided your card information for this survey through the website, please take the necessary steps to cancel your card and report any unauthorized usage of the card to your Bank.”BACK TO MY INFORMATION TO YOU:This is my problem with both banks. The first bank is definitely scamming. Its website address is generated through “ucla.edu” (either University of Central Louisiana or the actual UCLA in CA (not sure which one). The second bank does not leave much room to be desired, since:
1. The first bank’s website does NOT look anything like the second bank’s site (as Clarkston Bank stated).
2. A reputable business (especially a bank) would provide phone number and an address. None exists on this bank’s main page or any other pages for that matter.
3. The “Contact US” provides a phone number; however, no one answers. This page of the site requires you to place your personal information so that the bank representative would contact you (possibly through email). ODD!In my opinion this is not professionalism and I don’t know if I would trust this bank either. Please share your stories and experiences with me through my website which is displayed in the “about Author” or “Author’s Bio” or through email at Author@MasterCreditRepair.net. If my bio is not displayed with the article, please search me through search engines and tell me your thoughts and experiences. Go to our website and join the membership…With best wishes, thanks and love;Mike Samadi
For over 12 years he has been assisting consumers with their creditor, merchant and government agencies issues. When people were consumed and troubled by issues for a year or more- he, in a few hours or a day would solve most (if not all) their difficulties.
His believes in: "More Lost by Indecision than by Bad Decision", "Knowledge is wealth", "Ask and you shall receive" among others.
He had been college professor for years and is continually pursuing motivation speaking.
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IRS Tax issues, Refund and tax preparer Scam: Part 1
(Copyrighted)A lot of people don’t realize their ability and potential to negotiate, do their tax returns or even how to expect to receive their refunds. Referencing my previous article where and when I said: “I repeatedly use the expression that “lack of knowledge costs a person a lot of money” or “knowledge is wealth.” I interpret this expression by saying, “scammers see your lack of knowledge as PRICELESS.” The book I wrote costs about $25.00 but WILL save you so much in time and money, giving you so much knowledge so that when you get fraudulent calls from collection agencies or even those so called “debt consolidation”, “debt reduction”, and “debt management” companies or others, you will be able to immediately recognize the scams and fraud. In the “Fraud Watch” article, I will give you examples.Most of us are scared of IRS because the fear the agency created or the horrible stories we’ve heard. Scares come from the facts that most people lack knowledge. Besides the fact that the IRS is a fruit of several rich individuals to create shelter for the government so on and so forth; you must understand that the IRS agents (who you as a taxpayer deal with) are not only easier to work with than most customer service representatives of credit card companies and banks, but also are more helpful and understanding. I am not trying to take sides, but have dealt with a lot of them.I have seen a lot of people that pay the IRS a large sums of taxes because they don’t realize the mistakes their taxpreparer makes/made. I don’t care if a person claims to be a tax-preparer or even a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). I have seen several CPAs’ work that cost their customers-clients unnecessary tax expenses, because of their mistakes. In fact, I had to rescue several people from paying over $20,000.00 to $50,000.00 taxes to the IRS because their accountants did not include a lot of their legitimate expenses (such as education loans/expenses, business expenses when business income was included or so much more).Now allow me to explain this a bit differently. Of course your accountant does not have a crystal ball to know what your expenses were the year past before he/she prepares your return. I have an expression for Crystal ball. When someone asks me a question that requires guessing or predicting, I tell that person, “sorry, my crystal ball broke several years ago.”Your CPA’s crystal ball must be like mine. Therefore, you must help him/her to do the best job possible for you. There are some clueless preparers (no disrespect is intended); however, one thing I noticed that most (90%) CPAs or even tax-preparers don’t have is AN EFFECTIVE INVENTORY OF ALL YOUR EXPENSES AND INCOME.Let see, what do I mean by that. Tax season is right around the corner and most people “assume” (you don’t know how much I hate this word) that we’ll do the same way as did last year. Just because you or your CPA makes the mistake of preparing your return incompletely, don’t blame the IRS for your lack of effort in your tax preparation. The IRS says, do what you can do to maximize your benefit as long as you are truthful and don’t fudge numbers. OKAY. The IRS says take advantage of your refund and reduce your liabilities in the best method available to you as long as you are not deceitful. Some tax-preparers are deceitful and some are honest. Some CPAs are clueless and some are knowledgeable. However, the bottom line of responsibility FALLS ON YOUR SHOULDERS. If there is something wrong with your tax return, even if the tax-preparere or CPA signed the tax return (below your signature), the IRS contacts you (ALWAYS through mail the first time) for any inaccuracies. I hope I am clear on this.Let’s go back to the “Crystal Ball” issue. You have been going to the same tax-man/woman for years. You take some papers to him/her to do your tax return. He/she tells you are going to receive so much refund or going to owe so much. You blindly say, “OK. Yes, Sir/Mam,” sign the documents as he/she instructs and send it out/file it… Neither you (an uninformed person about the tax laws) nor he/she bothers to ask you if your lifestyle, spending habits or any situation has changed over the years. So, he “ASSUMS” you have no changes from the years past. You are at fault for your own losses by not sharing any changes. For that reason, I had created a six-seven (6-7) page inventory sheet (called expense report) which I provide to a few of my clients before I talk with them. Although I don’t prepare tax returns, but (as said before,) I have rescued a lot of CPA and tax-preparers’ customers from massive tax liabilities to the IRS (at no direct fault of taxpayers, but their preparers’).I told a couple of my clients whom I’ve helped with credit issues, I don’t want to do their taxes (especially if they do not have any problems with the IRS or state). Therefore, I give them my “Expense Report” and explain the line items of the report. I even mention to them that some of the line items are for informational purposes only or that a CPA or tax-preparer may not be able to use the information if they are not self employed and/or don’t fall within certain categories. Of course, I knew these people’s entire financial as I have reorganized their entire financial life (except stocks, bond, life insurance and a few other long term investments). Sadly to say, when they filled out the sheets and took them along with their w-2’s, 1099s, 1098s, and other supporting documents for the purpose of tax return, their CPAs said; “there was no need for that…” and handed them a two page expense report which did not cover most of the important issues. The clients came back to me with those reports and I had to contact the CPAs in order to make certain that the expenses are accordingly covered.Dear wonderful taxpayer. There is nothing wrong with you claiming all your legitimate and legal deductions and maximizing your refund or reducing your liabilities. The IRS doesn’t deny you, but says, “be honest.” Until the day you become an expert and are capable of fighting the IRS (by not paying any taxes), you are a small fish in a big pond and must pay your taxes accordingly, but maximize it to your benefit (as allowed by law).Allow me to share a couple of arguments I had with the IRS managers and even the U.S. attorneys representing the IRS interest.1. About filing status:The IRS says, use the best method of filing your tax return that benefits you. It even includes the first thing on your tax return “Filing Status.” I had a client whoes CPA worked on the families’ tax returns and marked the return as “Married Filing Jointly”, when the best result for the family was married filing separate (as they were for the last 7 months of the year). Of course, itemized deductions were involved. The CPA caused this family that had two young children (in day care) to pay a little over $1,000.00 in additional taxes on their tax return when they had already paid nearly $8,000.00 of tax withholdings to the IRS through their W-2 on their nearly $85,000.00 W-2 and retirement distributions income. The client came to me on some unrelated issue (mortgage loan consulting). I asked to see his returns for the past two years (for informational purpose-- w-2 employs don’t need tax-returns for mortgage loans…) and noticed many more mistakes the CPA’s had made (even on past returns).I then discussed and decided to amend their most recent return and faced the obstacle of an IRS law stating, that you can change everything else but your filing status. As a result, I communicated with the Tax Payer Service Manager (TSM) and discussed the issue of the law. She addressed a publication that contained filing status tax law. Then, I diverted her attention to another publication that was thicker and had more details. I explained to her that she needs to reconsider her words as a) the mistake was not at the fault of the taxpayer but a CPA who is authorized by the IRS to do such “crappy” work and b) that the law does allow changing the filing status under particular situations. She then argued, “but they signed the return…” I had to corner her by asking her a question that would put her in the taxpayer’s shoes when and where she needed to rely on the expertise of a third party… She had nothing further to say and my client received a refund check of a few thousand dollars a couple months later.2. My tax Audit. In 1993, I purchased a property in Austin, TX (several years after I left TX). The property was purchased sight-unseen (as I was in GA). Relying on the words of a “Real Estate agent” who I thought I could trust, was a horrible thing to do. Not until after the purchase and my visit to the property did I realize how bad of a shape it was in (as opposite to what the agent led me to believe). After spending a massive amount of money to repair the property myself, I sold it for a bit of profit. However, the IRS hit me with a little over $51,000.00 of tax liabilities for 1993 and 1994. Through the years of audit (1997 through 1999) and providing a lot of receipts and my appeal, it reduced the claim to over $25,000.00. Then, finally came the Tax Court. During my communications with the U.S. attorney who was defending the IRS, I learned a few things. But before I get there, allow me to explain a couple of things about myself. They are:1. Not until this issue, did I ever know how or what to do about tax returns.2. My 1993 and 1994 tax returns were done by a CPA and amended by a tax-preparer before my audit nightmare began.Now let’s see what I learned from the U.S. Attorney representing the IRS.1. This wonderful lady was telling me that she represented the IRS for over 12 years and she knows the tax laws very well.2. She was disallowing some of my receipt because some receipts were faded. Please note that the audit and Tax Court issues are taking place in 1997 through 2000.3. She was telling me that just because I have cancelled checks showing that I paid for some of the expenses, those are not considered receipts.When she made the remarks about the canceled checks are not sufficient, I had to stop her and tell her the exact words as: “Ms. ???, I now realize that you need to go back to law school, because you must have missed a few things before you graduated and took your bar exam. You are doing injustice to the IRS.”She was stunned, surprised and silenced for a minute. She didn’t have anything to say. Then I continued by asking her: “You live in Charlotte, Is that Correct?” She responded, “Yes.”I asked, “let’s say that Duke Power disconnects your power, you get home and learn that you are the only one in your neighborhood who does not have power. You call Duke Energy being angry of its mistakes. The company representative responds by telling you it was disconnected for non-payment. You argue otherwise. The rep. tells you to prove that you paid. What do you show for proof?”Take a wild guess what her answer was. That’s right. She said, “Canceled check.” So I acted as though I had a hearing problem and asked, “What did you say?”She repeated her response and then she became very quite. So I had to break the silence by telling her to stop with her double standards. She then agreed to accept my cancelled checks.However, it did not end there. As I was recovering some more of the 1993 receipts, I marked some of the very faded ones by placing circle around the date and dollar amount and wrote the information outside the circles. During the first hearing before the Tax-Court, the Judge asked, “do parties have any comments or objections before we start”. The same attorney along with her partner immediately jumped to object my receipts by calling it “tampering with evidence”. The Judge was shocked and asked for the evidence. He looked at them and asked me, “Mr. Samadi, what do you have to say about this?” Since I did not know what the attorneys were talking about, I asked the Judge if I could view the evidence they were addressing. I was handed two receipts. Immediately after looking at the receipts, I started laughing. The Judge was surprised and asked about my behavior. So I explained:“Your honor, I was trying to avoid giving the government representatives eye-ache and headache by rewriting the figures outside the circle so that they would not need to squint to figure out what was on the sheets.”The judge looked at them and said. ”Is this all you got? Go and work out your deals. I do not want to see you about this case.”So here we (the U.S. Attorney for the region, the two (2) assistant U.S. attorney, the Appeals Manager, the then retired Tax-Auditor and I) went at it again in a conference room. When we finished, they agreed to write me a check based on my w-2 withholdings.The moral of the above two TRUE stories. A. Stay stupid and pay for your ignorance. Learn about your life and finances and prosper.B. Do not give up when you have a fight ahead of you.C. Just like if you were going to have brain surgery, you would need to get a second opinion. Do that with all your financial issues (especially taxes, life insurance, stocks and other investment, mortgage loans and big ticket item purchases).Again, stay ignorant and pay the price. I hope you are enjoying these. I will expand on this and the Tax Preparer Scam issues in the next article.Mike SamadiAny questions? Go to Q & A of http://www.MasterCreditRepair.net, read and post. Go to the "Comment" page and post your story or comment. Your personal information will remain confidential. Joint my membership club (coming soon).
For over 14 years he has been assisting consumers with their creditors, merchants and government agencies issues. When people were consumed and troubled by issues for a year or more- he, in a few hours or a day would solve most (if not all) their difficulties.
His believes in: "More is Lost by Indecision than by Bad Decision", "Knowledge is wealth", "Ask and you shall receive" among others.
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Eliminate Debt, Watch Out for Scams
Millions of people search for help with eliminating their debt problems online. However, research into many of the websites aimed at "helping" people with their debt shows that many of these sites are actually misinformed, misleading, or outright scams. Read on to find out some of the things to avoid when you are searching for help with eliminating your debt.
The number one outright scams on the web right now when it comes to debt help are sites claiming that you can "legally" cancel your debt. These sites claim that you can get out of paying anything at all. Most of these websites use twisted logic and conspiracy theories to justify their methods. Of course, this sounds too good to be true because it is. These sites are simply outright lies.
Another problem those seeking help will run into is companies using misleading advertising. These companies are not generally outright scams or rip offs, but they can be very misleading. For example, many debt settlement companies advertise under "debt consolidation," but a debt settlement program is not really consolidation at all! Furthermore, many debt settlement companies do not fully inform customers what exactly they are getting into.
There is one fairly common tactic used in debt elimination scams that is probably the most trouble of all: seemingly legitimate companies advertising seemingly legitimate services, while actually ripping customers off. This is by far the largest problem when it comes to getting help with eliminating debt online. Not only do they fool unsuspecting companies, but they cause the general public to become untrusting of the honest, legitimate companies who do provide helpful services to customers who need help in eliminating their debt.
While it is important to use extreme caution when searching for legitimate help with your debt, do not be discouraged by the unscrupulous companies online. There are still many companies who provide valuable, helpful services and give honest advice to consumers who are in need of help. The important thing is to learn how to sepArate the legitimate companies from the shady ones.
The first thing you should always do before working with a company is do your research. Learn a little about the company. Call and speak to an employee and ask a lot of questions. Make sure the organization does not have a poor record with the Better Business Bureau.
Finally, make sure that you use a little common sense. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so ask a lot of questions. Proceed carefully, and you may find the help you need to eliminate your debt once and for all.
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