Another good way to protect yourself is to save money, and avoid needing to rely on banks for a credit lifeline.
I have a friend w/o a bank account and he basically can't rent an apartment, ever.
Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
31–40 of 292 posts
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#32Another good way to protect yourself is to save money, and avoid needing to rely on banks for a credit lifeline.
Yes, however many industries in the US are attempting to "financialize" everything. Debt-lenders no longer can sustain growth on just houses and cars- "let's go after furniture, all consumer goods, technology, payday loans"... etc. It is a good solution for many to "just have money on hand", but when asset prices are inflated due to easy credit, how can I ever have enough to buy in cash?
Wait, save, then buy if you still want to.
You can buy a house with no credit history. Look it up.
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "save money by spending money!!" argument is nonsense. People have just been brainwashed into conspicuous consumption to prop up the economic metrics.
No, the scam is that all other shoppers are subsidizing your reward points in the form of slightly higher prices. There are some apartments around here that let you pay rent by credit card. You'd be foolish not to take advantage of that and save at least 1% on your rent.
I think what go is saying is that credit card companies have trained us to spend more money by using credit cards. It is possible that you are in a small minority of people who has common sense™ but most of us (including me) tend to spend more or simply decide to spend or not bad on the small stimulus. Again, I'm not accusing you of irresponsibility. I'm just saying what I think is common.
Edit: I agree. If you're making an expense anyway, it is obviously better to get the highest reward you can get. But we're talking local optimization now.
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#34Another good way to protect yourself is to save money, and avoid needing to rely on banks for a credit lifeline.
Even if you don't have a line of credit, identity theft is a very common occurrence. If you know you don't owe anything, it's still pretty scary to receive a letter saying your debt has been passed onto a debt collection agency.
Last year somebody opened a number of phone contracts and ordered TV (to my house...?) in my name. Here in the UK apparently you just need a name, address and date of birth to walk out of a shop with a brand new iPhone 7.
I eventually got it sorted, but it took a couple of months to get every cleared up. I made the mistake of using the phone, although the people I spoke to were helpful, I had to repeat everything from the beginning many times. If it happens again, I'll follow this advice and write letters.
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#35Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#36The FTC has a site with a lot of helpful information on helping you resolve identity theft, and even will help generate the correct documentation and direct you through the maze. https://www.identitytheft.gov Note the it is literally the business of credit agencies to blithely ruin lives so they will be very unhelpful if they can.
Huge differences in quality between your first and second paragraphs. It is the business of credit agencies to serve as proxies of your credit worthiness. They prosper when more people are in the credit pool and are able to take out loans.
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#37Another good way to protect yourself is to save money, and avoid needing to rely on banks for a credit lifeline.
How does this keep people from using your ssn and other stolen information to get a credit card or loan in your name?
Request a credit security freeze on all 4 credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian, Innovis).
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#38Another good way to protect yourself is to save money, and avoid needing to rely on banks for a credit lifeline.
But in many cases using credit will save you money. Two examples would be credit cards with their rewards (as long as you never pay interest) and house/car loans if you manage to get a low rate and invest what you don't pay up front.
If "invest what you don't pay" is the only benefit to buying a very quickly depreciating asset then you're not a very good investor.
Buy a used car and invest the bulk of the cash (if you actually have any). Can't get great deals on used car loans compared to new.
Fees/depreciation quickly kills the allure of a good rate.
If your user credit cards for rewards you don't realize that it actually makes you spend more money than you're getting in "rewards".
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a paradox I recently encountered - using credit cards can create another asset in the form of airline miles. A friend who is currently a college student (and just left a summer job as a postal carrier) used airline miles to pay for a weekend in a very nice hotel. At full rate, his few days would have cost more than a month of rent at my luxury apartment. He earned these miles through his ~20 airline-mile cred…
Yep. I put my brother in a bad spot. It doesn't really hurt him much right now but I messed up some business work using CCs under his name. With his permission of course. I can't pay them off right now, but I've managed to get my credit score close to 800. So I'm going to be getting a couple of credit cards and balance transfer my debts over to myself. All the decent or better CCs I've seen, offer pretty nice opening…
Spend $3k and get $500 in rewards... Why not just spend $2k instead?
Maybe spend the time increasing your income.
(I have done this... Rarely would the hassle.)
Re: Identity Theft, Credit Reports, and You
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "save money by spending money!!" argument is nonsense. People have just been brainwashed into conspicuous consumption to prop up the economic metrics.
No, the scam is that all other shoppers are subsidizing your reward points in the form of slightly higher prices. There are some apartments around here that let you pay rent by credit card. You'd be foolish not to take advantage of that and save at least 1% on your rent.
I'd ask for a cash/direct debit discount instead. Cut out the middleman.