credit reports

What Does Credit Card Fraud Look Like?

by
credit card theif

You can do all the right things, and you will still probably, eventually, be a victim of some sort of credit card fraud. Sometimes, a person you give your card to willingly will somehow steal the information. You may lose a card, or someone may compromise your credit card another way. Or, like me, maybe a merchant will be compromised and your credit card company will call you, telling you that your card needs to be canceled. Credit Card Fraud Detection I have a Capital One Rewards card, among others. I like using it because the points seem to add up pretty fast, and I can always use them instantly just by logging in and using them to “erase” a travel purchase instead of having to get a Capital One Rewards catalog and pick some sort of reward out of it. Another reason I like it is that they seem to have pretty aggressive fraud protection. This annoys some people because it always seems to kick in when you are on vacation and their computers notice that you are buying a lot of stuff in Chicago all of the sudden when you live in Dallas. Recently, however, all that happens is …

Read More

New Year Finance Checklist

by
annual personal finance checklist

It’s a new year. Contrary to popular opinion, for the most part, when it comes to money, finances, banking and investing, it doesn’t really matter if the year is new or not. That being said, plenty of people take the opportunity of a fresh calendar to take a fresh look at things like personal finance and their financial plans. So, here is a checklist of things to start thinking about to make sure you personal finances are lined up for 2016. 2016 Personal Finance Checklist Don’t get overwhelmed. Not all of this stuff needs to be done at once. Put a section on your calendar each week or two, and by the end of the first quarter, your finances will be reviewed, tuned-up, and ready for the year ahead. Banking Checklist Review your checking account statements and make sure your bank isn’t charging you fees just for having a checking or savings account. If you are paying monthly fees, or minimum balance fees, find a new account. Check with your current bank first, you might just be signed up for the wrong account. Remember, at today’s interest rates, there is no way having a higher rate compensates for having to …

Read More

Money Investing and Personal Finance End of Year

by
end of year december finance money

Here comes the end of 2015, are you ready? Are your finances and investments ready? On the one hand, the end of the year means absolutely nothing to your money. Those twenties in your wallet don’t care what year it is, and your bank accounts don’t either. The stock market goes up and down before December 31st, just like it will after January 1st. That being said, there are some end of year tax issues to be aware of, as well as some smart money moves to make before the end of the year. What To Do With Money Before Year Ends Step One: Don’t Panic. Seriously. Too many people get all wrapped up in the end of the year and the start of a new year. I think that some of that comes from the added stress of the holidays, or the vacuum left behind when they end. The reality is that you and your money are probably fine, even if you don’t do anything at all before the year ends. Yes, tax deductions matter, but probably not as much as you might think. And, yes, there are deadlines, but many of them may not apply to you. With that …

Read More

Safe Online Holiday Shopping

by

Shopping online hasn’t really gotten any safer in the last few years. Most reputable online retailers use secure transfers to encrypt your credit card information when checking out. However, as an increasing number of high-profile corporate hackings have shown, just because your credit card number was safe when you entered it, doesn’t mean it stayed safe. The other issue with online retailers is knowing when the retailer themselves might not be safe. Sure, company’s like Amazon, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble aren’t out there to steal your credit card data, but there are a tons of little retailers you haven’t heard of, and they are the ones with hard to find items, unique gifts, and occasionally, deep discounts. Giving your financial information to them can be dicey. So, just how do you manage to have safe online holiday shopping this year? Limited Use Credit Card Numbers There are some tricks you can use to stay safe while shopping online. Many credit cards, or credit card companies, offer limited use numbers. These virtual numbers can usually be generated online. They link to your actual account, but the number you enter is a one-time use number, or limited to a certain amount. …

Read More

Real Credit Score or Fake Credit Score

by

After investigating is CreditKarma.com legit or not, we got a lot of questions about credit scores and credit reports. Hopefully, this can help clear up some of the most common credit score misconceptions. Update: A Credit Karma tax review is here looking at the new free tax returns offering by CreditKarma.com. Update: Now CreditKarma.com offers free credit report monitoring. Check out the Credit Karma review of free credit monitoring service. Credit scores are confusing to many people. This is not the result of ignorance or being naive. Credit scores are not consumer products. They were (are) meant to be used by financial institutions. These lenders are the ones who pay for the credit scores. Banks and lenders are credit score customers, not the people who are being scored. Credit scores are not a free, open system. Rather, they are a product, sold by Fair Issac. They charge money for each credit score calculated. Fair Issac’s customers are banks, mortgage companies, and other lenders, not you. In fact, a quick look around the Fair Issac website should show you that this is not a company concerned about selling products or services to individuals as customers. Fair Issac has a separate website …

Read More

How To Rebuild Credit After Bankruptcy

by

Filing bankruptcy hammers your credit score. In addition to all of your credit lines being marked as discharged in bankruptcy, the bankruptcy itself counts against your credit score. Fortunately, your credit begins rebuilding immediately. Unfortunately, you might not be getting all of the “credit” you deserve. Credit Lines Closed in Bankruptcy For some people who file bankruptcy, the process ends with every line of credit they have being discharged. At this point, no payments of any kind are made to the creditors, and their financial life starts over. However, many people end up continuing to make payments on certain credit lines. For example, if you have a car loan, and you want to keep your car, you have to keep making payments or it will be repossessed by the lender. (A bankruptcy erases the loan, it does not erase the right to collect the collateral that you secured the loan with.) If the loan was discharged in bankruptcy, the lender will no longer attempt to collect the debt. You have to make payments on your own. In addition, the lender will no longer report any information about your payments (good or bad) to the credit bureaus, so you won’t get …

Read More

Credit Sesame Safe, Scam or Legit?

by

Credit Sesame is another online financial utility that lets you check “your credit score for free.” Of course, there are always more than a few caveats with these kinds of websites. So, let’s take a look at CreditSesame.com and see how it stands up. Credit Sesame Review Any reviews of Credit Sesame need to start with how much does Credit Sesame cost, and is Credit Sesame legit, or is it an online scam? One catch comes during the signup process where you are asked to “do more” with your credit score by adding “goals”. Some clicks there and you’ll get targeted ads, and maybe more. There isn’t a way to skip this step, so choose something you don’t mind hearing about, and as always use your “store email” or “email list” email address. (You should have a separate email address that you never use for anything “real” that helps avoid hacking attempts and keeps your real inbox clean. If you don’t have one, get a free email from Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, or other service before signing up.) I chose rewards cards when I signed up and the first thing at the very top of my screen every time I log in is …

Read More

All Three Credit Reports Free

by

Credit reports are a very important, and very frustrating part of personal finance. Nearly all financing requires a credit score, which is generated from the information in your credit report. However, you get no say in what is in your credit report. In fact, with one exception, you have to pay money if you even want to see what your own credit report says about you. Seems unfair? Blame the millions of dollars the finance industry spends on lobbying and the politicians that care more about where their next campaign contribution comes from than about what is right for the American citizens they supposedly represent. There are various services springing up to help fill this gap, but they all come with the potential for scams and abuse. You can get a free credit score from Credit Karma, or Credit Sesame, and you can buy a credit score from myFICO, but none of these come with full access to all three credit reports. Free Credit Scores Website The one (and only) thing the government has ever required the credit bureaus to do is give each person free access to their credit report, but only once per year. To comply the three …

Read More

Payday Loans Scam

by

Payday loans are a bad deal for borrowers. The negatives that are inherent to this type of loan are quickly exacerbated by people making poor choices, or just as often people with no choices. Payday loans are named for the way this lending method got its start. Originally, the way a payday loan worked, was that you borrowed month, until payday and then you paid the loan back. The idea was that this could be bridge to your next paycheck if you had unexpected expenses or other issues that busted your budget and left you no options. In the years since this type of loan has morphed into no-win situation for people with no other options. Why Take a Payday Loan To understand how a payday loan works, and how they cause such so many problems, it is instructive to look at just how people use payday loans, and why. As is often the case, and example can be particularly instructive. Let’s consider James. James gets paid once a month. On May 15th, his car has trouble. The mechanic says it will cost $300 to get it repaired, but James does not have $300 in his checking account and he …

Read More