Bad Credit Blog

Our office received the following memorandum this morning from a major news source that we subscribe to.  They recommended that we pass it along to everyone who reads our blog.

As you read the following remember… this basic rule always applies: Do NOT give any personal information over the phone if you did not at least initiate the call.

Jury Duty Scam
This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below). Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call.

Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Now aside from the obvious what can you do should you get one of these calls? If you are a member of LifeLock, you can relax because your identification is well protected. No one can steal it, and that is backed up with a million dollar guarantee.

Here is what LifeLock Offers You For Only $10 per Month!

• Proactive Identity Theft Protection
• Reduce Junk Mail
• Reduce Credit Card Offers
• $1 Million Service Guarantee

If ever you lose your wallet (or it’s stolen), just give them a call. They will transfer you to a certified Recovery Specialist that will help you:

• Identify your missing documents
• Contact each credit, bank or document issuing company while you’re on the phone
• Cancel the lost cards, licenses and documents (including your credit/debit cards, driver’s licenses, social security cards, insurance cards, passports, checkbooks and travelers checks*)
• Fill out the paperwork and request new replacements
• Initiate the fraud affidavit and police reports if the wallet was stolen
• Depending on the severity of the situation, additional follow-up and resolution calls will be arranged.

In many cases, they will be able to replace all of your documents for you. *However, some states require you to be involved with us directly. If this happens, we’ll make it as easy as possible by filling out the necessary forms ahead of time and setting appointments at your convenience - all you have to do is show up.

Think about it. If identity theft is so rampant that the FBI is posting articles about it, why have you NOT signed up for LifeLock yet? Don’t think because you have bad credit nobody will want your identity! Bad or good credit someone can still set up bank accounts and get credit cards in your name. And after they ruin your credit you’ll be stuck trying to fix the mess!

Source:

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

In perusing Yahoo questions doing research for an interesting Blog article, I noted several questions from 18 & 19 year olds anxious to establish credit but wanting to “get it right.” Several people asked the same question, “Is it better to have several credit cards rather than just one?”

The answer is a resounding YES it is better to have two or three - provided you are disciplined enough to handle it.

The reason it’s better is because you have more companies contributing to your credit report. Of course that works both ways. If you are not a responsible person and pay just the minimum amount each month, or max your cards to the limit, or pay late regardless of the reason, your credit score will be damaged. But of course you already know that - right?

To increase your credit score and get the maximum benefit with a credit card keep your credit usage to around 30% of your credit limit. Whenever possible pay your credit card in full each month. If that’s not possible double or triple the payment they request. In other words if they only want $20 minimum you should pay $40 to $60 to keep the total amount owed as low as possible.

Finally. Keep your credit clean! A person in their 50’s can have a few negative things on their credit and still be OK. This is because they have a LOT of history on their report. And if the good outweighs the bad then they can usually be alright. But when you are just starting out you don’t have much good credit to cancel the bad. So every bad thing hits your score a lot harder. So keep your credit clean and don’t go crazy with the credit cards! Use them to BUILD credit, not buy toys you don’t need with money you don’t have!

Good luck to you!

Are you in trouble with your car insurance company? If so and are wondering how this could happen to such a sweet person as yourself, let’s see if we can make sense of it and give some direction for the future.

There are lots of reasons why people have their car insurance cancelled but let me give you the top three reasons. And let me assure they aren’t just picking on you, this happens to thousands of people every year. Here are the top three:

1. Insurance companies HATE to pay out claims, I wonder why? Insurance is like gambling. YOU are gambling that you will have an accident and need their money, THEY are gambling that you won’t have an accident and they’ll get to keep your money. This being said, gamblers typically are sore losers! So if your cancellation was because of too many accidents in a short period you are in trouble. It’s very hard to explain that kind of bad luck; no one’s going to buy it.
2. Being consistently late on your payments. This is the worse reason for being cancelled. You have to come up with some way to pay your insurance on time. If you are going to be late call your agent and give them the date you will pay. Getting a 10-day extension is easy if you let them know. However if this happens on every payment you run a big risk being cancelled. The easiest way to fix this is to get set up on a direct withdrawal each month. That’s what my daughter does. This way she doesn’t have to worry about it.
3. Excessive moving violations. This will probably cause your premiums to increase and if you continue driving this way you may be cancelled. Besides it’s expensive. A friend of mine got a ticket for doing almost 50 in a 35-mile zone - the excuse was she was talking on the cell phone and didn’t notice how fast she was going. The fine $125 - OUCH!

Now for the solution: it’s simple start shopping. Insurance companies are just like any other business - they require new customers to stay in business. There’s bound to be one that can give you a good rate, no matter what your driving history is.

We recommend you use an insurance broker that has access to multiple companies. Each insurance company offers rates based on their own criteria. Some companies will ding you if you live “on the wrong side of the tracks.” Some companies don’t want to insure newer cars (too expensive to repair). Others don’t like it if you drive too far to work. Some companies will give you a discount if you’re a student, etc. etc. etc. The point is, a broker can plug in all the “positives” and “negatives” about you and come up with the one best company that fits your unique situation.

Contact one of our insurance companies and explain what happened and they will get you reinsured promptly. DO NOT drive uninsured. The risk is just too great. Getting insured is just one contact away!

BY: Dewey Kearney

All my friends are having a good time and all I ever get to do is sit at home because I don’t have the money to go out! So I started asking my friends how they did it and they gave me a formula that they all use and I thought I would try it. I did and it worked!

1. First thing to do is get a credit card (s). So I started looking over the Internet for a good deal on credit cards and low and behold they were all over the place! I applied to several and just like that I had what I needed to have a good time – instant money!
2. Well, that went so well that I slowed down a bit. Not wanting to panic the banks by getting in debt too fast. Then one of my friends showed up with a brand new red convertible and everyone wanted one – me too! Someone told me that it was easy to get a car loan from a dealership so I had to try that too. Having those credit cards sure was handy! I put a big down payment on my new car with them. Because my credit was so stretched I had to get a co-signer, but no big deal! My mom came to the rescue! I found just the car I wanted with only 78 easy payments! Now I’ve got the shiny new convertible like my buddy. No trouble getting the girls now!
3. Then my boss cut my hours at work. I was able to juggle my payments and keep up but barely. Someone said that I should check my credit report just to be sure they were reporting things right and sure enough I found a bunch of things that were wrong. I’m a nobody, but it seems that someone had stolen my identity . I thought that only happened to people who had lots of money. Not poor schleps like me. What a mess.
4. I contacted the credit agencies to report this but they must have been busy because it took them a month to get back to me. After months and months of back and forth with them they finally solved the problem. My identity had not been stolen; they just got me mixed up with someone with the same name. How could that happen?
5. So now I’ve got a shiny new car and credit cards out the wazoo – every penny I make goes to pay the bills. I am in debt over my head – but so are most of my friends. It’s a status symbol a friend told me. So I don’t stress about it. In fact, I’m online now shopping for a new flat screen TV. Someone out there is offering no payments for 3 years. I just know it . .