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

For more credit help, please visit our site. We have been there and know how bad credit can affect everything, including your health. Take a look!

If you know someone struggling to quit smoking we found a great site that offers genuine  help. You can Quit!!

Here is a great site for some wonderful Spiritual articles, short stories, plays, family stories, Bible studies etc. Check it out.

Usually in this space we write about business. Either what we know from our own business experience or what we have learned that we believe is applicable to the business climate. But today I want to tell you about a lady, my lady.

My name is Dewey Kearney and my daughter Leslie and I co-own and manage this site. Let me tell you about the Lady that I just mentioned. Her name was Kathy and she and I were married for 45 years before she passed away in March 2006.

Kathy was one of the most fantastic women I have ever known, not just because she put up with me for all those years or because she worked with me in business for 15+ years, or because she helped me raise three great children. She was a fantastic lady because she loved God and put him first. Now before your eyes glaze over please let me explain just who Kathy Kearney was.

Besides being a wife, mother, grandmother and all that goes with it she was a playwrite, lecturer, teacher and musician. Everything she did she did with her own unique flair, and to the best of her ability. Knowing that she was representing Christ to those around her, she was always gracious and loving. She loved a great joke (puns were her favorites) and she lit up a room when she came in!

She was an English major in college and that was her first love, in fact she was a wordsmith extraordinaire. She was a published writer in the Christian marketplace and also had her own repertoire company. She wrote and directed all the plays and melodrama’s they produced. In between times she taught Bible studies, was a seminar speaker, loved her husband and raised her family. What a Lady!

She wrote many short stories and articles that were never published  - because the Christian marketplace pays so little - and that she, being the artist she was, wrote for the joy of writing whether published or not. Kathy had the ability to take a subject and find a Spiritual application. Her short story “Believe The Compass” is an example that best describes this ability.

She, along with a Christian Psychologist, were in the process of collaborating for a book that never was published. At least three chapters were completed prior to her death and submitted to every major Christian publishing house in the U.S. but was rejected because as they put it, “the subject was too controversial”. Those will be on her website within a short time.

I recently posted a website dedicated to Kathy and her work. It is about 95% complete but it is on the web. The URL is: www.firequillpublications.com - I hope that you will take a few minutes to be inspired. She was quite a Lady! And she was MY LADY! Wow, was I ever blessed!

If you know someone that wants help to stop smoking, here’s the website for real help! Check it out!