Identity theft can happen in a lot of different ways. Some of them are difficult to avoid, if not impossible. Others are easily preventable with a little knowledge, experience, and understanding, plus a little bit of effort. Preventing identity theft with a paper shredder to destroy junk mail and other documents is an important start.
Shred Records Files and Documents to Protect Against Identity Theft
One of the easier methods how to steal someone’s identity is to obtain documents or other papers that have personal information printed on them. Everything from old tax returns, to receipts, to old contracts, or even a utility bill can be a wealth of information for an identity thief. Easier still is to do identity theft while getting a fraudulent credit card at the same time. This is frighteningly easy thanks to banks and credit card companies sending out hundreds of thousands of credit card offers, complete with pre-filled information like your name and address.
While neither your nor the identity thief would be able to interpret it, the various letter and number combinations printed on the credit card application or special zero percent interest balance transfer offer can also direct the credit card company to approve your credit application right away. These numbers tell the bank that your name has already been approved based upon either having pulled a credit report already, or because of the list your name came from.
The credit reporting companies don’t actually make much money by charging people to look at their own credit reports, or even from the fees they charge lenders to get your credit report, although they are only too happy to collect those fees too. Instead they earn huge amounts of money by selling your information to banks and credit card companies in the form of mailing lists. These lists can be selected by the card issuer to include people living in a certain area, with a household income over a certain amount, and with a credit score over 725. If your name comes off of that mailing list, a pre-approval code is almost certainly sitting on that free cash back credit card offer you got in the mail.
Of course, the biggest gold mine for identity thieves are those "courtesy checks" that credit card companies send by the millions through the mail. Whether it is a zero percent interest balance transfer offer, or just a "friendly reminder" that you can use your cash advance credit line really easily, these checks offer a bonanza for identity theft.
Writing a nice big fraudulent check for merchandise, or even for cash is a nice bonus, but that’s not all. Your name and address are on the checks, of course, and not just any name, but your name as it appears on your credit card. Since most people use the same format (with or without middle initial, with or without full names, etc..) on multiple accounts, that info is very nice to have. But, the best part of all is that these check don’t have the security features of real bank checking account checks. And, since they come from the credit card company on paper printed on a laser printer with paper tearing perforations between each check, they are really easy to print up on a printer so that the thief can write even more bad checks courtesy of your credit card account.
What can you do to stop identity theft from occurring in this manner?
The answer is to shred your mail, records, and files that have personally identifiable information. For many people, this ends up being a tedious and overly time consuming task. That means the new paper shredder they bought to stop identity theft gets used for a while, then instead, a "to be shredded" stack gets created, and finally, people have so much to shred that they don’t even bother.
To avoid shredding burnout, follow these tips for smart identity theft protection with a document shredder.
Best Tips For Shredding Papers to Stop Identity Theft
- Don’t Buy the Cheapest Paper Shredder – The cheapo shredders at most department stores and some office supply stores will only add to the shredding problem. These paper shredders overhead quickly, so you can’t shred very much at a time. Their blades and cutting mechanisms jam a lot and they get dull fast. In short, you’ll have to buy a new one very soon. It can be hard to tell which paper shredders are the junk ones. The best bet is to use the warranty information. Don’t buy any shredder that only has a one-year warranty or less. Also, make sure the warranty covers the WHOLE SHREDDER, not just part of it.
- Don’t Buy the Expensive Paper Shredder – You don’t need the top-of-the-line shredder either unless you generate a lot of documents for a business or you handle other people’s personal information. No one is going to put the effort into putting back together your shredded documents, so it doesn’t matter if your shredder does diamond cut or strip cut. Also, you don’t need one to shred CDs or credit cards. Instead, buy a good shredder that can shred more sheets at a time. Buy the shredder that can do the most pages per pass instead of one that does less pages but has extras like a credit card shredder or CD shredder. Get a shredder that can handle at least 8 pages at a time and that has both an OFF and REVERSE setting. Shredders without either are cutting corners.
- Don’t Shred Everything – There is no need to shred everything, only the papers that have your personal information on them, or are part of an application. When you get junk mail, tear it open. You don’t have to be careful, it doesn’t matter if anything rips. Just do it fast. Throw the outer envelope, the return envelope, and any generic advertising materials (usually the color glossy pages) directly in the recycle bin. Shred anything that has your name or address on it, and anything that is a check or application, as well as anything that has a spot for your signature. Watch for fine print on the back of the papers as a way of detecting things that need shredded.
If you want to have less credit card junk mail show up in the first place, have your name removed from the credit bureau mailing lists that get sold to junk mail marketers by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT. Remember that this removes your name only for your current address. Opt out again whenever you get a new MAILING address, including a PO Box!
It will take about six-months for you to see an actual reduction in the amount of credit report related mail you get. That is because the marketing companies put together their campaigns in advance and your name will still be on the list they got three months ago that they are using to prepare a mailing for next month. So, stay vigilant with your junk mail shredding until then.
Obviously, shredding your files, mailings, and documents won’t prevent all identity theft, but it can greatly reduce your chances of getting hit.
401(k) Plan Blackout Period
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With the meltdown of the banking industry just the latest in a long line of shenanigans that Main Street remembers happening thanks to Wall Street, it is no wonder that ordinary people are nervous about their finances. In particular, many people are worried about their 401(k) and how they will ever be able to retire if things keep happening to their hard earned savings and investments.
That is why getting an official looking letter in the mail or delivered at work informing you of your “rights” and about an upcoming blackout period can make even savvy investors nervous.
401K Changing Plan Administrators
All 401(k) plans are administered by a third-party. This arrangement protects workers retirement savings by ensuring that the company does not have any access to the money invested by workers in their defined contribution plans like a 401k plan. The third-party is a financial company such as a mutual fund company, insurance company, bank, or brokerage, that takes on the responsibility of accepting deposits, investing money into the proper funds or other investment choices, and keeping track of those investments. And, when the time comes, this third-party is also in charge of completing the withdrawals from your 401(k) and getting the monies to you in the form of a check, band deposit, transfer, or rollover.
This third party is called the plan administrator, because they are responsible for the administration of the plan. The plan administrator does not work for free. Typically, the administrator receives compensation in the form of a cash payment from the company and from each plan participant (worker who invests in the 401k) in the form of extra expenses charged on investments via a higher expense ratio.
Like any other vendor that provides services to the company, they can be replaced by another vendor. This can happen for lots of reasons. The most common reasons a company changes their 401(k) plan administrator are to get lower expenses (usually for both the company and the employees), to get better service, and to better investment choices.
When a 401(k) plan changes its administrator, there are several things that need to happen. Most critical to the employees contributing to the 401(k) plan is that the money currently invested with the old administrator has to be transferred to the new plan administrator. Doing this requires a blackout period.
Why A Blackout Period?
To understand the purpose of the blackout period, it is useful to think about how any financial account, such as a bank account, works.
Unless you deposit cash (actually dollar bills) into the account, the bank must “clear” the funds with wherever the money is coming from. This is just like when you write a check, the money doesn’t disappear immediately from your account, but rather, whoever you wrote the check to, presents the check to your bank for payment. Your bank verifies the check and your account balance and then transfers the money and deducts it from your account.
A similar thing happens in investing. When you sell and investment, the money doesn’t show up instantly. Instead, stock trades “settle” in 3 days. That means that if you sell 100 Shares of XYZ stock on Monday for $5,000 then your brokerage firm will transfer the 100 shares of stock three days later to whoever you sold them to and that person’s brokerage firm will transfer the $5,000 to your brokerage firm on the same day. This is known as “settling.”
However, the money appears in your account instantly and can be re-invested or withdrawn right away. This is because your brokerage firm executed the trade and therefore is certain that it will receive the money from the other firm. But, what if you transferred your account?
The new brokerage firm did not execute your trade, they won’t be the ones receiving the money. So, your account at the new firm will not show your $10,000 cash immediately. (This is typically taken care of automatically via a “residual sweep” where the new broker transfers whatever is left at the old broker a few days later.) This setup works fine on an individual basis, but you can imagine the complexity of doing the same thing for hundreds or thousands of employees.
To avoid any these issues, your 401k plan will impose a blackout period during which time you cannot make any adjustments to how your money is invested. In other words, you can’t buy or sell anything. Since no one can make any trades during this period, when the transfer occurs there won’t be any “unsettled” trades to cause issues. The transfer can happen cleanly and once all of the cash and securities have been received by the new plan administrator, the employee participants can resume buying and selling their investments in their 401(k) account.
What About Enron?
If you paid close attention to the Enron scandal and bankruptcy you may remember that one of the issues was that the Enron retirement plan was in a blackout period while the company was going under and the employees could not move their money out of Enron stock (it probably wouldn’t have helped much if they could have anyway). As a result, 401k regulations were changed to provide for a shorter blackout period. Today, a blackout period is typically only a week or two depending upon the size of the plan.
What Should I Do During Blackout Period?
Usually, you don’t have to do anything when you get a notice that your 401(k) will be in a blackout period. The exception is if you were planning to make changes to your investment allocation within your plan for some other reason. In that case, you will need to decide whether to make the changes before or after the blackout period.
The other exception is if you are retired and withdrawing money from the 401k plan, then you want to make sure that enough money is in cash during the blackout period since you will not be able to sell any existing investments or make a withdrawal. It is especially important to act if you rely on an income distribution from the plan that would normally occur during the blackout period.
For example, if you normally get $3,000 on the 20th of each month and the blackout period will be from the 15th to the 25th, you will NOT get your distribution on the 20th. Therefore, you will need to make arrangements to get your money by the 14th. However, make sure you check with your HR department to find out what will happen to “missed” automatic distributions or you might end up getting paid twice if the company executes missed withdrawals automatically after the blackout period.
If the plan is your only source of income, it makes sense to raise a little extra cash before the blackout period because you will not be able to withdraw money during the blackout period.
Just understanding what the blackout period is should be enough for most workers. If you have plans to do something with your account and the blackout will get in the way, then take action to have it done first. Otherwise, just keep contributing the maximum amount you can to your 401(k) and follow your smart, long-term, diversified investing strategy.
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FDIC Insurance Limit Increase Extended
By · CommentsFor years, the FDIC has insured bank accounts up to $100,000.
In light of the recent banking crisis and consumer fears, the FDIC insured banks up to $250,000 per account. The move was aimed at increasing American confidence in the banking system. It appears to have worked. However, the higher FDIC coverage limits were temporary.
FDIC Insured Banks $250,000 Coverage Limits Extended
When first implemented, the increased insurance limits on FDIC savings accounts and other FDIC insured accounts at most banks, was set to expire at the end of 2009. However, to avoid a rush of customers restructuring (withdrawing) money from various FDIC insured banks, in order to get back under the $100,000 limit, President Obama signed a law passed by Congress that extends the higher FDIC coverage until December 31, 2013.
However, the law does NOT include most retirement accounts including IRAs. So, those IRA CDs, or IRA Certificates of Deposit are NOT insured to $250,000 like your regular bank savings accounts or checking accounts.
To get higher government insurance amounts on retirement accounts, move them to an investment account, or brokerage account. Even a discount online brokerage account is good.
While investment accounts with brokers are not FDIC insured, they are insured by a similar quasi-governmental entity called SPIC. (What is SPIC? – SPIC Defined) Unlike the FDIC, the SPIC already insured the amount of cash in an SPIC insured brokerage account up to $500,000 per customer. However, there is a catch. Cash, and cash equivalent, claims are limited to $100,000. So, to take advantage of the higher limits, you’ll need to have your IRA invested in something other than money market funds and CDs.
If you are worried about the safety of your IRA principal, but still want the higher SPIC insurance ceiling, look for low-risk investments to use in your brokerage account.
But, before you run out and make any changes, make sure that you understand FDIC Insurance Limit Coverage first.
Top Deals Websites to Save Money Shopping
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The Internet is a treasure trove of useful information, but it can also be a swamp of deceptive or unhelpful websites as well. Internet sites that list great deals on products and services are a good way to help save money during the recession. However, you need to find real deal listing websites and not just websites that offer regular prices and normal sales with commission-based links. That makes those websites money, not you.
A real hot deals website will have deals from all over, not just certain stores and shopping sites. Coupon codes and free shipping codes will be included for free on deal postings without having to register or being directed to another site.
Also, most of the best deals websites have a forum where users can post comments and discuss the deals. The forums are a great way to see just how good a deal is, whether you find it on that site or somewhere else. Deal site users are savage and they will quickly point out the flaws in any deal that looks good, but has a catch.
As an added bonus, some of the most honest, hard hitting reviews on the Internet can be found in these forums. Don’t look for reviews, just look for commentary on the deals. If there is a great price on a TV, you can be sure that there are plenty of users weighing in on whether or not it is worth the money, even at the discounted price.
Here are some great deals websites that I’ve been using over the last few years that always seem to come through with the best hot deals out there.
Top 4 Hot Deals Websites
- Slickdeals.net – Only the best deals make the front page, but there are hundreds posted each day in the forums. Users can vote thumbs up or down to help rank deals.
- Gottadeal.com
- DealNews.com
- Woot.com – Woot only offers one deal a day, so it can be hit or miss whether there is anything you want. But, for the 2 seconds it takes to check every day, you will find some of the best deals online. They do offer a lot of refurbished products, though, so make sure you read the whole description and decide is refurbished worth it.
Do you have other hot deal websites that you use to save money?
