@thinger2 when you gonna write a book dude?
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
The college I went to had information compromised sometime after I graduated. They offered us 3 years of free credit monitoring from the Office of Personnel Management. About 15 years later they still alert me anytime my credit is ran. They even alert to anyone who moves into my area that is a sex offender. I was even allowed to add my daughter in case anyone tries to use her information.On a similiar subject, I want to tell you guys to pay close attention to what ypur elderly parents are up to online.
A couple of months ago my Mom fell for a "smishing scam"
She was expecting some package from Amazon and recieved an Email with a very blurred picture of a box and claiming that she needed to send the US Post Office 3 dollars or it would not be delivered.
She sent her credit card number to some scammer on Bumble.com and signed herself up for a 250 dollar a month revolving charge.
The only reason that I caught this is because my Mom lives with us now.
When I took her breakfast that morning I could tell that she had been awake all night.
She was worried about that payment making it to the US Post Office.
Ding,Ding,Ding!!!! What??
Mom, why are you sending money to the post office?
2 hours of on hold and getting dropped and calling back in order to cancell that credit card and dispute the charges.
Which leaves me in a where I know that a new credit card is maybe going to show up at some point.
In a city where they steal mail trucks and mail boxes.
The other thing I think is really important is that nobody, nobody ever checks their credit report every year.
You really need check all three of your credit reports every year and correct the mistakes.
Do this before you try buy a house or a car or apply for any type of a loan.
In my case I used to live in the northern part of Scottsdale, Az on a road with a very long and somewhat hard to spell name.
Some of you Arizona guys might have the same story.
They really love long street names in AZ.
It was often abbreiviated or mis-spelled.
When I applied for a business loan it was kicked because I didnt have a stable address.
My credit showed me having about 30 addresses in two years.
Any human would look at it and realize that they were all mis-spellings of the same address.
To the software it looked like 30 moves in two tears.
If youve never checked it, I gaurantee you that your credit report will be chock full of mistakes and nonsense.
If you have gotten divorced at any time between this morning and the war of 1812 and you havent checked your credit report.
Do not be shocked when you find your name on a car loan or a mortgage or a credit card that you never had.
Dont be surprised when you find a joint account or insurance policy or credit line that you didnt even know about.
Thats the part that I think a lot of people miss when getting divorced.
When you leave, you are not thinking in a business, mercenary way.
It is just grief. Mourning the death of what you thought was the course and the path for both of your lives.
That future old people on the porch surrounded by family untill one day one of you dies and leaves the other one to live?
You aint thinking right, you probably aint thinking at all.
Thats when Allstate sends you a letter about cancelling your car insurance because because your wife tried to put the 19 year old apprentice electrician with a dui and a suspended license who was wiring your house on your car insurance thinking you wouldnt notice.
I noticed.
Thats why I am an Allstate customer for life.
The most difficult part of this for me, and I suspect that the most difficult part of this for the average person, is that it is just about impossible for us to find any information that we can understand and act upon.The college I went to had information compromised sometime after I graduated. They offered us 3 years of free credit monitoring from the Office of Personnel Management. About 15 years later they still alert me anytime my credit is ran. They even alert to anyone who moves into my area that is a sex offender. I was even allowed to add my daughter in case anyone tries to use her information.