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MoneyTips You know you need to protect your accounts and personal information – but what is the best method? Should you use a credit monitoring service or subscribe to identity theft protection instead? What's the difference between the two methods? Credit monitoring services do exactly what they say they do – monitor activity on your accounts with the major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax). Creditors report all activities related to borrowing money, including your payment history, to credit reporting agencies. Monitoring services may monitor your history with all three agencies or be exclusive to a certain agency. With credit monitoring, you're alerted to various changes in your credit report – for example, when a potential creditor asks for your credit history or when new credit card accounts or loans are opened in your name. Any activity that is reported to the credit reporting agency is monitored. However, identity theft can invol... f

MoneyTips Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling when you reach in your pants or purse for your wallet, and it's gone? You're not alone. According to an exclusive MoneyTips survey, 62% of respondents have had their wallets lost or stolen. More than 1 in 3 had suffered both from wallet loss and theft, while 36% of those admitting misplacing their wallet did so repeatedly! "These numbers remind me to limit the credit cards and cash I carry, and to make sure I know how to contact every credit card issuer in my wallet," says Greg Scott, an IT professional and identity theft victim. "I should probably also keep a copy of my driver's license, insurance cards, and other 'wallet stuff' somewhere safe. Just in case." In an exclusive MoneyTips Survey conducted in November of 2018, we asked: Of the 509 respondents, 316 (62%) admitted losing their money holder (we'll use 'wallet... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2UlE5HC

MoneyTips Another Use for Your Credit Score You probably know that your credit score affects the interest rates you'll pay for credit cards and loans. Did you know that your credit score could also affect your auto insurance rates? It can in all but three states (California, Massachusetts, and Hawaii). Those three states have banned credit-based insurance scoring – the use of credit scores in determining auto insurance premiums. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) would like to make that ban nationwide. Rep. Tlaib is introducing a bill that would prohibit auto insurance companies from using a client's credit history to set rates for premiums. She claims that the practice discriminates against low-income Americans and compounds ethnic and racial discrimination. We Use It Because It Works Insurers use credit-based scoring for one basic reason – it accurately assesses risk. Separate studies from the University of Texas and the Federal Trade Commissio... from MoneyTips https://if

MoneyTips April is National Financial Literacy Month. Why do we dedicate this calendar page to highlighting financial skills and education? The tax deadline? Sound financial decisions are important all year long, but most Americans never learned how to manage money or save for goals, so financial security is a bigger challenge than it needs to be. Even if you can handle the math involved — and calculators can help if you can't — things get complicated when making large (often emotional) financial decisions. Some of the most common pitfalls are described below. If you recognize any of them, you're not alone. The good news is that you have an opportunity to improve your finances and save more money. Emergency Preparedness An emergency fund is essential because you need to absorb life's surprises without making things worse. Without a stash of cash, you'll have to take... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2Fv0adC

MoneyTips April is National Financial Literacy Month. Why do we dedicate this calendar page to highlighting financial skills and education? The tax deadline? Sound financial decisions are important all year long, but most Americans never learned how to manage money or save for goals, so financial security is a bigger challenge than it needs to be. Even if you can handle the math involved — and calculators can help if you can't — things get complicated when making large (often emotional) financial decisions. Some of the most common pitfalls are described below. If you recognize any of them, you're not alone. The good news is that you have an opportunity to improve your finances and save more money. Emergency Preparedness An emergency fund is essential because you need to absorb life's surprises without making things worse. Without a stash of cash, you'll have to take... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2Fv0adC

MoneyTips With the massive Equifax hack of 2017, the credit bureaus have shown that they can't protect your identity. It's up to you. How far would you go to protect it yourself? Would you stop using public WiFi? Stop using social media? Move to North Korea? We asked your fellow Americans how far they're willing to go, and you'll be amazed by their answers. In a 2018 Google survey, we asked: Using weighted averages, more than 1 in 5 (21.8%) asserted that they would "Stop using public WiFi". Surprisingly, nearly 1 in 6 (15.5%) said that they would "Stop using social media". Even more shocking, nearly 1 in 16 (6.4%) said that they would be willing to "Move to North Korea"! That's even bigger than the 4.6% who would "Switch to a non-smartphone". Over half (51.6%) wouldn't take any of these steps to protect their identity. When it comes to reducing your risk of <... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2U5aQJe

MoneyTips You've taken steps to avoid identity theft, and maybe even applied a credit freeze to your credit report. You can sit back and relax, right?Wrong. You may have prevented identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name, but have you kept your existing credit accounts secure? As opposed to identity theft where your information is used to create unauthorized accounts in your name, credit card fraud refers to a single existing account. A thief has stolen your card or has the necessary card information to make unauthorized purchases on that account. How do you prevent credit card fraud? Here, we offer thirteen possible precautions: 1. Avoid Ph... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2upmX5x

MoneyTips You've taken steps to avoid identity theft, and maybe even applied a credit freeze to your credit report. You can sit back and relax, right?Wrong. You may have prevented identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name, but have you kept your existing credit accounts secure? As opposed to identity theft where your information is used to create unauthorized accounts in your name, credit card fraud refers to a single existing account. A thief has stolen your card or has the necessary card information to make unauthorized purchases on that account. How do you prevent credit card fraud? Here, we offer thirteen possible precautions: 1. Avoid Ph... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2upmX5x

MoneyTips Would you know what to do if you discovered that you were a victim of identity theft? Given the massive data breaches over the last few years, it's important that you understand your rights as an identity theft victim – because your odds of becoming one are greater than ever. "If you find you are a victim of identity theft," says April Lewis-Parks, Director of Education and Public Relations at Consolidated Credit, "you should contact the police, let them know." In addition, file an identity theft report with the Federal Trade Commission at their website . These reports will give you the proof you need to exercise your rights listed below. The Right to Place Fraud Alerts – You can contact one of the three major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax) and request that a

MoneyTips More than 15 million Americans had their identity stolen last year. Do you know anyone who has suffered through the victimization, then agonized more as they struggled to reclaim their identity? Odds are you do! We hope it wasn't you. Because of this digital epidemic, we conducted an exclusive MoneyTips Google survey in 2018 to see how many people knew identity theft victims, and the results were astonishing. We asked: Using weighted averages, barely more than 1 in 4 (26.1%) didn't know a single identity theft victim. Nearly 6 in 10 knew between 1 and 5 victims. 6.3% admitted knowing between 6 and 10 victims, while more than 1 in 12 (8.7%) knew 11 victims or more! Says Professor Steve Weisman, who teaches White Collar Crime at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, "These figures are disturbing, but not surprising. Identity theft is a huge p... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2Tqe8Ci

MoneyTips You've received a phone call from a utility company demanding a payment right now or your utilities will be immediately shut off – or maybe representatives of your utility show up at your door to make the same threat. What do you do? Don't pay them. It's almost certainly a scam. Utility companies don't make threats requiring immediate payment to avoid shutoff. They will send at least one disconnection notice by mail and provide several payment options to avoid shutoff by a certain time. Electricity, gas, or water providers don't want to cut off your service – they just want you to make your payments. Of course, if you ignore all late payment and disconnection notices, the utility provider will eventually cut you off – but that's only as a last resort. Variations of this scam include unscheduled meter repairs, free energy audits without any appoin... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2FggLBK

MoneyTips New Survey Shows Poor Credit Habits of Millennials Americans must love credit cards. As of the end of 2018, Federal Reserve data shows that we have racked up $870 billion in outstanding credit card debt on our nearly 480 million credit cards in circulation. However, generations vary in how they handle credit card debt. Millennials tend to be the most cautious with credit – perhaps because many of them came of age during the housing crisis and subsequent recession. Data from the 2017 Experian State of Credit Report found that Millennials hold an average of 2.5 credit cards, while older generations hold from 3.0-3.5 cards on average. They also carry a lower average balance of $4,315, compared to $7,750 for Generation X, $7,550 for Baby Boomers, and $4,613 for the Silent Generation. A new survey suggests that Millennial caution is warranted. The recent TD Bank Consumer Spending Index uncovered several unhealthy Millennial credit habits. No... from MoneyTips https://ift.

MoneyTips It may seem strange to you even to think of freezing your child's credit. Has your son or daughter gone on a credit binge at your local toy store or candy store? Why would your child even have credit in the first place? Your child probably doesn't have credit, but he or she does have a Social Security Number (SSN) – which is a tempting target for identity thieves. The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reports that children are over fifty times more likely than adults are to have their identity stolen. A child's SSN is a blank slate for thieves to use in creating a false identity. Since you are unlikely even to check for any credit in your child's name, the theft may go unnoticed for years, causing significant and long-lasting damage. This type of identity theft may not be discovered until your child prepares to leave for college or the working world, only to find that he or she can't qualify for financial aid, loans, or any form of credit. Look f

MoneyTips Chances are that if you have student loans, you need every bit of extra cash that you can get. Did you realize that your student loans might be able to generate some cash for you? Under certain circumstances, you may be able to save on your tax bill by deducting the interest that you pay on your student loan. The total deduction from your taxable income could be as much as $2,500. As a final bonus, you do not have to itemize to claim this deduction. To be eligible for the deduction, your loan must meet certain qualifications. It must have been made to cover qualified education expenses as defined in IRS Publication 970 , including tuition, fees, and most room and board charges. The loan cannot have come from a relative or via a qualified employer plan, and the e... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2ug7rIR

MoneyTips Equifax... Uber... Target... Under Armour.... The list of data hacks keeps growing and growing, increasing the odds that someone will steal your identity. Last year, this digital epidemic affected 14.4 million Americans. But the more you know, the better you can protect yourself. We conducted an exclusive MoneyTips Google survey in 2018 to see how much people knew about identity theft and the credit bureaus. Do you know all the answers? We asked people if they knew which data hack was the largest. A whopping 9 out of 10 didn't know or chose incorrectly. Reader, care to guess, before we reveal the answer? Using weighted averages, more than half of us (50.9%) admitted that they had no idea which hack was the worst of the century. More than 1 in 3 (34.4%) guessed the from MoneyTips https://www.moneytips.com/what-we-do-not-know-about-identity-theft-can-hurt-us/786

MoneyTips Medical identity theft is an increasing concern for Americans. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, 27.9% of 2018 data breaches as of mid-June are in the Medical/Healthcare category, exposing almost 3 million records – second only to business data breaches. Why is medical identity theft so desirable to thieves? Not only does it allow access to medical services and prescription drugs in your name, the medical/insurance billing systems are so confusing that you may not realize your identity has been stolen until a bill you were unaware of has been turned over to collections. Fortunately, you can take some steps to protect your medical identity. Check Medical Records – Except for a few circumstances, you have the right to a copy of your medical records. Have a copy of your records on hand in case you need them to register from MoneyTips https://www.moneytips.com/protect-yourself-from-medical-identity-theft

MoneyTips How long have you been searching for your new home? The latest Housing Trends Report from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) suggests that you've been looking for a while and may be getting frustrated in the process. You may be coming down with the homebuyer's blues. Potential homebuyers are being squeezed in multiple directions. The supply of affordable homes remains tight while home prices are rising. According to CoreLogic, home prices in December 2018 rose by 4.7% above the previous year, outpacing wage gains. Over the same time period, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows real (inflation-adjusted) wages only increased by 1.2%. Add the threat of future interest rate hikes, and it's easy to see why potential homebuyers are frustrated. The Housing Trends Report reflects that growing frustration. Approximately 72% of NAHB survey respondents expect their home search to get harder in the coming year, compared to 65% who felt that way last y

MoneyTips MoneyTips published an article explaining that Equifax has yet to be punished for the data breach that compromised the personal data of more than 147 million Americans. We wanted to know if the credit bureau should be punished... and if so, how? "The enormity of the Equifax data breach cannot be overstated," says Professor Steve Weisman, who teaches White Collar Crime at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. "As many as 148 million people now have the threat of identity theft looming over them for the rest of their lives." In an exclusive MoneyTips survey conducted in 2018, we asked: Nearly 9 in 10 (89.8%) of the 1,132 respondents of the Google survey believe that

MoneyTips Have you missed enough credit card payments that your creditor has contacted you about your debt? If so, you aren't alone. According to survey results from the February 2019 PYMNTS.com Financial Invisibles Report , almost two in five (36.3%) respondents had been contacted by a creditor regarding an outstanding debt. How did many of them resolve the situation? More credit. In the middle of 2018, the use of credit cards to pay off outstanding debts jumped substantially – from 44.6% in the second quarter to 61.8% in the third quarter. By shuffling outstanding debt toward credit cards, consumers are using up more of their available credit – potentially dropping credit scores in the process and increasing the chances of higher interest charges and missed payments. If you couldn't pay off your debts in full this month, what's... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2JdCcsr

MoneyTips Have you missed enough credit card payments that your creditor has contacted you about your debt? If so, you aren't alone. According to survey results from the February 2019 PYMNTS.com Financial Invisibles Report , almost two in five (36.3%) respondents had been contacted by a creditor regarding an outstanding debt. How did many of them resolve the situation? More credit. In the middle of 2018, the use of credit cards to pay off outstanding debts jumped substantially – from 44.6% in the second quarter to 61.8% in the third quarter. By shuffling outstanding debt toward credit cards, consumers are using up more of their available credit – potentially dropping credit scores in the process and increasing the chances of higher interest charges and missed payments. If you couldn't pay off your debts in full this month, what's... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2JdCcsr

MoneyTips Have you missed enough credit card payments that your creditor has contacted you about your debt? If so, you aren't alone. According to survey results from the February 2019 PYMNTS.com Financial Invisibles Report , almost two in five (36.3%) respondents had been contacted by a creditor regarding an outstanding debt. How did many of them resolve the situation? More credit. In the middle of 2018, the use of credit cards to pay off outstanding debts jumped substantially – from 44.6% in the second quarter to 61.8% in the third quarter. By shuffling outstanding debt toward credit cards, consumers are using up more of their available credit – potentially dropping credit scores in the process and increasing the chances of higher interest charges and missed payments. If you couldn't pay off your debts in full this month, what's... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2JdCcsr

MoneyTips If you need money and have bad credit, payday loans may seem like your only option. Payday loans are inherently risky – and expected payday loan regulation changes have been delayed, keeping the risk relatively high. Payday loans are relatively small loans (often $500 or less) that are paid back in a short period of time (usually two weeks), along with interest and any loan service fees. Because of their small size, people tend to forget that the annual percentage rate (APR) of payday loans averages around 400%. For reference, the average credit card interest rate is approximately 17.5%. The trap of payday loans comes when you have trouble repaying the loan on time. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) , 20%... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2TGpEid

MoneyTips No More Collegiate Debt Could the next drag on America's economy come from student loans?According to StudentLoanHero.com, America's student loan debt burden hit $1.56 trillion – more than any other kind of household debt except for mortgages. Student loans are one of the most pervasive debts. The Department of Education offers assistance programs, but participants who don't exactly follow loan servicer instructions can rack up unanticipated interest charges or lose debt forgiveness. If you fall behind with payments, you're stuck dealing with debt collectors – because student loans generally can't be discharged in bankruptcy. Help for current and future students may come from Congress, thanks to the recently proposed Debt-Free College Act. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), aims to improve state funding for public universities through federal incentives. The proposed bill would set up federal matching dollars for state spending program

MoneyTips Identity theft is rampant, with an estimated $14.7 billion stolen from Americans last year alone. Nevertheless, we don't trust that the credit bureaus who hold all our personal data can protect our identities. An exclusive MoneyTips survey reveals that we trust President Trump a lot more than the Equifax CEO or Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg with protecting our identity. Respondents also trusted the President's nemesis former FBI Director James Comey more than the heads of Equifax or Facebook. And whom do we trust the most to protect our identity? Oprah Winfrey! Says Professor Steve Weisman, who teaches White Collar Crime at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, "It is not surprising that President Trump receives higher grades regarding protecting us from identity theft than the Equifax CEO and Mark Zuckerberg because both Equifax and Zuckerberg, at least until now, have shown little interest in protecting the identities of people having credit rep...

MoneyTips Do you know who's lurking over your shoulder? They might be trying to get a peek at your financial information. What is Shoulder Surfing? Shoulder surfing is when a would-be thief spies over your shoulder while you're using your financial data. They're not just nosy – they're trying to get a peak, so they can steal your details for their own purposes. Shoulder surfing can happen any time that your financial information could be visible or audible to others. Here are some common scenarios that are golden opportunities for shoulder surfers: Keying in your PIN at the ATM or a bank teller Using your debit or credit card and PIN to pay for a point-of-sale transaction in a store Paying for gas at the pump Signing into a banking app or website using a debit or credit card number or a username and password on a mobile de... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2TLjJHC

MoneyTips Tax liens are claims made on your property by a government entity for failure to pay your taxes. A lien doesn't mean your property will be seized – it just means that the agency applying the lien has the first right to your property compared to other creditors. A tax lien on your credit report can drop your credit score and raise red flags with potential creditors. Tax agencies don't report unpaid tax bills to credit reporting agencies, but tax liens are public records – and until recently, they were part of the public records that could be scanned by credit reporting agencies and included on your credit report as negative items (along with bankruptcies and civil judgments). Worse, tax liens can appear on your credit report for up to ten years after the lien has been fully paid and released – complete with an officially issued document verifying that the taxing agency no longer has a claim on your property. In 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bur... f

MoneyTips According to the New York Fed's latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, America's student loan debt burden has reached a staggering $1.44 trillion as of September 2018. Has that burden kept younger Americans from buying homes? A new Federal Reserve study suggests that educational debt isn't the primary reason for the homeownership decline, but it does play a role. America's total homeownership percentage fell from 69% to 65% between 2005 and 2014, but homeownership for the age group 24-32 fell from 45% to 36% during the same period. Meanwhile, college debt per capita increased from $5,000 to $10,000 in the same time frame – a debt more likely to affect the age group in question. Are the two trends related? Fed economists set up probability models to estimate the effect of increased debt on homeownership rates during the study period. According to the models, student loan debt was responsible for 1.8 percentage points out of the 8.8% total .

MoneyTips According to the New York Fed's latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, America's student loan debt burden has reached a staggering $1.44 trillion as of September 2018. Has that burden kept younger Americans from buying homes? A new Federal Reserve study suggests that educational debt isn't the primary reason for the homeownership decline, but it does play a role. America's total homeownership percentage fell from 69% to 65% between 2005 and 2014, but homeownership for the age group 24-32 fell from 45% to 36% during the same period. Meanwhile, college debt per capita increased from $5,000 to $10,000 in the same time frame – a debt more likely to affect the age group in question. Are the two trends related? Fed economists set up probability models to estimate the effect of increased debt on homeownership rates during the study period. According to the models, student loan debt was responsible for 1.8 percentage points out of the 8.8% total .

MoneyTips Are you worried about someone stealing your identity and trashing your credit? Watch the video above to learn how to thwart identity thieves, with five tips from our very own Professor MoneyTips, Jeff Hoyt. Protect your credit – protect your identity – protect yourself with a free MoneyTips trial . Advertising Disclosure from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2Ukj50R

MoneyTips Your credit score is a valuable asset that must be maintained and protected. Unfortunately, there are ways that other people can negatively affect your credit score – either inadvertently or with bad intent. Protect your credit information by carefully monitoring these five potential paths to a reduced credit score. 1. Joint Accounts – Joint checking accounts can backfire if one partner abuses the account. Overdraft fees and other penalties can affect your credit score even if the other partner is responsible. If you decide to cancel a joint account, be sure all parties are involved in the cancellation. You may still be responsible if one party leaves the account open but abandoned with unpaid fees and penalties. Risks of joint accounts go beyond credit considerations, since one partner may clean out the... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2NM74Ps

MoneyTips Another Try at Credit Bureau Regulation What happens when you discover false information on your credit report? Whether you're dealing with the aftereffects of identity theft and fraudulent accounts or a simple clerical error, prepare for a long and unpleasant battle. Even simple errors can be hard to fix, and consequences can be severe. According to a recent report by the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), approximately 42 million Americans have errors in their credit report – and, for almost one-quarter of those Americans, those mistakes result in being denied credit or paying more for the privilege. After the 2017 Equifax data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 150 million consumers, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced the Comprehensive Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act (CCCRRA) to hold credit reporting ... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2GZ0ggA

MoneyTips Gone are the days of having to call a 1-800 number to interact with customer service teams. With the rise of social media, support is often available around the clock. If you've ever called out a company on social media for bad service, you know they can be quick to respond. Don't be in a rush to dive in and hand over your details – a relatively new scam called “angler phishing” targets social media users by impersonating legitimate support accounts. You could be at risk. What Exactly is Angler Phishing? Picture this: your bank just bounced a check they shouldn't have, and now your insurance company is claiming you missed a payment . Understandably, you're steamed. You tag your bank in a scathing social media post about the terrible service. Next thing you know, the bank's support account responds inviting you to click a link to chat with them directly to resolve the... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2EOH17d

MoneyTips By Amy Beardsley When it comes to student debt, more than half of borrowers are struggling to make their payments. Refinancing your student loan is an excellent option to lower your monthly bill or to pay less interest over the life of your loan. Even though refinancing could make student loan debt more manageable, the latest survey by Student Loan Planner found that 85% of borrowers are afraid to refinance their student loans. Why do borrowers fear refinancing when it could save them thousands of dollars? According to the survey , half of borrowers didn't know you can refinance more than once and 65% of respondents haven't refinanced their student loan at all. Two-thirds of respondents can't name more than two refinancing companies, while almost half (40%) of borrowers who did refinance shopped at only one place. </... from MoneyTips https://ift.tt/2UgZKgW

MoneyTips Be honest: How often do you review your credit report? Some sources suggest that the majority of Americans check it once per year or less. If you ask us, that's a problem. Why? Because unexciting though it may be, your credit report contains valuable information. If you're an unknowing victim of identity theft, there would almost certainly be red flags on your credit report. When it comes to identity theft, the sooner you take action, the better. If you identify it in the early stages, you have a chance of minimizing the potentially disastrous impact. So, nothing exciting is a good thing to find on your credit report! You could see your credit report and your credit score for free before finishing this article by from MoneyTips https://www.moneytips.com/how-to-spot-identity-theft-on-your-credit-report