Tidbits® - February 2007

Credit insight from Credit.com

Welcome to the Credit.com newsletter!

This free newsletter delivers easy-to-read tidbits about credit directly from personal finance experts. In this issue, we're focusing on National Consumer Protection Week. We'd love to hear from you! Send an email to tidbits@credit.com with your credit questions or comments anytime!

Quick Tip

Consumers without traditional credit cards or bank accounts often turn to pre-paid debit cards for the convenience of credit cards without the risks or the application hurdles. However, many of these cards come with expensive fees and requirements that can sometimes outweigh the benefits.

Credit.com's drop-down menus make it easy to compare pre-paid debit card fees. One of the least expensive cards we’ve found is the All-Access Pre-paid Visa - http://www.credit.com/r/tidbits_all_access

10 Fraud Prevention Tips

It’s National Consumer Protection Week! Each year, the Federal Trade Commission joins with government and consumer groups to promote fraud prevention. Identity theft, phone fraud, phishing,
Nigerian 419 scams, and other consumer rip-offs are all included under the theme: “Read Up and Reach Out: Be an Informed Consumer.”

We’re participating in National Consumer Protection Week again this year! Visit Credit.com and our blog, CreditBloggers.com, for more information all week long. In the meantime, here are ten easy things you can to do protect yourself from fraud:

  1. Put a shredder in your kitchen. A recent Staples study found
    that most junk mail ends up in the kitchen trash, not in the
    office. Make sure that all your credit card statements and
    other sensitive mail are shredded before being thrown away.
  2. Don’t pay money to get money. The most common scams right
    now involve asking consumers to wire money in order to
    supposedly get a larger amount in return. Credit.com posted a
    warning about one of these scams surrouding loan offers a few
    months ago:
    http://credit.com/r/tidbits_scam
  3. Opt-out of pre-approved offers. Call 888-5-OPT-OUT or go
    online to OptOutPrescreen.com to dramatically reduce the number
    of credit card offers you receive in the mail. For any you do
    receive, shred them immediately.
  4. Check your credit reports regularly. It bears repeating;
    it’s a crucial step to guard against identity theft. Order your
    free annual reports at www.annualcreditreport.com or sign up
    for a monitoring program that scans your credit data automatically:
    http://www.credit.com/r/credit_report_monitoring
  5. Help relatives check their credit, too. Children and the
    elderly are often targeted for scams. You can check your children’s
    credit reports by contacting the credit bureaus’ fraud offices.
    And you can lend your internet expertise to help elderly relatives
    check their credit data online.
  6. Know thy scams. Become aware of frequent fraud offenses. For
    a quick cheat sheet on the top ten scams of 2006, visit:
    http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/12/top_ten_scams.html
  7. Protect your home computer. Install security software to foil
    identity thieves against high-tech viruses and spyware.
  8. Audit your information. Check your desk at work, home office,
    and online accounts for potential security risks. Data stored in
    emails and unlocked files could be exposing you to fraudsters.
    Try to reset your online passwords regularly.
  9. Investigate online. If something seems suspicious to you, see
    if you can find some information about the company or offer
    online before deciding to proceed. Reliable companies should have
    plenty of records online and should be easy to contact in person.
  10. Report close calls. The FTC tracks consumer fraud complaints
    and uses this database to assist law enforcement around the
    world. If you are contacted by a fraudster, add your report to
    this library of data.

Do you have a fraud question? Or a story of your own fraud
encounter to share? Send an email to our credit experts at
tidbits@credit.com! You can learn more about National Consumer
Protection Week on the Federal Trade Commission website:
http://www.consumer.gov/ncpw/

Ask John

Inquiries can damage your credit score significantly. Why does
this happen and what can you do to protect your score? Our credit
scoring guru, John Ulzheimer, shares his tips for understanding
and managing inquiries in this month's Ask John feature.

Read About Inquiries -
http://www.credit.com/r/tidbits_vol17

On the Blog

We're talking about frauds and scams online for National
Consumer Protection Week. Check in to read true stories from
fraud victims, detailed scam profiles, expert tips and
interactive poll results.

Read More About National Consumer Protection Week -
http://www.creditbloggers.com

Quote of the Month

“The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat oneself."
- Philip James Bailey

Tidbits® - February 2007

About this newsletter
This information has been compiled and provided by Credit.com as a service to the public. While our goal is to provide information that will help consumers to manage their credit and debt, this information should not be considered legal advice. Such advice must be specific to the various circumstances of each person's situation, and the general information provided on these pages should not be used as a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel.

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