AP9 Articles

Privacy Matters Identity Explains the Effects of Business Credit Cards on Personal Credit Reports

Privacy Matters Identity (SM), a leading security and privacy membership program from Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, encourages its members and all consumers alike to closely monitor their use and payment of business credit cards. Why? Because business credit card charges can affect a person's credit score. However, the effect those charges have will depend on the individual -- more specifically, on how that person chooses to handle the company's credit card.

As with anything related to someone's credit history, business credit card activity can affect a person's chances for getting a mortgage -- since any activity on a credit report can affect one's credit score and financial prospects. So, to avoid undue credit problems, there are a few things to do, according to Privacy Matters Identity:

-- Ensure the company takes responsibility for business credit card payments. Since a credit score is determined by a combination of all credit activity, it is in the best interests of employees to make sure the employer is not late with credit card payments that bear their name. If this situation is a concern, employees have the right to tell the employer that they want to use a personal credit card to cover all business expenses (which is also a great way to earn frequent flyer miles or "points" on rewards programs offered by credit card companies). Most -- if not all -- companies will allow this option, which makes the individual employee solely responsible for all credit debt, notes PM Identity.

-- Think before saying yes. Many companies will ask their employees to apply for business credit cards directly, to check their credit worthiness. Oftentimes, when the application is approved, the company will simply assume payment responsibilities from there. This can help build a strong business relationship, but applying for the card (at the company's request) does produce an inquiry on the employee's credit report, and it could one day affect their credit score.

-- Keep a low balance. Just as it is with any personal credit cards, carrying a very high credit balance on a business credit card is not a good thing. The three main credit bureaus, TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, usually look at the ratio of the actual charges to the specified credit limit. A good rule of thumb is to keep credit card balances below 50% of the credit limit amount.

-- Protect personal credit reports and credit scores. In cases where the company mandates that employees use their own names on a business credit card, individual employees may want to consider opening additional cards in their names, complete with high maximum limits. This way, charges can be spread across several other cards, which can better protect the employee's credit score and overall credit history. It's better to charge less than 30% of the maximum credit limit on multiple cards, as opposed to charging a higher percentage to just one card.

PM Identity provides members with a comprehensive picture and interactive tools to assess, monitor, and safeguard their personal and private information. Managing, monitoring and protecting personal information are just some of the advantages of a membership in Privacy Matters Identity.

PMIdentity Advises Consumers to be Their Own 'Travel Security Agents'

You can be a victim of identity theft while traveling. No, there's no need to store away your luggage and stay home for good, but it's wise to learn how to avoid identity theft while enjoying the next trip. PMIdentity, a leading security and privacy membership program from Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, wants consumers to be wary travelers and become their own "travel security agents."

Be cognizant. Be prepared. These are the rules to live by when traveling. Identity thieves and scammers could be around anytime, anywhere, and most of the time, they get what they're looking for from people who are just too oblivious to know about them or their schemes. As a public service, PM Identity offers tips for travelers to keep in mind before, during and after their time away from home:

Before:

-- Make copies of documents such as birth certificates, passports (if traveling abroad), credit cards and travel itinerary. Bring one copy along, and give another one to a trusted friend or relative who can be contacted in case of emergency.

-- Let the bank and credit card issuers know about the upcoming trip, so they don't freeze the accounts once they notice the unusual foreign transactions.

-- Get traveler's checks and some cash to bring along.

-- Store checkbooks along with other sensitive information in a safe deposit box, and request a mail hold through the US Post Office.

-- Clean out your purse and wallet of unnecessary cards or other forms of ID.

During:

-- Keep a watchful eye over your personal effects at all times: at the airport, during check-in, at the beach, etc. Place your belongings in an overhead compartment on the opposite side of the aisle, so you always have it in sight while in the air.

-- Use travel accessories such as money belts, security travel bags or purses and money clips.

-- Avoid using public computers for transactions when sensitive information is required. You can never be sure if the Internet connection is a safe one, and in some cases scammers could have placed devices to store all the information you enter, including e-mail passwords.

-- Use the hotel's safe to store extra cash, credit cards, traveler's checks, the copies you brought with you and other personal effects.

-- Be careful about what you say in public or the kind of personal information you share with perfect strangers, even if they seem nice and welcoming. After:

-- Retrieve all your mail and subscriptions from the Post Office.

-- Check your bank and credit cards accounts, and trace back all the activity with the receipts you kept from the trip.

-- Check your credit report and score to see if any changes have happened in the last few days. Keep monitoring both the report and the score in the following months.

No matter where you visit, your identity should come back home intact. It's a matter of knowing how to protect it at all times with easy tips and valuable resources, such as the ones offered by PMIdentity.

Privacy Matters Identity Warns, A Wallet Holds a lot More than Money

Privacy Matters Identity (SM), a leading security and privacy membership program from Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, knows that a lost wallet can mean instant panic. And those first few seconds of helplessness — followed by everything from self-deprecation to worry, even to anger — are perfectly normal. Still, if it happens, consumers need to have a recovery plan in place.

In today’s world, it’s just too easy for personal information to fall into the wrong hands, notes PMIdentity. So, first and foremost, make sure to stash away all important account numbers elsewhere, separate from that wallet or purse — especially your Social Security number. Just in case someone else has the chance to go on a no-holds-barred shopping spree or clean out a personal bank account with no reprisals.

Sure, it’s inconvenient to have to deal with the loss of critical and personal items — not to mention cash — but no one else will do the legwork. So if that trusty billfold or favorite hand bag should suddenly goes missing, PMIdentity recommends creating some semblance of the following “Lost Wallet” recovery plan:

-- Practice the three “Cs.” Easier said than done, but this is a good time to try to be cool, calm and collected. Count to 10, and think about retracing those steps to the last time the wallet was accounted for. Anyone can freak out or punch a hole in a wall in a fit of rage. Dare to be different, and breathe deeply instead.

-- Dial for dials. Don’t give up “the hunt” right away, but don’t dally either. If there’s sensitive and personal information in that wallet, anyone who can read can use it for personal gain. Keep those phone skills sharp, think about canceling all the credit and charge cards, and get replacement account numbers. A lost wallet will mean some extra time on the phone, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

-- Sound the alarm. So once those account numbers have been canceled through the individual credit companies, call up the major credit reporting agencies, and ask them to flag accounts with a “fraud alert.” In case the cards have already been used by someone else, adding a “victim’s statement” to the account history will build in added protection.

-- Meanwhile, back on the busy phones … Once all the financials have been handled, get on the phone with everybody else — utility companies, the bank and the phone company — just in case someone out there feels like becoming an identity thief might be an interesting career move.

So before panic takes over, reconstruct the situation. Maybe that missing wallet is in another pair of pants or in the glove compartment of the car. If not, play it safe and get ready to borrow a tip or two from IK9 Privacy Matters Identity.

Privacy Matters Identity Urges Consumers to Safeguard Their Identity While Job-Hunting

When posting a resume online, a job-seeker has mostly one thing in mind: finding the ideal job. What many don’t even consider is the risk they are under when all of their personal information is circulating in cyberspace. Privacy Matters Identity (SM), a leading security and privacy membership program from Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, prompts its members and all consumers to be very cautious while looking for a job online.

A job-seeker might want his or her resume to be viewed by as many potential employers as possible, and in most cases, people focus on the resume itself: verbiage, experience and overall look. But the possibility that scammers and identity thieves might have access to the same information is something most people don’t even think about. The truth is that they are out there, phishing for all the information they can gather.

The first step for people who want to guard their privacy while job-hunting is to carefully study the privacy practices of the job sites, then choose the ones that seem to have the best practices and controls while providing appropriate exposure to interested employers. In addition to this important tip, PMIdentity.com also recommends that job-hunters:

-- Be picky. Investigate every site, examine all of its features, and ask other people about it before posting the resume. There are “bogus” job sites, with long forms to fill out and no real jobs available, that were created only to collect personal information. Also, when contacted via phone or e-mail about a job, be sure to avoid sharing personal information such as Social Security numbers, your mother’s maiden name or any banking information.

-- Limit the contact information. Some sites hide all personal information and only contact the job-seeker through e-mail once there’s an interested employer. Other sites limit the contact information on the resume to initials and e-mail address. This should be enough to reach you and initiate the contact.

-- Control access to complete resume. Most job sites get their income from advertisers and employers willing to pay a fee to look for potential candidates. This fee is a first filter for scammers, but it’s not enough. When available, choose the “semi-private” option, through which employers can see the full resume, except for the contact information. If any of them are interested, the site e-mails the applicant about the opportunity and passes along the employer’s information.

-- Create a specific e-mail address. Home or business e-mail addresses should be removed from online resumes, especially if the job site doesn’t allow resume posters to hide information. Instead, create a disposable address on any of the free e-mail portals, one that can be cancelled after landing the new job or when it starts getting full of spam.

-- Omit references. Other people may find this information and use it for illegal purposes. Even if such references have given their consent, there’s no need to post their information online. Their names and information can be given to the company once they have initiated a formal interview process.

PMIdentity.com provides members with continuous access to their credit report and scores at the click of a button. Managing, monitoring and protecting personal credit information are just some of the advantages of a membership in Privacy Matters Identity.

Privacy Matters Identity Advises Consumers to Safeguard Their Financial Information from Thieves

Protecting your financial information is a critical factor in preventing identity theft, reports Privacy Matters Identity (SM), a leading security membership program offered by Adaptive Marketing LLC^®, but too often, consumers fail to take even the smallest precautions. Unfortunately, these oversights can wind up costing them significant amounts of time and money to restore their identities.

A 2006 survey released by the Council of Better Business Bureaus and Javelin Strategy & Research noted that 63% of potential acts of identity fraud could be avoided through heightened consumer awareness. Meanwhile, an “Identity Theft: The Aftermath 2006” survey conducted by the Identity Theft Resource Center® (ITRC) noted that the average fraud victim spent $1,884 in out-of-pocket expenses in 2006 to combat the effects of identity fraud on existing accounts and $1,342 in out-of-pocket expenses for newly opened fraudulent accounts. The ITRC survey also noted that the average victim needed 97 hours to resolve problems with existing accounts and 231 hours — nearly six full work weeks — to repair the damage created by newly opened fraudulent accounts.

Clearly, the best way to deal with identity theft is to avoid it altogether, but that requires an understanding of what the biggest risks are and how to protect against them. As a public service, Privacy Matters Identity offers a few valuable tips on safeguarding financial information:

-- Lock up the mail. Regular mail, whether it’s an incoming offer for a new credit card or an outgoing bill being paid with a signed check, can contain enough information for an identity thief to set up a new identity, and ID thieves love to rummage through other people’s mail. The safest way to send and receive mail is through a locked mailbox or the local post office. Vacationers should be sure to have the post office hold their mail rather than allowing it to accumulate in the mailbox or on the front stoop.

-- Shred “actionable” materials. It’s not enough to just throw away credit card receipts, credit card offers and other papers that contain personal data, warns PMIdentity.com. ID thieves are happy to engage in “dumpster diving,” i.e., wading through garbage for information and offers that can be used to establish false identities. It’s therefore critical to put any documents that contain identifying information through a paper shredder before hauling them out to the garbage cans.

-- Ignore unsolicited, unfamiliar e-mails and web links. Identity thieves who use “spam” to target their victims count on curiosity, urgency and ignorance. E-mails that promise readers something that sounds too good to be true are usually just that — too good to be true. NEVER supply personal information — bank or credit card account numbers, Social Security numbers and more — in response to an unsolicited e-mail or e-mail link. People who receive “urgent” e-mails that appear to come from their banks or credit card issuers should respond by calling or showing up at the financial institution to investigate the matter further.

-- Protect passwords. Online transactions, including banking, shopping and more, continue to rise, as do attempts by hackers and other cyber-thieves to find ways to tap into that “market.” To protect their financial information, consumers need to develop online passwords that can’t be guessed or deciphered. That means eliminating passwords that rely on family names and birthdays — or any other words or phrases that can be easily associated with someone. Fortunately, there are password manager programs available today that can help consumers manage and access their passwords with a high degree of confidence.

-- Store financial documents safely. This may seem like an obvious tip, but too many consumers throw their credit card receipts into their shopping bags rather than storing them in their wallets or purses. Once the shopping bag is thrown out, so is the receipt, and all it takes is one enterprising dumpster diver to create a whole new identity. The point is that anything and everything that contains identifying information about an account and/or the account holder should be considered a “financial document” and should be protected as diligently as, say, a credit or ATM card.

The good news is that, these days, identity theft is no longer a crime that flies under the radar. As consumers take greater notice of the risks, they can also take a variety of commonsense steps to safeguard their financial information, notes Privacy Matters Identity.