"Identity Theft" Can Leave A College Student With Alot of Books But No Where To Go"
HOW PREPARED ARE YOU AND YOUR 2009 H.S. GRADUATE FOR THE PERILS OF COLLEGE LIFE THIS COMING FALL?
Approximately 3.5 million high school graduates will be college-bound for the upcoming 2009/2010 school year.
These graduates will be facing a different economic climate. Some have or will experience numerous challenges or road-blocks that previous graduates haven’t encountered because the rules have been changed.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 400,000 children under eighteen are "Victims of Identity Theft" every year. Over eighty percent of these children find out they are victims when they apply for a student loan and are denied. Others find out when they apply for a drivers license or try to rent an off-campus apartment and credit reports show delin-quent accounts on utilities and/or cell phone accounts.
Now is the time to check your children’s credit reports to make sure they are clear, not in August. Your college-bound children (17-23) are not exempt from this crime. In fact, their use of debit cards (average charges are less than $10) makes them a prime target for "Identity Thieves" (Skimming). The largest rule change affecting college students in history was the "Credit Card Reform Act of 2009"(signed by President Obama, 5/22/09) (See link on page 2). However, the new law is not effective until February 2010. Parents, expect the credit card companies to flood your college-bound children with solicitations between now and February 2010, before the law changes. We all know what they did with our interest rates and credit limits this past spring. Do not let your college student leave home this fall without a cross-cut shredder for their dorm room.
They could end up like these two students, plenty of books, but no place to use them because someone stole their debit/credit card which was used for paying their tuition this fall. Use this one simple rule for debit/credit cards. NEVER LET IT LEAVE YOUR HAND.
Obama Signs Credit Card Reform Law
We're celebrating, and so should you! After a nearly two-year battle, President Obama just signed into law credit card reform -- and it's all because of you! Your donations, emails, phone calls and personal stories convinced Congress to pass the most significant credit card reforms on the banks in nearly 30 years. We took on the big banks -- and won! Learn what the credit card reforms mean to your wallet, and give yourself a giant pat on the back. Thank you for being part of the consumer movement -- we have real power when we join together (Source: Consumer Union). Specialthanks to all who joined in this fight across America this past year.WE WON FOR YOU!
(Courtsey of Consumer Union) Here is some of the highlights provided by Consumer Union regarding the new "Credit Card Reform Act of 2009".
Puts most reforms in place earlier, by February 2010 rather than the original July 2010 implementation date
Prohibits interest rate hikes during the first year of your contract, and restricts rate hikes on purchases you already made
Any payment you make above the minimum goes to balances with the highest interest first -- helping to more quickly pay down debt
Gives you 45-day notice for rate increases on future purchases. If your rate increases, ensures that you have adequate time to pay off the balance at the old rate
Low teaser rates have to remain the same for six months
Limits fees and penalty interest
Gift cards can’t expire for the first five years
Restricts aggressive marketing of credit to college students
ID THEFT CONSUMER ALERT BOX
National Re-Launch For "Childrens Identity Theft Protection Security Act of 2009".
We originally launched this national proposal in July 2008. However, with the financial crisis occurring in September 2008 on Wall Street and in Washington D.C., we postponed the national push for this legislation. We will be requesting the help of "Consumer Union" and other "Child Protection Organizations" in America to get this federal law passed this year. You can go to this link to learn more about this proposal :CHILDREN ID THEFT.
NATIONAL FREEZE LAW UPDATES
As of November 1st, 2007, you can now "Freeze Your Consumer Credit Bureau Files" in all fifty states. However, all state laws are not treated equally. To learn what your state freeze laws are, go to this link provided by Consumer Union:
SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE "2006 IDENTITY THEFT REPORT" (Source: Federal Trade Commission and Synovate, dated November 2007). According to this report, 74% of all ID Theft Victims DID NOT CONTACT POLICE. Of the remaining 26% who reported the crime to police, 19% of that group had NO REPORT taken by the police.
To make matters worse, relatively few "Victims of Identity Theft" took advantage of the fraud alert system or the "Consumer Credit Freeze Law" provisions of their respective states. Approximately 7.0% placed fraud alerts and 7.0% froze their credit files.
To all the consumers that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on "Credit Monitoring Services" over the past three or four years, the next statistic will be troublesome. Only 11.0% of "How Victims Discovered ID Theft", was discovered by these credit monitoring services. According to Consumer Union and other consumer advocate professionals, credit monitoring is not an effective deterrent against stopping "Identity Theft" involving your three national credit bureau agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) reporting systems. By the time you are notified by the credit monitoring services, the "Identity Thieves" have already did their damage. Furthermore, "Fraud Alerts" (Good for 90 days only, must be renewed) does not stop predatory lenders and creditors from granting credit in your name, especially when there is a high commission for them, once the loan is approved.
The only way to stop "Identity Thieves" from accessing your credit files is to "FREEZE YOUR CREDIT FILES".
Please join Consumer Union and our organizations national efforts in passing a "Federal ID Theft Freeze Law" that is uniform across all fifty states. We want it to be low cost to freeze ($5 or less), low cost to unfreeze (Free), mandated "Temporary Quick Thaw Provisions Via Telephone" (15 minutes), and mandated "Creditor Specific Provision" (i.e., Sprint PCS Only) to make it easier for all American Consumers to protect themselves from "Identity Theft".
STOP ID THEFT (Consumer Union)
ATTENTION TO ALL TEXAS CONSUMERS
Updates to our new web pages, Texas Freeze Law and How To Freeze Credit Files have been updated. Our Tx Freeze Law Seminars Page will have tentative schedules for the Dallas/Ft. Worth area after the Christmas holidays.
In case you missed it, our organization was featured September 07, 2007, in the Fort Worth Star Telegram Business Section. The news story, entitled "A New Safeguard Against Identity Theft" written by Teresa McUsic (The Savvy Consumer) highlighted the fact that Texas is the first state in the country to make the "Fast Thaw" feature available to all of its consumers. This news story was also featured on the"ValueYourMoney.Org"web site (see "Credit Report Freeze") which is sponsored by the Texas Society of Public Certified Public Accountants,www.tscpa.org.
If you are a "Victim of Identity Theft", please go to our "Solutions Page" and contact the various agencies that pertain to your theft.
We will be hosting the New Texas Freeze Law Awareness Seminars/Workshops, throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth/Arlington Metroplex during 2009.
If your city or civic organization would like to host these awareness seminars and workshops please contact us at the E-Mail provided below. If you are located outside of the Dallas/Ft Worth area and you would like our organization to conduct these awareness seminars and workshops for your area, please contact us at:
To make these seminars available to as many Texas residents outside of the DFW area as possible, we will schedule these seminars only on Friday evening (2 Sessions) and on Saturday (See Seminar Schedule Page) from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Thank you.
WELCOME TO OUR WEB SITE
Our web site has been developed for both victims and non-victims of "Identity Theft".
If you are a "Victim of Full Blown Identity Theft" (SSN, drivers license number, mother's maiden name, birthdate, etc.), the chances of being a repeat victim is quite high. This information is worth tens of thousands of dollars to "Identity Thieves", so they will sell your data to others. One of our victims social security number was used by thirty-four different people in over twenty different states.
Everyone is selling ID Theft Prevention and Credit Monitoring Services (Fees: $150 - $200 or more per year) based upon your fear of being a victim or becoming a victim. Or you could hire a private investigator or an attorney to recover your "Identity" for a fee ($1,000 - $3,000 or more). They will offer no guarantee that it won't happen again. Usually, most victims end up with credit reports, police reports, and a list of contact numbers from the various state and federal agencies. Most end up with thinner wallets and are still left fighting the theft on their own. You will also find that as a "Victim of Identity Theft", most creditor's treat you like the "Thief", rather than the "Victim".
Our organization offers "Identity Theft Restoration Services (Fee Based)", and "Identity Theft Victim Workshops (Free to Victims)" for "Victims of Identity Theft". We also host "Identity Theft Awareness and Prevention Seminars (Fee Based)" for both victims and non-victims.
We need your support by registering and attending our seminar's. Just ask any of the two-thousand plus victims our organization has helped over the past three years, what price they would have paid to keep from becoming a "Victim of Identity Theft". Awareness is the key to "Fighting Back" against "Identity Theft", not prevention.
Identity Theft Victims Support Group of North America is a subsidiary of Wilson Unlimited Partners, LLC which has been providing quality service in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas Metroplex since 1999.
OUR MISSION GOAL
Our goal is to become the Number One Provider of Identity Theft Education in the United States. We will provide the latest updates for protecting consumers and the small and mid-size business owners of America from, "IDENTITY THEFT, AMERICA'S NEW EPIDEMIC".
We will bring problem solving solutions for all victims of "Identity Theft" and teach you how to "FIGHT BACK AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT" (Federal Trade Commission Slogan), the nations No. One (1) White-Collar Crime wave.
"Identity Theft" is often called the "Silent Thief" by "ID Theft Victims". Most victims never see or hear the thief at work. By the time you are aware of the damage, it is too late. "Identity Theft" is not just an attack on the "American Family", but an attack on the financial security and safety of the United States.
According to Fraud Resources Group (2005), Jon Rockwall, Author of "The Identity Theft Handbook", one out of every four American families are affected by "Identity Theft".
North Texas Only -Organization Activiates "Identity Theft Victims Support Group of North Texas. "If you are a "Victim of Identity Theft" and you live in the North Texas area, we will be hosting these support group meetings throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Metroplex. These meetings are for "VICTIMS ONLY".
So, if you are a "Victim of Identity Theft" residing in North Texas, help is on the way. According to the Federal Trade Commission 2005 data, the Dallas/Ft. Worth/Arlington Metroplex (4th) area now has surpassed Los Angeles (5th) in the number of "ID Theft Victims" per 100,000 population (see top ten city chart at bottom of home page).
1. If you have and use a social security card, driver's license, identity card (for under 16 years of age or non-driver's), credit card, debit card, bank card, ATM Card, checkbook or savings accounts, you have the risk of becoming a "Victim of Identity Theft".
2. Your children between birth and 18 years old (The Silent Giant of Identity Theft), can have their SSN stolen and used for 16/17 years (Driving and Working Age) before anyone really starts using it. You Ask How? This statement comes from the Social Security Administration Web Site: "It is a good idea to get the number when your child is born. You can apply for a Social Security number for your baby when you apply for your baby's birth certificate. The state agency that issues birth certificates will share your child's information with us. We will mail the Social Security card to you. To protect our childrens "Identity", Congress needs to pass legislation to have the three national credit bureaus set up accounts from birth. These accounts would be frozen automatically until their fourteenth (14th) birthday. Current proof of identity requirements used by the three national credit bureaus for children under fourteen (14) will be used to "Lift the Freeze". Freeze will be automatically removed on the anniversary of the child's eighteenth birthday (Legal Age of Consent).
3. "Identity Thieves" go through the "Obituary Announcements" of thousands of newspapers daily to see who died. They try to obtain any and all applicable financial data of the deceased to use later. Another form of "Identity Theft" of the deceased is called "Ghosting". Ghosting is a form of identity theft in which someone steals the identity, and sometimes even the role within society, of a specific dead person (the “ghost”) who is not widely known to be deceased. Usually, the person who steals this identity (the “ghoster”) is roughly the same age that the ghost would have been if still alive, so that any documents citing the birthdate of the ghost will not be conspicuously incorrect if appropriated by the thief now claiming to be that person.
4. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse; from February 15, 2005 (Choice Point, 145,000 records) to September 23, 2006 (Erianger Health Systems, 4,150 current and former employees), the total number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in security breaches are 93,754,333 Million. When is Congress going to realize that we, as a nation, has a problem with "Identity Theft"? Until the American Consumer has the necessary tools to "Fight Back" on a daily basis, the dollar cost to the nation and the number of victims and families destroyed by "Identity Theft" will continue to escalate.
DISCLAIMER
Identity Theft Victims Support Group of North America, Identity Theft Victims Support Group of North Texas, Identity Theft Victims U.S. and any other affiliation to these organizations are registered companies within the State of Texas, and are subsidiaries of Wilson Unlimited Partners, a Limited Liability Company, also registered within the State of Texas.
Wilson Unlimited Partners, LLC and its current and all future subsidiaries has never been affiliated with any organization that operates under the names of Pre-Paid Legal, LifeLock, TrustedID, IDGuard and any "Other ID Theft Services" that offer credit monitoring services or a service to prevent "Identity Theft" for a fee to their clients either on a monthly or yearly basis.
Wilson Unlimited Partners, LLC and its subsidiaries were organized and designed to help business owners and consumers obtain business, and/or financial education and discuss ways to make owning and operating a successful small or mid-size business a reality. Identity Theft was added to our business organization in 2003 to combat the growing threat of the nations No. One (1) White Collar Crime Epidemic, "Identity Theft". This has effected both business owners and consumers, and our organization is dedicated in solving this problem. We have affiliations and/or are procurring affliations with major national business and consumer organizations. Any and all fee schedules are disclosed on our two webs sites:
