CONSUMER INFORMATION
How To Keep Your Personal Information Secure Protecting your personal information can help reduce your risk of identity theft. There are four main ways to do it: know who you share information with; store and dispose of your personal information securely, especially your Social Security number; ask questions before deciding to share your personal information; and maintain appropriate security on your computers and other electronic devices. Read More.... CONSUMER INFORMATION
Electronic Banking Errors You have 60 days from the date a periodic statement containing a problem or error was sent to you to notify your financial institution. The best way to protect yourself if an error occurs is to notify the financial institution by certified letter. Ask for a return receipt so you can prove that the institution got your letter. Keep a copy of the letter for your records. Under federal law, the institution has no obligation to conduct an investigation if you miss the 60-day deadline. Once you've notified the financial institution about an error on your statement, it has 10 business days to investigate. The institution must tell you the results of its investigation within three business days after completing it, and must correct an error within one business day after determining that the error has occurred. An institution usually is permitted to take more time — up to 45 days — to complete the investigation, but only if the money in dispute is returned to your account and you're notified promptly of the credit. At the end of the investigation, if no error has been found, the institution may take the money back if it sends you a written explanation. An error also may occur in connection with a point-of-sale purchase with a debit card. For example, an oil company might give you a debit card that lets you pay for gas directly from your bank account. Or you may have a debit card that can be used for a various types of retail purchases. These purchases will appear on your bank statement. In case of an error on your account, however, you should contact the card issuer (for example, the oil company or bank) at the address or phone number provided by the company for errors. Once you've notified the company about the error, it has 10 business days to investigate and tell you the results. In this situation, it may take up to 90 days to complete an investigation, if the money in dispute is returned to your account and you're notified promptly of the credit. If no error is found at the end of the investigation, the institution may take back the money if it sends you a written explanation. Read More about your rights.... How Google Knows When Your Bills Are Due
By J. D. BIERSDORFER NOV. 28, 2016 Q. This week my smartphone received an alert from Google listing the balances due on my credit cards. My response was “never” do it again, but I have to wonder about my personal financial/identity security. How did they get this information? Is it legal? A. Many credit card and utility companies send payment reminders by email that include details like the name on the account, the payment amount and the due date. What is probably happening here is that Google is automatically scanning your Gmail messages for notices about package deliveries, flight times, restaurant invitations, and yes — bill reminders — and using the information in smartphone alerts for its Google Now/Google Assistant software. If you don’t want to see your bills or other types of personal information in your Google feed, you can make adjustments to the app’s settings. Credit The New York Times Read More...... LOS ANGELES TIMES
By David Lazarus As the Black Friday shopping spree spilled over into Cyber Monday, the FBI warned consumers to watch out for “increasingly aggressive and creative scams” that will make your holidays considerably less merry and bright. That’s not exactly a news flash, of course. If there’s money being spent, it’s a sure thing that scammers will be hunting for a piece of the action. Read More..... PALMBEACHPOST.COM - 10/31/16
Paying bills is a tedious necessity, and for many, it’s also an ongoing source of stress. According to the 8th annual Billing Household Study from Fiserv, a financial services provider, 35% of consumers paid at least one bill late in the past 12 months, and 65% also paid a late fee. So, why are these people struggling to meet their billing deadlines? Common reasons include forgetfulness, lack of funds and personal life obligations. If any of these reasons sound familiar, it might be a good idea to consider how your billing due dates factor into the equation. These are five ways requesting a timeline shift from your providers could could really benefit you. Read More...... WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Charlie Wells Our relationship to money changes as we get older. So do the mistakes that we make with it.Every new stage of life brings new financial strategies we need to follow. And at every stage we find new ways not to follow those strategies, costing ourselves money and jeopardizing our security. What’s more, economic and demographic changes ensure that those mistakes aren’t static, so that the mistakes of the current generations aren’t the same missteps that their predecessors struggled to avoid. Read More..... THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency sent formal letters to banks earlier this month The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency earlier this month sent formal letters to large and regional banks seeking information about sales practices and incentive-compensation structures following the Wells Fargo & Co. scandal, people familiar with the requests said. The OCC sent letters to banks under its supervision including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., these people said. The requests followed earlier, informal questions about those practices. Read More... DETROIT FREE PRESS -
“Decisions about Social Security give people fits, which isn't surprising. It's a complex program. People must make long-term decisions without knowing how the future will unfold. Plus, the Social Security Administration doesn't always explain the rules clearly and consistently. No wonder many Americans struggle with questions such as when to start taking retirement benefits — as early as age 62 or as late as 70? Those are some of the issues raised by a recent Government Accountability Office report. The watchdog agency reviewed Social Security pamphlets, sat in on meetings with the public and assessed studies and surveys. Many Americans, the GAO concluded, still make uninformed decisions about Social Security. Here are some common mistakes the report referenced.” NPR.org -
“This month federal regulators fined Wells Fargo $185 million for opening checking and credit card accounts on behalf of customers who had no idea that was happening. The bank has promised to try to make restitution. But that's a lot harder than it sounds. A big question is how to compensate people whose credit scores were hurt by what the bank did. Regulators say that over a five-year period some 2 million credit card and deposit accounts were opened that may not have been authorized by the bank's customers. And though no one knows for sure, it's almost certain that the accounts had a big impact on customers' credit scores.” Read the full article. CNN Money -
Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) confirmed on Thursday data "associated with at least 500 million user accounts" have been stolen in what may be one of the largest cybersecurity breaches ever. The company said it believes a "state-sponsored actor" was behind the data breach, meaning an individual acting on behalf of a government. The breach is said to have occurred in late 2014. Read more. |
Page Maintained by: Jennifer Shulman
Jennifer is committed to helping her clients as well as other folks improve their daily financial circumstances by providing simple financial solutions. Archives
November 2018
Categories
All
|