Acti-Bitch

2006-09-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

On a lighter note

For something a little more light hearted.... There is a new website where you can actually upload a photo of your gluteus maximus to send to our beloved commander in chief. The website owner is hoping for 1000 pics of American booty to send as a framed gift for our President. The message, Kiss My Ass, George.

Personally, I consider many Democrats to be cowards because they did not fight a lot of the scandal and Republican baloney in the first place. Maybe someone should start a website to send them photos of male genitalia and, as some feminists would argue, x-rays of female ovaries. That way, they could see what mature gonads look like.

It is a thought.

2006-09-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

How to deal with checking account Identity Theft. (Actually, this is a post about what we did when US Bank did not want to help.)

First call your local police department and file a police report.

Then, file a fraud alert with ChexSystems. They have an online affidavit that a consumer can fill out to report identity theft and fraud.

Then, contact TeleCheck. The link will lead you to a page containing a PDF form to fill out and mail to the companies Texas address. You will need adobe acrobat installed to obtain this form.

We are still in the process of trying to contact Scan, Crosscheck, and International Check Services. We will update this blog as soon as we find the appropriate information.

In addition, try to find out if the accounts listed with your social security number are interest bearing accounts. If so, you may need to contact the IRS. Unfortunately for us, the nutballs at US Bank refuses to tell us anything about the account accept the amount of money they feel they are owed.

Checking account fraud is a very interesting situation because this type of activity does not show up on credit reports. So, even if you are vigilant and check them often (as we do), you will never know that someone has commandeered your personal information to open a checking account (unless they screw up and you cannot open an account on your own).

Now, knowing that someone is using your social security number (or other personal information) is frightening indeed. If that person has the nerve to open a checking account, then there is a good chance that they could begin to acquire credit using your personal information. For that reason, it is a good idea to contact the three credit reporting agencies and have them issue a fraud alert.

Experian allows you to request a fraud alert online or by telephone, Trans Union and Equifax require that you call.

Experian (TRW) 1-888-397-3742 TDD 1-800-255-0056
Equifax 1-800-525-6285 TDD 1-800-255-0056
TransUnion 1-800-888-4213 TDD 1-877-553-7803

Now, I noticed that these companies will try to sell you a service to review your own personal information every month or so for inaccuracies. But what I will tell you next should make you decline their offer.

Credit reports are tracked by both Social Security Numbers and names. So, if someone is using your SSN# as their own, their credit history is kept separate from yours. Now, that does not mean that the fraudulent activity is hidden, by all means no. It is hidden from you, the consumer, not from the lenders that access the reports. The fraudulent activity does not show up on the reports that we pay for, only the reports that businesses acquire. In this way, the fraud does impact our credit ratings, our auto insurance rates, our employment prospects and many other things: but we will probably never know why our credit ratings are so low and our auto insurance is so high.

We are getting shafted by the big three credit reporting companies!

Buying credit monitoring services will do little good until we can access the same reports that the lenders get to see.

Have you noticed that many of the so-called data breaches involve companies in the banking industry? It is also banks, like US Bank, that fail to conduct their due diligence prior to opening up accounts. In this crime, the victims are stuck holding the bag. I guess the banking industry has to create a need (identity theft) in order to sell their products (credit monitoring). It is nothing more than a money grab.

By the way, do not forget that you are entitled to a free credit report each and every year at AnnualCreditReport.com (1-877-322-8228).

My husband and I are so irritated that we are considering a credit freeze. It is possible that some slimeball can get credit or open a bank account with our Social Security Numbers. With a credit freeze, I can at least fight any future incidences of identity theft with a simple statement: ' a freeze was in place on my [our] credit history prior to the existence of this line of credit. This debt is not mine [ours].' If a bank or credit card company is stupid enough to grant credit while a being unable to check my credit, they will be stuck with their debt.

Blessings,

Halieh S.

P.S. If anything I have written makes you want to take action or search for more information feel free to use the links below.

Click here to find and write to your Representative.
Click here to find and write to your Senator.

Identity Theft Websites:

2006-09-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

Social Security Numbers are too easy to obtain online

Fresh from our ordeal concerning US Bank and the fraudulent account set up with my husbands social security number, I decided to move on and begin something new.

I began to fill out the paperwork that would allow me to start a business in a new city. Of course, they want my social security number on the business application that will surely become part of the public record. A representative with the tax department gently explained that they needed my social security number just in case I owed money in an audit. This makes sense to me.

I asked who had to share this information and was told nearly everyone who did not have a tax license number: sole proprietors, entrepreneurs and officers at national corporations that do business with the city. I found that latest tidbit to be a bit interesting - US Bank is a national corporation.

I was told that cities tend to store the data on encrypted employee databases where few could access the information without several passwords. In my city, few was defined as about 100 people. So, hypothetically speaking, if one is an officer for a national company or bank that does business in hundreds of cities across the United States there is the possibility that his or her social security number could be seen by countless people he or she has never met.

That is a scary thought, is it not?

What is scarier to me is that US Bank does not confirm social security numbers with names prior to opening checking accounts. Do these people not realize that this practice exposes countless consumers to possible identity theft? Sadly, the corporate officials themselves are not immune.

It gets worse. In my curiosity, I wanted to see how easy it is to obtain social security numbers online. I searched and found several websites claiming to sell anyone's social security number for less than $50.00!! Only one website wanted proof that the customer had a right to such private information, just one! All I need to obtain someones social security number is a name (there are several on the US Bank corporate website) and a past or current home address(easily found online for free).

I'm even more scared now. Identity theft can happen to anyone!

Lucky for them, I'm an honest cheapskate: $600.00 would be too much money to spend for the privilege of sending a letter to every US Bank officer in order to illustrate how easy social security numbers are to obtain and to express the need to verify names with social security numbers prior to opening accounts. I really want the Big Kahunas at the helm of US Bank, especially CEO Jerry Grundhofer, to investigate the matter further. They should do it for their own sake and the well-being of their consumers.

Mr. Grundhofer, ask whoever fills out your business applications to find out how many cities request your personal information for their database. Try to find out, for your own sake, how many cities allow their employees access to your private information. Maybe then you will understand how easy it is to become a victim of an identity thief and a lazy banking institution.

Mr. Grundhofer, mandate that your banks confirm names with social security numbers. If it is your policy to confirm this information, then make sure your employees actually do this. I spoke to two branch managers who refuse to match social security numbers with names because they do not have to do it!

It would surely be poetic justice if one of US Banks least brilliant employees opened up a fraudulent account for a thief using a Bank Officers Social Security Number! Honestly, I would not want anybody to go through the garbage that US Bank has put my husband through this week. Freezing your credit, not being able to open a checking account, and fighting with abusive bank representatives really is not a lot of fun: although I am sure bank employees would be nice to a bank officer once they realized who signed their paychecks.

Prevention is the answer, Grundhofer and Company! Do something...you are at risk, I am at risk and anyone reading this post is at risk so long as you allow people to open checking accounts without verifying that the Social Security Number belongs to the person associated with the accounts.

If it is true what we were told by one of your Branch Managers, that all other banks open accounts without verifying Social Security Numbers, you can improve your shakey image in the eyes of consumers by being an industry leader with regard to ID Theft.

Think about it! Do Something! Be a leader, not a follower!

And, by all means, keep yourself and everyone else safe from ID theft.

I read that Mr. Jerry Grundhofer will be retiring his post soon.

I hope he leaves Richard Davis with a bank that has a much better reputation than it has right now.

Carpe Diem, Mr. Grundhofer, Carpe Diem!

Make the change or it will be made for you when the voice of consumer demand raises far above your own! You can take the credit for the changes or be swept away by them.

It is really your choice.

If you want to help light a fire in the chair of Mr. Grundhofer, or have your own US Bank horror story to tell, send a letter to:

Jerry A. Grundhofer

U.S. Bancorp

225 S. Sixth Street

Minneapolis, MN 55402

One letter will not do very much, but many will. Letters are like drops of rain in a bucket: they add up and the results soon become visible (and if they do nothing while the rain pours in - they will drown after awhile).

If you want to take the matter further, visit the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Administrator of National Banks to learn how to file a complaint about your issue. Filing a complaint with the FTC is another good idea.

Consider sharing your story with the US Bank complaint sites listed in my previous post. It may even be a good idea to contact your local Attorney Generals Office as well.

Blessings to you,

Halieh S.

P.S.

2006-09-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

US Bank practices put Everyone at risk of identity theft!

While trying to open a checking account with our local credit union, my husband learned that someone had opened a checking account with US Bank using his social security number but another name.

US Bank had closed the account due to account abuse and reported the debt to Chex Systems. Since our bank uses Chex Systems, we were denied the account.

We called the fraud help line and they were little help. When I called to ask for a number and address to a local branch so that we could send an affidavit of identity theft, the US Bank representative rudely told me that she did not have to speak to me because my social security number was not compromised. I only wanted general information so that I could solve the problem. I wanted to be sure to send the correct documents to the correct address, not acquire sensitive information about the potential perpetrator. The conversation went nowhere.

Finally, my husband called a local US Bank and was transferred to the Branch Manager. He asked him how this could possibly happen and whether or not they actually compare social security numbers with names. The Branch Manager stated that US Bank does not ask to see a persons social security card unless that number has a history of account abuse. They do not check to see if the name and social security numbers match. The way we understand it is that the account is opened even if a bank official notices that the social security number and name do not match.

When asked if he would consider changing the policy regarding unmatched names and numbers. The Branch Manager stated that his institution would not change the rules unless forced to do so by federal law. This man is a genius!

This US Bank employee laughingly told us to go ahead and tell the world about their practices because nothing will change until the law changes. Maybe he's right.

If the idea of someone using your social security number to open a bank account scares you as much as it does me, then I implore you to utilize this bankers idea and contact your federal representative. Tell him or her to make it illegal for a bank to open a checking account for anyone whose social security number does not match the name on their I.D. Card, as in doing so they are being accomplices in identity theft. Ask your representative to impose financial penalties on those banks that refuse to protect consumers and open up fraudulent accounts without conductingdue diligencee. Ask him or her to force banks to compensate individuals who become victims of identity theft due to their negligence in creating accounts.

I have done business with several banks: to my knowledge, each and every one of them verified my social security number. Our local phone company did as well. I do not understand why a national bank cannot do their part to prevent loss and identity theft.

This needs to change, now.

Click here to find and write to your Representative.
Click here to find and write to your Senator.

Visit the following websites to learn more about US Bank's poor customer service track record:

US Bank Complaints
US Bank: Five Star Fraud
Rip-Off Report (search terms US Bank, USBank and USBankCorp)
Planet Feedback (search US Bank)
if you write a report on this website, the offending company gets a copy.
Yahoo Group: UsBank_complaints

Some websites that offer some positive, but mostly negative, customer service critiques:

Epinions: US Bank
RateItAll.com

Speaking out is the first step to changing the system.

Blessings to you,

Halieh S.