Credit reports to be accessible to the blind

The nation's major credit reporting companies will make on-line credit reports accessible to blind people's audio software under an agreement announced Wednesday.

The program, scheduled to take effect by the end of the year, was negotiated by the American Council of the Blind, its California affiliate and the three largest credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

The companies now make credit reports available on a single Web site, Under the agreement, at a blind customer's request, his or her credit report will carry a code that will enable the customer's computer to read the report aloud.

Other provisions require the reports to be available in large print or in Braille.

Lucy Greco, a specialist in assistive technology for the disabled, was one of three blind individuals taking part in the case, along with the advocacy organizations. She said the agreement would allow her to examine her credit report without sharing the information with others.

"I'm so fed up in my life with having to get someone to read things to me," Greco said, noting that such dependence also makes the blind vulnerable to fraud. "Now I can go online, get my credit report and read it ... and I can do it independently, and other people can do the same thing."

Melanie Brunson, executive director of the American Council of the Blind, said the agreement "will help people with visual impairments fight identity theft by independently monitoring and reviewing their credit reports."

In a separate case, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that the Social Security Administration must accommodate the needs of blind recipients of benefits when announcing decisions that affect them.

Under the Social Security Act, the agency sends certified letters, makes follow-up phone calls, or takes other steps to communicate decisions to those who are receiving benefits solely because of their blindness, but does not accommodate visually impaired people who get Social Security because of their age or other reasons.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the agency is also covered by an anti-discrimination law that requires the federal government to provide access to disabled people in all federally funded programs, including audio recordings, Braille and other aids for the blind.

Alsup gave the Social Security Administration the option of adopting regulations on visual aids or allowing the changes to be determined in further proceedings in a suit filed by the American Council of the Blind and eight individuals.

news source : http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/23/BU7U10APAC.DTL

LendingTree sues mortgage firms over security breach

LendingTree on Monday told customers that their sensitive information was leaked in a security breach and that it has sued three lending companies as a result.

Several former employees of LendingTree are believed to have taken company passwords and given them to a handful of lenders who then accessed LendingTree customer data files, the company said.

The data includes customer names, Social Security numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and income and employment information, but not credit card information, LendingTree said in an e-mail to customers and on a frequently-asked-questions page on its Web site.

The outside lenders are believed to have accessed LendingTree customer loan request forms between October 2006 and early 2008. The lenders then tried to market loans to the customers, LendingTree says.

LendingTree's internal security uncovered the security breach and the company quickly reported it to authorities and made several security system changes. A LendingTree spokeswoman declined to say exactly when the breach occurred, when it was discovered, or how many customers were affected.

"We have no reason to believe any identity theft or fraudulent financial activity resulted from this situation," the FAQ says. "You still might want to get a free credit report and file a fraud alert with the credit bureaus. When you get your credit report, look for any accounts you didn't open and/or inquiries from creditors that you didn't initiate."

The e-mail to customers also advises that they have the right to obtain a police report and may also request a security freeze on their credit report file.

As a result of the breach, LendingTree has sued three California lenders: Newport Lending Group and Sage Credit Company, both of Irvine, and Home Loan Consultants of Newport Beach. None of the firms immediately returned calls seeking comment.

LendingTree could also face lawsuits from its customers, as well as sanctions from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, particularly given the potential for identity theft, according to Brian Cleary, vice president of marketing at Aveksa, an enterprise security governance software company.

"Organizations have an obligation to protect sensitive customer information like this," Cleary said. More than half of the data breaches these days are due to insiders leaking the information, he added.

news source : http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9926007-7.html?tag=nefd.top

Strategies: Spring-clean your finances

You've filed your taxes, right? Or at least you've filed for an extension and somehow came up with the money to pay the government. Now, while the memory is still fresh of how painful — and time-consuming — it was to get your financial information and cash together, let's talk about how you can avoid these problems next year and sleep better all year round.

Few things in business are more stressful than not being able to pay your bills. Let's be clear, even if you're profitable, you can be in financial trouble due to poor money management. My first client as a management consultant was a floral company that was profitable. Nevertheless, the company had terrible credit and often couldn't pay bills. Eventually the partners threw in the towel.

On the other hand, you can fail to make a profit — especially if yours is a growing business — and still have good credit, excellent relations with vendors and meet your financial obligations. It's all about how you manage your money, not just how much money you have.

So let's spring-clean your financial systems. A few simple steps and you'll be on your way to an excellent credit rating, a great relationship with a bank, and a good night's sleep:

•Pay bills on time every month. Notice I did not say, "Pay your bills in full every month." I know that's not necessarily realistic. I juggled credit card payments for many years when I started my business. But every month, every creditor got paid at least the minimum amount — on time. To make sure this happens, set up systems such as automatic bill payments, particularly for key accounts.

•Send out your invoices on time every month. The last thing on many entrepreneurs' "To Do" list is to send out bills to clients or customers. But when you bill clients late, it encourages them to pay you late. Improve your cash flow by sending out your invoices immediately when someone incurs a debt, and certainly no less frequently than monthly.

•Take your banker to lunch. Yes, I know, the banker should be taking you to lunch — let him pick up the check. It's important to have a good relationship with a business banker who can learn about your industry and business and understand your ups and downs. Don't have a banker? Time to get one. Establish a line of credit to access money if times get tough or opportunities arise.

•Get a free credit report. Your credit history is crucial. Most small businesses — and all new businesses — get credit based on the owner's credit-worthiness. Lenders check credit scores whether you're applying for a line of credit, loan, credit card, mortgage, equipment loan, even a lease.

You're entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies. But there's only one place to get free reports, regardless of all the commercials you hear — www.AnnualCreditReport.com. At least once a year, check your credit reports so you can clear up any inaccuracies and keep your credit clean.

•Go after overdue accounts, especially big ones. If you've provided goods or services, you deserve to be paid. You can't afford to be in the lending business. Every month, spend time collecting any overdue bills.

•Limit the amount of credit you give to large corporations. Recent news reports indicate that there's likely to be a rash of big business bankruptcies. Having gone through a major partner's bankruptcy last year, I know how incredibly disrupting — potentially disastrous — a big company's bankruptcy can be. Never allow yourself to be in a position where a big corporation's debt to you can put you under.

•Get a simple accounting software program. A computerized bookkeeping program may seem like a bit more work when you're entering data in, but when you want to get information out (like at tax time), it's a must. The other day, with a few keystrokes, we charted our academic sales by month for the last few years, so we can forecast when we're likely to have shortages.

Believe me, a few simple steps now to get your money management systems in order can make next April a whole lot more pleasant.

news source : http://www.usatoday.com/money/

Consumers gain credit report protection

South Carolina became the 40th state to offer consumers some protection for their financial information this week when Gov. Mark Sanford signed an identity theft bill into law.

“We may be one of the last, but we have one of the best laws anywhere,” said state Rep. Kristopher R. Crawford, R-Florence. “We’re going to be as well or better protected as anyone in the U.S.”

Nineteen people become victims of identity theft every minute in the United States, according to Consumers Union.

The state’s new law allows consumers to place a freeze on their credit reports at no cost, and to remove or temporarily lift it as needed, so potential thieves don’t have access to that data.

“We are one of only two states where citizens don’t have to pay to freeze their credit reports — us and Indiana — and that is the heart of the deal because people need to be able to do it,” Crawford said.

Consumers can begin freezing their credit reports Jan. 1.


The law is a good step forward, especially for vulnerable senior citizens on fixed incomes who frequently fall prey to identity thieves, said Teresa Arnold, legislative director for AARP South Carolina, which fought for the legislation.

“People now have their own tool, and it’s a very strong tool,” she said. “And they don’t have to pay for it.”

Some states require fees as high as $10 for each of the three credit reporting agencies to freeze consumers’ reports and similar fees to remove those freezes, she said.

Among other provisions, the law also gives consumers the power to have inaccurate information removed from their credit reports, and to be notified when their security has been breached. It also provides protection for Social Security numbers by regulating how they can be posted or communicated.

Crawford, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the law also empowers consumers to take legal action in state court against companies that fail to remove erroneous information from their credit reports.

Up to now, federal court has been the only recourse, he said, and that’s not a possibility for many people.

Sen. Dave Thomas of Greenville, sponsor of the original bill, said passage of this law is just the beginning. Legislators will look at other possible protections in the coming months, he said.

news source : http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/NEWS01/80404004/1001/NEWS01

No Fail-Safe Identity Protection

Plenty of products promise to help consumers avoid identity theft, but none of them is foolproof.

If a product claims to prevent identity theft, don't believe it, says Linda Foley, founder of the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego, Calif. "You can't protect a person from identity theft. It's impossible. All we can do is minimize our risk."

And, while these products can reduce your likelihood of becoming a victim, many employ methods that consumers can use on their own, for free.

Fraud Alerts

Many products offer to place fraud alerts on consumers' credit reports, so when a retailer or creditor checks your report in response to a request for a new credit card or financing for that plasma television, the fraud alert tells them to double-check that the person seeking credit is you. Ideally, the creditor delays extending credit until reaching you.

But alerts "are not the silver bullet that people are looking for," says Guillaume Deybach, chief executive of Europ Assistance USA, a Washington, D.C.-based firm offering travel aid and identity-theft assistance.

Drawback: Alerts focus only on thieves opening new credit lines in your name, not the use of existing accounts. Also, some retailers don't check credit reports before extending credit and those that do don't always try to reach you -- they may just ask the thief some easy-to-answer questions. Still, alerts increase the chance you'll be contacted if someone applies for credit in your name.

Consumers can call or go online to each of the three credit-reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) to place a fraud alert for free. You can do it yourself by phone, says Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Generally, fraud alerts expire after 90 days. If you don't want to bother remembering to renew alerts, several companies, such as LifeLock, sell the service of placing alerts for you, for about $10 a month, or bundled into pricier packages that include other services.

Credit Freeze

Alternatively, you can use a credit freeze to lock up your report at each of the three bureaus, preventing new credit being extended in your name. This won't affect access to current credit lines, but will delay your access to new credit (it takes about three days to lift a freeze). Freezes aren't advised for people in precarious financial positions who might need to borrow money in a hurry, but a credit freeze is a powerful way to stop thieves.

Drawback: Freezes don't stop thieves from tapping existing credit or bank accounts, nor do they address other identity theft, such as when a thief provides your name as his identity when pulled over for a traffic violation.

Consumers can freeze their reports by calling each of the three agencies. It generally costs $10 to place a freeze ($30 to freeze all three major reports) and $10 to lift each freeze; these costs are sometimes waived. For more details, visit financialprivacynow.org. Or, you can pay for a product that includes a credit freeze, such as offered by TrustedID and others.

news source : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120682574890374707.html?mod=googlenews_wsj