We keep saying not to befriend strangers on Facebook or to actively devulge your SSN. We keep saying to not put your information out there for all to see.  Identity thieves don’t discriminate in age guys. This video is a prime example. There is now talk not of insurance premiums going up for avid users of social media sites. The risk of identity theft is significantly higher and thus the risk of having to covering the losses is higher for your insurance company. Don’t be negligent.

1. Never post your home address or other personal information such as your home phone number on social networking sites

2. Don’t follow people you don’t know on social networks and use block others from seeing your profile if you don’t know them

3. Turn off location-based services on Twitter and Facebook unless you absolutely need to use them

What did the undercover cops with “Operation Smoking Gun” find? Well, there were 302 firearms; 6,035 prescription pills; 4 kilos of cocaine; 7,762 ecstasy pills; 5 kilos of marijuana; $5,000 in counterfeit cash; and this: more than 300 names related to stolen identities.

We cannot stress this enough: When you hand your credit card or debit card over to someone, anyone, DON’T LET IT OUT OF SIGHT.  If the clerk needs to go take care of something do not be afraid to ask him/her to leave the card. Keep track of your account activity. If you go out to eat, use cash.

Federal authorities have found rooms in Miami with names, bank account info, and credit card machines. Identity theft cases jumped up 12 percent last year to 11 million adults. I don’t know when people are going to start realizing the threat. At this juncture, with all the factors in play, it’s time to start being paranoid.

When you leave a balance on a credit card you end up paying 15% on what you leave every month. If you had a balance of $450 on there and paid off a min of $100, then you’d be giving that company $50 of your money every month. That is too things. 1) Stupid. 2) Good Business. Just because this practice is a social norm and is the way it has been, doesn’t mean you need to indulge in it! It’s financially irresponsible. You want a card? Fine. But pay that sucker off every month.

Financial Institutions don’t automatically know best. Exhibit A would be the banks giving out of all the sub-prime loans and derivatives that helped in the housing market collapse. The Fed issued them the money. The banks then gave ‘em out and then on the back end, broke them up and sold off the little bits to other institutions. Everyone was making money. It was fantastic. And then the party ended and we’ve been left with the repercussions. The same slippery slope can be applied to credit card debt. I’m not saying credit cards are evil, but if you have a need for one, use it responsibly. Remember its debt (absence of money) and not money. The absolute biggest myth about these things is that you need to carry a balance to build credit.

Here’s the breakdown. The great lies in the 700+ range. Then there’s the good. That one ranges from 699 to 680. The okay is in the 679 to 620 range. You aren’t going to be denied here, but the terms could get a little hairy. 619 to 580 makes you a bank brokers new best friend. This is the start of the bad. Here they are gonna kill you with expensive loans and get fat off hefty commissions. This still isn’t the ugly. The ugly starts at 579 and goes to 500. This means your credit reeks. If they offer you a loan here chances are you shouldn’t take it anyway. It will kill you in the long run. Then there’s the 499 and below. Here you may as well put a brown paper bag on your head with eye holes. No financial institution will look at you or your jaded score.

The credit score is prepared by taking into consideration payment history (35% of the rating); length of credit history (15%); new credit (10%); types of credit used (10%); and debt (30%). Income is never taken into account. A credit score isn’t the same thing as a credit report. The report is a detailed snapshot of your credit history used to show potential lenders the type of creditor you are. The information shown there is used to assign you that number: the credit score.

There are three main nationwide consumer credit reporting companies:

• Equifax: 1-877-576-5734; www.alerts.equifax.com
• Experian: 1-888-397-3742; www.experian.com/fraud
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com

You are entitled to one free report from each every 12 months under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. They can be requested all at once or spread out over the year. You can request your free report online, by phone or by mail. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or fill out the Annual Credit Report Request form and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. It just goes to show, consumers are only as smart as advertisers allow us to be. There are organizations in this country that make millions off a service consumers can get for free. God bless America. Why? Well, it’s because research is too complicated and tedious and advertising is too expensive for the government to indulge in. Or maybe it’s because these companies generate money that the government then get a chunk of on the back end in taxes.

Hope this has been informative and will save a couple of you out there some change. I’m still going to enjoy those commercials though.