Timely Warning - Credit Cards & Universal Default

reply to post by apc

That sounded good until I started to do some research.
And, even before, I figured you can do some monitoring yourself.

As an alternative to spending your hard-earned money on identity theft protection insurance, take steps to prevent being a victim. Protect your social security number. Pay bills online instead of having them mailed to you. Shred documents that contain personal information. Opt out of credit card offers to reduce the chance that an offer could be stolen from your mailbox or trash and used to set up an account without your knowledge (call 888-5-OPTOUT).

Instead of paying for credit monitoring, do the monitoring yourself by ordering copies of your credit report from all three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) several times a year, and review them carefully. There can be signficant differences between your reports at the three bureaus, depending on which bureau each of your creditors report to.

financialplan.about.com...

www.marketwatch.com...[5E6AFEEF-DA3A-436E-BF0B-BA3D8255680D]
www.bankrate.com...

Yup true identity theft insurance providers aren't doing anything you can't do yourself. What you're really paying for is someone to do the sometimes hundreds of hours of repair needed after your identity has been stolen.

It's just like car insurance. You're paying to pass the risk of loss off to someone else. Mine is $6 a month. Having personally seen people waste months cleaning up their credit all because they threw away a statement, and people freaking out because they shopped at TJ Max, I see it as a deal at twice the price.

< /remove saleshat>

Just wondering if anyone is experiencing any problems with Universal Default? I know things are getting difficult for some of you in the States?

Is universal default affecting anyone? Is is still timely?

I read this today and found it interesting. More should be done to protect the consumers from this type of USURY!

The Federal Reserve will soon unveil a broader plan to protect consumers from abusive credit card practices than a proposal it issued last year, a Fed official told lawmakers on Thursday.

The Fed's new plan, which it hopes to finalise by December, would restrict retroactive rate increases and other fees that consumer groups and lawmakers have criticised as exorbitant.

In February, US House of Representatives Democrats introduced a Bill to stop arbitrary interest rate increases, penalties for consumers who pay only a portion of their balances on time, and excessive fees charged by credit card issuers.

Sandra Braunstein, director of consumer affairs at the Fed, acknowledged that a Fed proposal last June did not go far enough to help consumers. That plan would have required plain-English disclosures by credit card issuers to help consumers understand fees and rates.

"Careful measures that would restrict credit card terms or practices may, in some instances, be more effective than disclosure to prevent particular consumer injuries," Ms Braunstein told a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing.

www.timesofmalta.com...

Debt is modern slavery.

The Fed's new plan, which it hopes to finalise by December, would restrict retroactive rate increases and other fees that consumer groups and lawmakers have criticised as exorbitant.

www.timesofmalta.com...


This needs to be watched closely, to see that this restriction is implemented.

Debt is modern slavery.