Premier Consumer

Category: Credit Management

An introduction about fundamental issues about credit.

  • What is identity theft?

    What is identity theft?

    El robo de identidad es un delito, que ocurre cuando una persona utiliza la información personal de otra para cometer un fraude, de ahí la importancia de proteger el número de seguro social o número de la tarjeta de crédito, claves de acceso o cualquier información relacionada a su nombre personal.

    ¿Qué sucede cuando ha sido victima de robo de identidad?

      • Hacen compras con su tarjeta de crédito o débito.
      • Pueden alquilar inmuebles a su nombre.
      • Pueden abrir cuentas a su nombre.
      • Pueden solicitar créditos por altas sumas de dinero bajo su nombre.
      • Alguien más puede recibir un tratamiento médico que estaba destinado para usted.
    Es común que la victima se entere que su identidad ha sido robada cuando es demasiado tarde, frecuentemente, recibe una llamada de un cobrador por una deuda que desconoce o simplemente por un reporte crediticio negativo.

    Los robos de identidad han crecido de una forma acelerada, con frecuencia se comenten fraudes a través de nuevas estrategias que están usando los delincuentes para hurtar los datos personales. Estos fraudes traen como consecuencia el daño del buen nombre, del historial crediticio, la pérdida de tiempo al tratar de solucionar los daños y hasta altas sumas de dinero.

    Una de las consecuencias de la pandemia fue el incremento de robos de identidad, la Comisión Federal de Comercio de los Estados Unidos recibió 1.4 millones de denuncias por robo de identidad en año 2020.

    ¿Cuáles son los medios más comunes que usan los delincuentes para robar su identidad?

    Con frecuencia surgen nuevas tendencias gracias a la agilidad de los delincuentes que conocen a profundidad las debilidades, estas son algunas de las más omunes:

      • Filtración de datos: Ocurre cuando se filtra información confidencial (personal o financiera) desde una locación segura a un entorno no confiable. Puede ocurrir que los datos sean robados desde su computadora personal o a una compañía que tenga su información personal.
      • Programa malicioso o “malware”: Es un software peligroso diseñado para dañar computadoras y sistemas informáticos.
      • “Phishing” o “spoofing”: Es cuando hacen envíos de correos electrónicos falsos, mensajes de texto o crean un sitio web de imitación para intentar robar su información personal o su identidad con el único objetivo de robar sus números de tarjetas de crédito, de cuentas bancarias, pines de tarjetas de débito y contraseñas.
      • Fraude en subastas por internet: Implica la tergiversación de un producto anunciado en un sitio de subastas por Internet o la no entrega de mercancía.
      • Llamadas telefónicas: Se hacen pasar por entidades para robar su identidad a través de engaños e información falsa.

    Son innumerables los métodos que usan los delincuentes para robar la identidad, incluso los ciberdelincuentes también utilizaron el robo de identidad como un medio para obtener acceso a los pagos de estímulo federal emitidos por el Servicio de Impuestos Internos de los Estados Unidos (IRS, por sus siglas en inglés) y que son elegibles para los residentes de Estados Unidos. Estos casos fueron denunciados a la FTC como incidentes de robo de identidad fiscal. La cantidad de denuncias en 2020 triplicaron en comparación con las de 2019, con la FTC recibiendo 89.390 reportes en 2020 y 27.450 el año anterior.

  • How to Register and Attend Our Free Seminars

    How to Register and Attend Our Free Seminars

    Think about the following:

    You work 40 hours a week and about 40 years of your life to earn a living and make money. That’s about 80 thousand hours of your entire life. You practically spend 80 thousand hours working for someone else.

    Now, think about this: How many hours do you spend managing this money? In a sense, how many hours do you spend working on your own, helping you manage your financial life and goals?

    When we tell you about managing your money, it doesn’t mean opening credit card statements or making minimum payments.

    That would be keeping you in debt.

    What we mean is setting goals for your financial life and actually knowing when your debts will be paid off.

    And even if you don’t have any debt, are you saving enough money? Are you overspending? Do you know about identity theft?

    It’s not so important how much money you make, but how you manage it and, in general, how well you manage your financial life.

    Read also Mental Health Behind Debts

    Our experience shows that many people who had higher salaries were the same people who were heavily in debt. 

    The reason may be that you have financial problems, or maybe you need to organize your financial life and don’t know where to start, or maybe you are just curious.

    For that purpose, our organization has combined almost 10 years of experience and knowledge into a 120 minute general information seminar. Other seminars may take longer depending on the topic in question.

    A selected team chosen from our certified credit counselors, our directors and volunteers will conduct this seminar free of charge for your community.

    In the past, we have conducted seminars at churches, fairs, schools and at a consulate in Miami, Florida.

    Contact us if you would like to attend a seminar on your own or if you would like us to come to your school, church, fair or workplace.

    Spend those 120 minutes doing something that, in a sense, works for you.

    The general information seminar we conduct consists of the following areas:

    How to establish and maintain a budget?
    How to manage debt?
    How to avoid bankruptcy, foreclosure and debt cancellation.
    The advantages of financial freedom.
    Identity theft and your privacy rights.
    Your financial life and technology.
    20-minute question and answer section.

    We invite you, your family and friends to spend 120 minutes of your life that could very well make a significant difference.

    It is absolutely free and there will be no obligation and no sale of anything. We do this as part of our company’s mission statement, which you can find in our Message from Directors section.

    It is our obligation, our duty and our honor to keep you well informed and financially educated.

    We hope you will contact us for more details. You can also request one by completing our free analysis form or by calling us at 1.800.296.4950.

  • Why Financial Education Should Start At Home

    Why Financial Education Should Start At Home

    Part of being an adult is to develop and understand individual financial objectives and, for that reason, in recent times many academics have felt the need to push for the introduction of financial literacy into the school curriculum. However, this is not to say that this degree of exposure to financial education is enough. Past surveys, such as the 2001 Parents, Youth & Money Survey underwritten by the TIAA Institute, have found that while the majority of parents feel confident about their understanding of financial matters and think they do a good job of managing their money, their actions and behaviors contradict their self-assessment.

    Likewise, they have found that most students turn to their parents for financial education and guidance. The conclusion that can be derived from these findings is that the example in financial behavior is often set by parents, who may not be so knowledgeable in financial matters, regardless of their knowledge or whatever exposure to formal financial education they might have had.  The result, as exposed by the findings from those studies carried out by the Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, is that today’s young people do not know enough about finance and economics, meaning they actually know very little about handling their own money.

    “Part of being an adult is to develop and understand individual financial objectives”

    These alone are good enough reasons to encourage parents to bring financial education to their homes. There are also more and more kind of pressures to take into account. On the one hand, in the US and abroad some difficult financial conditions brought on by recession and other fiscal challenges have made of the world’s economy an increasingly complicated environment to navigate around. With growing uncertainty, information is essential. On the other hand, the development of new technologies and business models and identities, such as the Entrepreneur, have increased the necessity for financial tools for different purposes, making it nearly impossible not having to recur to them.

    Why do we call them credit cards?

    Thus, what we can observe is that people are starting to face complex financial situations increasingly younger. It is no longer the case when we see children setting up a lemonade stand and managing a weekly budget of $5. Instead, the children of today are being constantly exposed to fast-changing, thousands upon thousands of phone and tablet applications and online content in general. This means that there are not only greater temptations than before, but that owning technology has become a must have, in order to access information and opportunities. Without this technology, they are prone to be left behind.

    It is pretty much the same for today’s adults, so it is not difficult to predict that many of these children will grow into college students who will own at least one credit card. If they choose to do so, by the time of they graduate half of them will have four or more, with an average balance of over $3,000. And because the costs of education have grown while incomes and government aid have not kept up, it is likely that many of them will also have had to take on at least one student loan. Not all of them will make it out unscathed, as the number of people going bankrupt younger is growing.

    10 Symptoms That You Are Over Your Head In Debt.

    To sum it up, young people have more debt in general, especially when compared to the same age group during past decades. Young people are set, mostly unknowingly, into a path riddled by financial traps from a very young age. This situation can turn into a chain of events from which it becomes difficult to break, because they lack the proper knowledge to handle all the debts they take on. Not bringing financial education to home is a very costly mistake, especially considering that it is not something so difficult to achieve, taking into account that there are many experiences from which a lesson may be learned.

    Actually, it is not like you have to be an expert in finances to teach your children a sense of accomplishment by earning their own money from an early age, or the importance to wait and save up for something instead of taking on a debt. By making of personal responsibility a habit, it is more likely that your children grow up into young adults who will want to learn more about financial tools before taking the any important decision. Of course, there is no guarantee that your child will become good money manager if you do introduce them to financial matters, but the odds may improve if you do not just leave it up to teachers in the classroom.

  • Why do we call them credit cards?

    Why do we call them credit cards?

    The words “credit card” gives the connotation that you have this card as if it was a “credit”, or something that you have deserved or accomplished.

    Shouldn’t we call it instead a “Debt Card”?

    Would it deter anybody from using it if instead of being called a credit card, it was called debt card?

    Do you remember also how a few years ago all credit cards pretty much looked the same? And do you remember how all of a sudden consumers started getting them in colors, silver, gold, platinum?

    Did you know that platinum and gold cards typically charge you the same or higher rates than most credit cards?

    The Federal Reserve regularly publishes their findings for revolving consumer credit in the United States. The meaning of revolving is debt that is not paid in full every month, typically credit cards.

    According to them, the amount of revolving debt in the United States for 2004 was 796 billion dollars. 

    Three of five American families can’t pay off their credit cards each month, and the average balance is $12,000, which is one-fourth of the median household income.

    That is an average of $7,100 per person average credit card debt, and if you made the minimum payment credit card companies usually request of 2% or approximately $142 it would take 93 months, or 7.75 years.

    The total interest at the end would have been $6,113.29 plus the principal balance of $7,100 you would have paid in total $13,213.29.

    The truth is that if you made the minimum payment on a “Credit Card” you are really keeping yourself in debt. We hope you will think twice before getting another credit card that you might not need.

    You can go to our calculatorspage to learn how much it would take to pay your debt off.

    Also, you can request a Free Analysis Now to asses your specific situation.

  • Why Do Credit Bureaus Report Different FICO Scores?

    Why Do Credit Bureaus Report Different FICO Scores?

    We all know a FICO credit score and the credit history it is based on are critical for financing a car, home or getting almost any type of credit. It isn’t very reassuring to discover your credit score is different depending on which credit bureau (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion) it comes from. The FICO credit scoring system is used by all three, so how does this happen? Once you know a little about the credit reporting process it’s not hard to understand. More important, you’ll know what you can do to resolve the problem.

    FICO stands for Fair, Isaac, & Co, the company that markets the credit scoring system. The FICO score is a 3-digit number from 300 to 850. A score of 700 or better is good to excellent. Less than 580-620 is considered poor. A score is calculated by using the FICO system to process information reported to a credit bureau by lenders.

    There are two problems that may result in credit bureaus arriving at a substantially different FICO scores. The first problem is that the different credit bureaus don’t always have the same information. That information is provided voluntarily by lenders. If a lender sends in a report to one credit agency but not to all three, the data your FICO score is based on will be different.

    Second, there may be errors on your credit report. This can happen in a number of ways. For instance, a lender might neglect to report a change in your status (that you paid off a loan on time, for example). There is the possibility of someone using your name and credit in a fraudulent manner. Incorrect information, whatever the cause, can remain on your credit history for years if it goes undetected.

    Inaccurate or incomplete information can be a major liability for a consumer. If a lender at one time reported a problem with your account and failed to report the problem was satisfactorily resolved to every credit bureau that received the original report, you could well find yourself denied credit or paying a higher interest rate.

    Read also How to obtain a credit report

    Fortunately the consumer is far from powerless to deal with credit history problems. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you are entitled to a free copy of your credit history each year. You can do this online by going to the Federal Trade Commission’ authorized provider at AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling (877) 322-8228. The free report does not include your FICO score. You can easily order a copy of your FICO score from each of the credit bureaus, but you must pay for it. Keep in mind that it’s the content of your credit history that’s important. If your credit history is correct and up to date your FICO score will be the same or nearly so no matter which credit bureau provides it.

    Making corrections or reporting possible fraud is another right consumers have under FCRA. To start the process of disputing errors, to report fraud, or to request a security freeze if you believe someone is using your name and credit history, you need only to go to the websites of each of the major credit reporting agencies. Each has online tools for you to use to report and deal with problems.

    You can always reach us, should you need assistance from one of our counselors who can assist you in obtaining and understanding a copy of your credit report.

  • What To Do If Your Credit Report Is Mistaken?

    What To Do If Your Credit Report Is Mistaken?

    Do you know what it takes to corroborate your credit report faults? At Premier Consumer, we are pleased in offering you all the information you need. Before telling you the steps to take if your credit report has faults, it is necessary to be clear about what are considered errors in credit reports, and what might be the consequences of such errors.

    In general terms, errors in Credit Reports are all the inaccuracies and discrepancies in your personal data, credit history and implications of your social behavior. These imply incorrect name, date of birth, address or social security number; poor reflection of how you pay your debts and bills; any data related to your criminal clearance (if you have been or not subjected to subpoenas, demands and/or arrests), and other data related to your credit history (statement of bankruptcy or being subjected to welfare).

    “Your Credit Report is, more than a mere requirement, a powerful tool that can open to you many doors in the financial and economic aspects to organize your life, hence the importance of precision and accuracy of the information therein contained”

    One or more errors in your credit report can directly influence the decision of financial institutions at the time of granting credits or loans real property purchase or lease, interfering with the approval of services such as insurance coverage, and even hinder in obtaining a job.

    Similarly, errors in your Credit Report may expose you to identity theft or fraud that can make you subjected to charges or unauthorized accounts made on your name.

    In any case, to know or see if there are any errors on your Credit Report, you need to have it on hand in the first place. In North America, the Fair Credit Reporting Act provides that consumers reporting companies must, upon request, to extend a free annual copy of your credit report.

    To facilitate your request, there is the website annualcreditreport.com. You can also call 1-877-322-8228, or fill out the form called Annual Credit Report Request Form and send it to the following address:

    Annual Credit Report Request Service

    P.O. Box 105281

    Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

    Are there errors on my Credit Report?

    2 Steps to correct errors on your credit report

    1) Report the error

    If you live in the United States and your Credit Report shows errors or discrepancies, the first thing to do is notify in written to the Credit Reporting Agencies responsible (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax). To issue such notification, you need to make a detailed letter of challenge which point the type of error in your credit report, correction and copies of backups that certify the correction. Similarly, the notification must request removal of erroneous or conflicting data. Be sure to point out errors in the copy of your report attached to the letter of objection.

    Such notice must contain accurate personal information such as current address, and must be sent by certified mail with return receipt to the Service Annual Credit Report Request.

    2) Wait for the verdict

    After the notification, the reporting agency that handles your Credit Report is obliged to investigate and respond to within 30 days. It is also obliged to notify the company that issued your Credit Report. Consequently, such company must review and verify your data, and make the knowledge of your claim to the other two Reporting Agency companies.

    By the end of those 30 days, you will receive a response to your claim that includes the corrected copy of your credit report, which may or may not have been processed according to your observations. Here it is the importance of keeping a copy of both, your application correction (with all the sent supports), and the verdict of the Agency sent to the company that attends your case.

    Credit Card Act of 2009

    Additionally, you also have the option of asking to the reporting company to retain your complaint on the record, and provide it to any entity requesting your credit report. This service, however, usually have an additional cost.

    In any case, if the company acknowledges that it has given incorrect or inaccurate information in your credit report, it will be obliged to remove such information from its database, and it is obliged to no longer provide it to any entities that request your Credit Report. It is also obliged to send, to your express request, the corrected report to those organizations or employers who have requested your Credit Report in the last two years.

    The company also must consign the results of its investigation to the Agencies Records, and if your claim proceeds, it must be included along with the new corrected data.

    Your Credit Report is, more than a mere requirement, a powerful tool that can open to you many doors in the financial and economic aspects to organize your life, hence the importance of precision and accuracy of the information therein contained.

  • What to do if you are past due on credit cards

    What to do if you are past due on credit cards

    You should avoid being past due on your credit cards, since that would usually be reported on your credit.

    If you are already late, they could be requesting payments from you a lot higher than the amount the were usually requesting before. Also, your interest rates most likely have been raised, and they are also calling you and sending you letters.

    If you are at this stage, we recommend contacting us immediately to help you asses your situation.

    We might recommend our debt management program which could help you save thousands of dollars and get back on the road to financial freedom.

    We will contact your creditors on your behalf, send proposals to them for them to lower the interests rate and give you all the benefits our debt management program offers.

    Your accounts will be brought up to date, many times your collection accounts will be recalled to the original creditors and you will get the piece of mind you so much need.

    Please contact us as soon as possible or request a Free Analysis Now

  • Understanding Credit Cards

    Understanding Credit Cards

    On the radio programs, the seminars and the counseling we provide you will always hear us say what we think of credit cards:

    “Credit cards are great, what’s bad about them is not knowing how manage them properly and/or getting into credit card debt.”

    Many times when you use a credit card, you get great benefits such as point towards other purchases, money back guarantees, some different types of insurances included in purchases and the convenience and security of not carrying cash when traveling.

    This security and these conveniences can turn into a real nightmare if you fall in the pitfall of credit card debt.

    We believe that the best credit card debt is the one that you don’t have. But if you do please review our 10 Symptoms that you are in Debt.

    Please answer the following questions to yourself:

    • Have you noticed that when you go to a department store and wish to pay cash, the store clerk will ask you many times to apply for the store card?
    • Did you know that most department stores pay their stores clerks every time they convince a customer to apply for store credit?
    • Did you know that a significant portion of the store’s income comes from the income associated with their store credit cards?
    • Did you know that store credit card typically charge higher interest rate?
    • Did you know that having too many store cards can be considered detrimental for you credit?

    What follows with stores cards, and in general with credit card debt is the following scenario:

    You start your life with a store credit card, and it’s really a time to remember, you are so proud to have your first credit card.

    You might not necessarily know how to handle credit card debt, all you might now is that stores swipe it through a machine and you get brand new stuff.

    Look at any credit card bill, and by law, you will find information similar to the following:

    Balance: $2,600.00
    APR: %18
    Minimum Payment: $50.00
    Due Date: January 25th

    Now ask yourself:

    • Do you really know what it means?
    • Does it tell you how long it is going to take to pay the balance off, if you only made that minimum monthly payment? And more importantly how come the statement doesn’t tell you?
    • Have you noticed that if you made that minimum monthly payment, next month minimum payment required will be less? So that you pay less and loose any advantage of fixed payments?
    • Do you know what difference it would make if you instead of making the minimum payment required you would pay a fixed amount?
    • Did you know that, in general, credit card companies oppose to legislation that would have them post the time to pay off a credit card on their statements if a customer made the minimum monthly payment?

    In that time you will have paid an amount of finance charges of $2,485.00. It is pretty much double the amount you borrowed. And that is making a fixed payment of $50.00. If you instead always made the minimum payment typically required, it would take 423 months and $6730.73 in interest. Remember that as credit card balances go down, minimum payment required decreases, and it basically extends the time to pay off your credit card.

    What will you do now when that clerk at the store offers you their store card?

    I believe we already know your answer.

    Please let us know if you need help, we are here to help you with credit counseling education and organization of your financial life. Request a Free Analysis and a certified credit counselor will contact you as soon as possible.

  • Understanding and Avoiding Bankruptcy

    Understanding and Avoiding Bankruptcy

    Bankruptcy laws were designed to allow businesses and individual eliminate their unsecured, secured and other types of debt using the legal system.

    Bankruptcy is a difficult decision since it stays on your credit report for as long as 10 years.

    In addition, our experience shows us that people, who have declared bankruptcy, usually have not learned anything from the experience, and find themselves in financial difficulties the second time around.

    Our advice is that you should avoid bankruptcy and use it only as a last resort, when no other ways have been found to resolve your situation and when you are certain that the situation you are presently having difficulties with will not be resolved any time soon.

    Read also Consider the Following Options before Filing for Bankruptcy

    There are 2 types of Bankruptcies Chapter 7 and Chapter 13.

    Chapter 7 is a bankruptcy that protects some of the property you have. For that reason is the one that most consumers choose. In Chapter 7, a trustee is appointed by the court to collect and sell, if economically feasible, all property you own that is not otherwise exempted. The fact is that 99% of property you own is exempted. If you have investment properties such as second homes, or vacation properties they might not be exempt.

    Among the requirements to qualify for chapter 7, one is that you cannot have been granted a chapter 7 discharge within the last 7 years.

    A discharge is the court order that determines that creditors can not collect on the debt you have discharged

    You can usually discharge the following debts:

    • All credit card debt.
    • Personal loans.
    • Eviction bills.
    • Attorney and CPA bills.
    • Medical bills.
    • Creditor Lawsuits.
    • Collection agency accounts.
    • And others.

    You would not usually be able to discharge the following debt:

    • Most state and federal taxes.
    • Child support.
    • Alimony support.
    • Debts from previous bankruptcies.
    • And many others.

    Also you do not have to include all debt in your filing, you could request to what is called “Reaffirm a debt” which is signing and filing a document with the court which states that you promise to repay all or a portion of the debt that may have been otherwise discharged under the bankruptcy filing.

    Then we have chapter 13 Bankruptcy. People or businesses that could not qualify for chapter 7, for reasons such as their property not being exempted or others, can file for Chapter 13.

    Chapter 13 generally permits individuals to keep their property by repaying their creditors out of their future income. In this agreement you would usually request the court to accept the repayment within 3 to 5 years.

    There are some requirements for Chapter 13 in terms of maximum amounts you can discharge.

    If you need an analysis to avoid bankruptcy please request it by filling out the following Free Analysis Form

  • Top 12 Strategies to Avoid Identity Theft

    Top 12 Strategies to Avoid Identity Theft

    Identity Theft is becoming an ever increasing problem in the United States.

    As with any other crime, it is difficult to know when one will become a victim. What you can do is to take basic precautions to decrease the chances that your family will become victim. 

    Read also Want To Get Rid Of Your Computer? Discover What You Should Do Before That.

    The following are 12 Top Strategies that we believe you should already be implementing in your financial life. They are not in any specific order of importance.

    1. Buy a Shredder machine. Use it regularly to destroy any documents that show your social security number, last name, driver license number, checking/savings account number and any document that shows data you deem to be personal and confidential. Some machines can be inexpensive, and it’s a great way to avoid anyone from having unauthorized access to it.
    2. When doing transaction online, make sure that the website you are sending information to, is encrypted. Encryption works very well, and it is extremely difficult, almost impossible to break. The way you can be sure that the web site is encrypted is that it will show a “lock” usually on the lower right corner of the browser you are using. Another way is that the address bar on your internet browser will start with https:// which means http “secure”.
    3. Be reluctant to providing personal information to companies that initiate a call to you. If you initiate the call, most companies will require some type of personal information to identify you or to establish a relationship with you. But if you receive a call from any company requesting information, you should avoid giving it.
    4. Frequently check the address of any website you are visiting. You can see that address on the browser address bar. For example, now you see in that bar an address that starts with http://dev.premierconsumer.org. If that address changes it might be you are being redirected to a different website, and you should check with the original company to see if that is the way they have it set up. Also, if you receive an email that claims to be from a bank, and the address on the browser shows a different company name, it is most likely someone trying to steal your information.
    5. Be reluctant to providing personal information on emails and instant messenger chat conversations. Emails and chat conversations are not secure. Besides, banks and companies already have your personal information, and there is really no need for them to send you an email requesting things that they already have. Not even if they say they are having a problem with your account. If you receive any email as the one mentioned before, you should contact your bank or the company by phone immediately.
    6. If you suspect your identity might have been compromised. You can request the 3 major credit bureaus to put a note on your credit report, basically alerting companies that your identity might have been stolen, and making it more difficult for anybody to open accounts under your name.
    7. You can also request credit bureaus to add a note on your credit profile to let companies know that you should not be approved for any “instant credit” offers at stores. Instead, let them approve you by mail, people might take advantage of how fast “instant credit “is, and use that against you.
    8. Monitor your credit report frequently. If you have been denied credit, you have the right to write to the credit report bureau that appears on the rejection letter, and have them send you a free credit report. Many companies like Experian offer services that monitor your credit report for changes. Please call us for details at 1.800.296.4950 for more information.
    9. As much as possible you and your family members should not have joint credit card accounts. Our experience shows that in some instances family members and “friends” will take advantage and use your credit cards fraudulently. Even when serving as a co signer on a credit card, you will be held liable for any expenses the person you co signed for, did not pay. If you really wish or need to help them, just give them the money.
    10. When dealing with companies, ask which privacy procedures they have in their business practices. When dealing with a website check on the [privacy policy link] to see what kind of information they are obtaining from you, and how it is handled.
    11. When downloading software, be careful of viruses and spy ware. Viruses and spy ware are programs that many times you will download even without noticing, they can capture even the passwords you type that look like this *******. Those programs can track your internet usage and steal personal information from you. They can record your chat conversations, emails, and mostly anything you type and view on your computer.
    12. When sending US mail, do it at the post office itself. It is more secure that leaving it at US mail boxes that can be tampered with.

    As with any crime, use common sense, and please call us at 1.800.296.4950 if you have any specific issues we could advise you on.