28,000 US Navy personnel personal data found on public web site
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive June 2006:
28,000 US Navy personnel personal data found on public web site
See the article in Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/feeds/ap/2006/06/23/ap2837333.html
Legislation is currently under discussion in Congress to provide a year's free credit monitoring to US military personnel (retired and active) whose data was stolen when a VA employee's laptop, with data on millions of retired and active personnel, was stolen. I suggest you write to your Congressional representatives and senators and urge them to support this legislation. (Letters mean a lot more to politicians than phone calls or e-mails simply because it means you went to more trouble to contact them.)
Several states have laws requiring credit reporting agencies (Experien, Equifax and TransUnion) to allow you to have a PIN (Personal Identity Number) attached to your credit record so that credit is NOT granted unless the PIN is entered. (This means that if you are making a purchase at Sears and decide to get a Sears credit card because you get a discount, you'd have to know and use your PIN in the process.) There is some talk in Congress about making this a federal law. The banking and credit industry are fighting it because they say that people don't want to have the inconvenience of having to use a PIN when they want credit extended or expanded. Personally, I'd rather have the inconvenience of a PIN than the inconvenience of being a victim of identity theft. I also suggest that you to write to your representatives and senators to support federal legislation for a PIN for credit reporting agencies.
Forbes Article
What's a PIN number? I think that's a great idea. I have no trouble remembering the PIN number associated with my debit card.
That's exactly what a PIN number is, Dawn. A "Personal Identification Number" that you select and use - with your ATM, with some credit cards if you choose to have a PIN, in case you want to withdraw cash from an ATM with your credit card (I don't recommend it - cash advance fees are high). I personally don't find it a problem to use my PIN with my ATM card, and I certainly wouldn't find it a problem if I were trying to get credit.
Here's some quotes from a web page from the New Jersey Dept. of Banking and Insurance (one of the states with the PIN law):
"If you live in New Jersey, you have the right to put a "security freeze" on your credit file. A security freeze means that your file cannot be shared with potential creditors. A security freeze can help prevent identity theft. Most businesses will not open credit accounts without checking a consumer's credit history first. If your credit files are frozen, even someone who has your name and Social Security number would probably not be able to get credit in your name.
....
Can I open new credit accounts if my files are frozen?
Yes. If you want to open a new credit account or get a new loan, you can lift the freeze on your credit file. You can lift it for a period of time or you can lift it for a specific creditor. After you send your letter asking for the freeze, each of the credit reporting agencies will send you a Personal Identification Number (PIN). You will also get instructions on how to lift the freeze. You can lift the freeze by overnight mail or secure electronic mail, using your PIN. The credit reporting agencies must lift your freeze within three business days. The fee for lifting the freeze temporarily is no more than $5 for a date-range lift and no more than $5 for a lift for a specific creditor.
Here's the web page:
http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/creditfreeze.htm
The down side is you will have to pay up to $5 for each credit reporting agency to lift the freeze. The up side is that unless someone has your PIN, no one can apply for credit in your name even if they have all of your identifying information.
Here's an article from Consumer Reports about the credit freeze process: http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns//learn_more/001842indiv.html
Consumer Reports supports a national "credit freeze" law.
Here are the states where these laws exist: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas, Washington and Vermont have security freeze laws; the Illinois, Texas and Vermont statutes are limited to victims of identity theft. The California and Louisiana laws allow consumers who have not been victims of identity theft to control who gets access to their credit files for credit granting purposes.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, lawmakers are behind the times on this issue.
I do know what a PIN number is. I just don't think it would be that inconvenient and would add another layer of security, to your money and indentity.
Well I see that WI is not on the list. DH would probably like that freeze, thingie!
I apologize if I hurt your feelings, Dawn, but you did ask What's a PIN number? I wondered, because you did seem to know exactly what it is, but then, you did ask. So I took the opportunity to give my usual long-winded explanation to promote the idea further.
Pennsylvania is not on the list either, although our neighbor, New Jersey, is. I think it's a great idea and will be writing to my various political representatives about it.
Dawn, I take that back. I apologize. No "if". One of my pet peeves is waffling apologies, and I had time to realize I had made one.
|
Members
