Got Your Identity?

All of us have heard about identity theft, but do you know the possible implications of and identity theft case? Having your identity stolen is more than just losing your social security number, it includes your bank account information, your credit card number’s, as well as ruining your credit score. If you were to have someone steal your identity and ruin your credit score, the interest rate on your home could double or even triple! If you figure the math for your own home, you could be looking at thousands of dollars lost, plus the enormous amount of time and money you would have to spend trying to recover your original credit score.

Identity Theft Protection

Joining Forces

That is why there is Protect My ID online who has partnered up with Equifax to ensure that your identity is not stolen. They use a variety of techniques to make sure that your identity is not stolen such as scanning the internet for usage of your credit card, social security number or unauthorized inputs of your social security number. If any of this information was to be stolen from you, the damage is crippling. The way that it works is if anyone were to try and open either a bank account, or take out a line of credit in your name it would show up on your credit report. Most Americans check there credit report less than once a year, but with Protect My ID, they will scan your credit reports on a daily basis looking for any suspicious activity, as well as confirming your activities with you.

Constant Internet Scans

Along with the credit report scanning, the team at Protect My ID will scan the internet daily looking for any usage of your credit card number, and especially your social security number. By scanning the internet on a daily basis, Protect My ID will be able to alert you as soon as a breach of your identity is made, and will even help you fix the problem. By working side by side with one of Protect My ID’s fraud protection agents, you will be able to file the necessary paper work as well as make the proper calls to fix all problems that could arise.

Changing Your Address Scams

Don't Let It Happen to You

Another safe guard that is part of Protect My ID is a change of address feature. Many times individuals who are looking to steal your identity will do so thru changing your address with creditors or the post office so that they will receive your confidential mail. Protect My ID has teamed up with the United states Post Office as well as many of the worlds largest lenders to monitor this activity. If someone tries to change your address or has successfully changed your address, you will know about it and will be able to fix the problem before any real harm is done.

$1,000,000 Guarantee

The most lucrative part of a Protect My ID account is the $1,000,000 dollar guarantee. This means that if you were to have your identity stolen while you were a customer in good standing (have an active Protect My ID account), you will be compensated up to $1,000,000 dollars. This will protect you against things such as:

• Lost wages due to identity theft
• Legal fees associated with an identity theft case( as long as you follow the guidance of your Protect my ID fraud specialist)
• Reimbursement of funds stolen from bank accounts or credit cards that the bank does not refund
• As well as other expenses common with an identity theft case

Protect Your Children’s Identity

Finally one of the fastest growing identity theft cases is the identity theft of children. This is also covered however with a small monthly fee. With Child Secure, which is run through your Protect My ID account, you will be able to protect your children from the same type of identity theft problems. Child identity theft can be just as serious as it is for adults due to tax purposes as well as credit score problems.

Conclusion:

In today’s world with the use of WIFI internet ports, as well as the internet not being as secure as many of us would like to think, Protect My ID is a simple solution to take this fear away. Identity theft is a serious problem, the number of identities stolen increases on a yearly basis. One of my cousins personally had their identity stolen and it took him three years to be able to fully recover his funds as well as repair his credit back to its original state.

I really need to follow up on my last post “All Credit Card Companies Are Not the Same” with an update.  Unlike Roland Burris, Junior Senator of Illinois, I believe it is only fair to present all the facts.  One day after I posted my rant about Bank of America on www.consumerboomer.com, I received a call from a very nice gentleman I will call “Team Manager Kevin “.  He was very cordial and immediately identified himself and what he was calling about.  In all fairness, some credit needs to be given to ”Team Manager Kevin” for the way he handled my recent dilemma with an unjustified late charge.

The Call

He apologized for not calling me back immediately saying that he found the note, explaining my request for a return call, on his desk  when he arrived at work the following morning.  After reviewing my account information and the file on my complaint he decided to waive the $29.00 late charge.  He went on to say that it should never have been added in the first place, and this issue  should never have escalated to this point.

In addition, he apologized for the two other representatives I spoke with on the previous day.  He was firm about the fact that the two representatives should have handled this differently.  He said that it all should have been taken care of in the first call.  He assured me that Bank of America valued my business.  He ask if I had any further concerns or questions that he could help me with.

Papa Boomer’s Balloon Just Got Busted!

I was “blown away” and almost “speechless” (not normal for me).    It was not what I expected after the opposite treatment I had received from “Christopher” and his “Supervisor” on the previous day.

• First, I figured I wouldn’t even get a call.
• Second, if I did get a call, I certainly didn’t expect satisfaction.
• Third, I was actually looking forward to expressing my total dissatisfaction with the BOA, the entire customer service operation, executive bonuses, the stimulus package,  tax payer ripoff, Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, socialism, and global warming, if given the chance … just one more time!

So, instead … I was stuck with thanking ”Team Manager Kevin” for his helpful assistance and told him I had no further questions.  That’s no fun!  What a disappointment!

Boom-Bazzelled or Not?

I am thinking, I may just have been “Boom-Bazzelled” by one of the best … but he was good! He handled a bad situation well.  He left a customer who was very angry feel better (and defenceless).   He made me feel it was worth my call.  And, he made me feel victorious.  Now that is a customer service team manager on top of his job!

So … what do I do now?  As in the Saturday Night Live skit, I could just say … Never mind!

Not Papa B.  In retrospect, I do feel a little guilty for the full blown rant.  However, as much as I appreciate the way the return call was handled by “Team Manager Kevin”, I also feel that if the situation would have been handled properly by “Christopher” and his “Supervisor”  in the beginning there would never have been a rant or the the need for a return call … I also had such a blast writing it, I would have missed out on a lot of fun!

Summary

In summary, I am convinced there are good employees and not so good employees, especially in customer service.  It does makes a difference which one you get on the day you call.    At this point, I am not ready to say never mind, but in fairness, I did feel obligated to present all the facts and complete the follow-up.

“Team Manager Kevin” is good and deserves credit for handling the situation with professionalism.  Unfortunately, in order to speak with him, I had to first go through num-nuts “Christopher” and his “Supervisor “Mr. double num-nuts.  After that, I  had to call back and talk with “Scott” just to make sure that Mr. double num-nuts did what he said he was going to.  And, he didn’t!

The Final Word

So my final assessment is as follows:

Just because I was finally able to get an obvious mistake on the part of Bank of America corrected, doesn’t mean they still don’t suck.  It took a lot of effort and persistence on my part.  To read the original post click here.  Maybe they don’t suck as much as they would have, had they not hired “Team Manager Kevin”, but Bank of America as a whole, and compared to Capital One, still sucks!    End of Rant.  Papa B.

I recently posted an article on Capital One concerning my personal experience with identity theft.  The post was a rave review of how Capital One did such a fabulous job of handling my personal credit card account in the midst of a difficult situation.  The words I used were “Capital One Rocks“!  Today I had a much different experience with Bank of America.   In a word I would say Bank of America “SUCKS!!!”   As far as I am concerned they are unethical crooks!  After receiving a mere $45 billion in tax payer bailout money they hit me for $29.00 on an unjustified late fee.

Bank of America SUCKS!

Here’s my story.   I have had a Bank of America credit card for over 9 years with a zero balance.  The first time I ever used it was January of this year.  I decided to use it to keep it alive, so to speak.  I made a single charge on the card for $119.25 in early January during the time my other credit card account was temporaily closed due to identity theft.   I received a bill in my mail box on January 18, 2009 with a due date of February 3, 2009.  I wrote a check for the entire balance and placed it in the mail on January 22, 2009 (just 4 days after receiving it in the mail).

Bank of America really SUCKS!!

To my suprise I received a bill in the mail today February 17, 2009 for $29.55.  It shows a credit for $119.25, a late fee of $29.00 and finance charges of $0.55 on the late fee.  It showed a processing date of the $119.25 on February 5, 2009.  Two days late!  First of all, I have never paid a late fee in my life.  Secondly, I mailed the payment four days after receipt of the bill and it took them 14 days to receive it in the mail and process it on February 5, 2009.  Third, this card has a credit limit of $28,000 and has always had a zero balance on it except for the $119.25 charged in early January.  I called Customer Service thinking I could easily straighten this out.  After all, how can it take that long to process my payment.  I was wrong!    

Bank of America SUCKS beyond belief!!!

As I tried to explain my frustration to “Christopher” of Customer Service.   I was cut short and told that under no circumstances would Bank of America waive the late fee.  He told me that it was my responsibility to make sure my payment made it on time and he could not control the US Mail.  I asked if he could check the post mark and he simply said that, in all cases, Bank of America processed payments on the day they were received without exception!  I pointed out that the IRS accepted the post mark as a date of receipt.  He said that they were not the IRS and to them the post mark was meaningless!  So, Bank of America can’t control the US Mail, but it is my responsibility to make sure I do!  I then asked how he knew it didn’t lay on someones desk for a few days before it was processed?  He said that could not happen because it was their policy to process all payments the day they were received.

Bank of America SUCKS and BLOWS!!!!

By now I am very frustrated and starting to lose it.  I asked to talk with someone else … his supervisor.   He told me I was wasting my time … I told him that was OK because it was my time!  He put me on hold for 23 minutes, in an apparent attempt to get me to give up, but I was persistent and finally I got what he said was his supervisor.  Before I could even explain the situation the so called supervisor told me I was wasting my time.  I asked if he could at least explain how I could be charged a finance charge on the $29.00 late fee when it wasn’t even due yet and I that I had never received a notice on.  He paused for about 15 seconds and then graciously agreed to remove the $0.55 finance charge with a “chuckle”.  By now I am ready to rip my phone in half and crap down the mouth piece.   … Can I please talk to your supervisor… I was told no managers were available, but I could leave my number and someone would call me within 72 hours.  I asked if I did not receive the call within 72 hours if I could charge them a late fee.  Coldly, he said of course not.  I said I didn’t think so.  I told them I thought they were crooks and had no intention of doing any more business with them.  I told him to please make sure the manager called me back, because I was dying to ask him how much his bonus was this year for screwing another tax payer.  End of call.

Bank of America SUCKS, BLOWS, and are CROOKS!!!!!

I decided it wasn’t worth any more effort or waiting for the call so I wrote a check for $29.00 and put it in an envelope to be mailed.  But, before I mailed it, I decided I better check to verify that this customer service jerk actually took the $0.55 off my bill.  I called again and got “Scott” this time.    I tried to explain my prior call and told him I had given up on the late fee removal.  All I wanted to know was what my current balance was.  “Scott” was much easier to talk to because he thought it was actually funny!  I am glad I checked because if I had actually mailed the check for $29.00 instead of $29.55,  I would have received another late fee of $29.00 on the late $0.55 next month!  Who are these idiots?

In addition, I found out that the previous customer service representative cancelled my account,  noting on the account that the customer requested it closed!  I guess, when in the heat of the moment, I said I had no intention of doing any more business with Bank of America, he took that as a request to close my account!  I am the first to admit I wasn’t very nice to any of them, but noonly after they were no longer nice to me which took about 30 seconds.  I had “Scott” reopen my account so when I finally get my call in 72 hours I can close it again!

Credit Card Company Review from my Personal Experience:

• Capital One ROCKS!!!
• Bank of America SUCKS!!!

For more on Bank of America click on each of the following comments:

• Bank Of America SUCKS!
• Bank of America really SUCKS!!
• Bank of America SUCKS beyond belief!!!
• Bank of America SUCKS and BLOWS!!!!
• Bank of America SUCKS, BLOWS, and are CROOKS!!!!!
• To find out how BOA handles Identity Theft (Click here)
• OR … Just Google ‘Bank of America Sucks’ and view some of the 377,000 sites that come up! (Click Here)

I hope everyone knows that this is not about the 29 bucks or the 55 cents!  It is all about the principle! I wouldn’t give Bank of America $0.45,  more or less, $45 billion. Papa B. is now one pissed off Boomer!

Related Article:

Identity Theft – Capital One saved Me!

Morphing into John Travolta in a picture is not exactly what I am talking about, but it is just about that easy to steal someones identity.  In November of this past year, I walked into a Dick’s Sporting Goods store (one of my favorites places by the way) to begin my Christmas shopping.  To my surprise when I went to check out, my credit card was rejected.  I knew this couldn’t be right because I always pay it off every month and it has a limit well beyond anything I ever use it for.  Doesn’t matter, no how many times they ran it through the reader it was rejected.  Fortunately, I had another card with me that I was able to use.  So, except for the slight embarrassment of being rejected, everything was fine.  All I had to do now was find out why my card was rejected.  Not being the patient type, I called the number on the back of my card while walking to my truck in the parking lot. I never thought I would be a victim of identity theft. Never say never.

Identity Theft and Capital One – No Hassles

Capital One promptly answered and, after I was able to verify my identity, they thanked me for calling so promptly, and explained why they rejected the card.  They told me that they had noticed some suspicious Internet charges against my card that didn’t match my normal spending patterns.  They went on to say, that as long as I verified these charges were in fact mine, they would gladly reinstate my card.  As they read me the charges, I found myself extremely happy I was doing business with these people.  They were exactly right.  They read me charge after charge from places I had never heard of.   Everything from a Mercedes Dealer in Palm Springs Florida, to an expensive name brand sporting goods outfit in California, to Dell Computer Sales and Service in Texas.  In total there were more than fifteen different charges in a ten day period that exceeded $3000.00.  All charges were placed over the the Internet, but that doesn’t explain how they got my card numbers.
Check out the business credit cards available on CardOffers.com  

Customer Service at its Best

I explained to the customer service representative how I was still in possession of both my card and my wife’s card and that I was unaware of how this could have happened.  They explained that it was not unusual and that it could have happened any number of ways, none of which was my fault.  They suggested I destroyed my current cards and they would send me a new ones overnight.   They removed the charges that I could immediately determine were not mine and told me to check my next bill closely for any others that may not be mine.  They also took the time to explain that they would be sending me the forms and information to permanently remove, not only these charges, but any other future fraudulent charges that would probably be dwindling in over the next few weeks.  They informed me that in no way would I be held responsible for any fraudulent charges.

Capital One – On Line Account the only way to go!

The account was killed immediately and I received my new cards two days later.  I decided to set up my new account on line with Capital One.  This way I can actually see the charges coming in on a daily basis rather than waiting for my monthly bill in the mail.  It was well worth it since they were once again correct.  More charges continued to dwindle in against my old card number for almost three weeks.  All I had to do was give them a quick call and they immediately removed all the charges that were not mine.  No questions, no hassles.  The following day I was able to verify they were gone by simply logging into my account.  It is also a great way to manage your payments on a real time basis.  No more worries about whether your payment made it through the mail.

Capital One Lives Up to Their Promise

In the end I received a very nice letter telling me the fraud investigation was resolve and closed.   The letter apologized for both the stress and inconvenience it might have caused me.   It also said, that as a part of their $0 fraud liability promise, that I was not responsible for any fraudulent charges.  The letter informed me there was nothing else I needed to do!  I was Done! It said they hoped that I was satisfied with how the case was handled and that they also hoped I could relax and get back to life as usual knowing that Capital One will continue to protect, monitor, and resolve any issues with my account.  That’s their promise!  In my opinion, they kept it!

Summary – Capital One Rocks!

It’s pretty scary when you find out that someone else has found access to your personal finances and accounts without your knowledge.   I was lucky, but some are not so lucky.  Fortunately, I had Capital One take care of my issues with no hassles.  Now, don’t let me try to convince you that it was completely without hassles.  It was a bit of a pain in the rear end to have to continue to check my account and call the fraud department with any new developments.  It was a slight pain to fill out the forms they sent every time more charges were added to the fraud claim.  I even received a call from the Mercedes Dealer in Palm Springs hoping to collect his money.  It was a bit stressful not knowing what would be charged next or whether I should actually use my new cards.  But Capital One took care of it and made it as simple as possible.

I’m sure there are some other good credit card companies out there.  Whether you choose CitiBank, WorldPerks® Visa® Platinum Card, Pulaski Bank Visa® Card, Discover, HSBC Bank or some other company is up to you but, from my personal experience I can’t imagine there is any better than Capital One.  They took care of me!

Ten Things you can do to protect your Identity!

I know of a few others who are still trying to untie the knots created by Identity theft.  Don’t be one of them!   There are lots of services out there – like Reputation.com’s Reputation Defender, for example – that can monitor your credit score for indications of identity theft. The most recent Reputation Defender review was very positive with respect to their ability to prevent damage to both your credit score and your bank savings. If you don’t want to pay a fee to have your identity professionally protected, then there are still plenty of things that you can do on your own to help prevent your identity from being stolen. Following is a list of ten things you can do to help prevent your own identity theft:

1. Be careful who you do business with over the Internet.  Use only those you are absolutely sure are reputable.
2. Be careful who you allow to handle your card.  Many times the card numbers are recorded along with the 3 digit code by the person handling your card.
3. Never give out social security numbers, credit card numbers on any financial information over the phone unless you know exactly who you are speaking with.
4. Never respond to any offers over the Internet regarding prizes you may have won, or money you may be entitled to, no matter how good it sounds or how interesting it may seem.
5. Never throw anything in the trash that might contain financially sensitive information.  Shred it first!
6. Check your credit rating often.  Once a year it is free from all three majors.  Place fraud alerts on your credit reports.
7. Deal only with reputable Credit card companies.  I personally recommend Capital One!
8. Opt-out of unsolicited credit card offers and junk mail.
9. Understand your rights and your limited responsibility.
10. Consider protecting yourself with a Identity Theft Protection.  While they offer nothing you can’t actually do yourself, they do provide the convenience and piece of mine that it will get handled.  The two largest are LifeLock® and Debix, but I also recommend checking them as just as thoroughly as any other financial institution to make sure they really offer what you actually need.

Identity Theft … It can happen to you!  It happened to me!  Papa B.