Bill would limit consumers' credit rights

By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY

SEATTLE — Congress is considering pre-empting laws in 17 states that allow anyone to freeze their own credit and instead restricting the privilege to ID theft victims.

The proposed Financial Data Protection Act of 2006, expected to be voted on by the House as soon as next week, comes on the heels of the recent theft of sensitive data for 26 million veterans and active duty military personnel. If it becomes law, vets and military personnel who live in states that permit unrestricted credit freezes would lose that option.

A credit freeze cuts off access to your credit history. Since most banks and merchants insist on seeing a credit report before issuing credit, identity thieves can't open bogus accounts using ill-gotten data. Under the bill, backed by the financial services industry, simply having your data lost or stolen isn't enough. You must file a police report describing a specific instance of it being used to commit a crime.

"It's like telling someone you can't put a deadbolt on your front door until after you've been burglarized," says Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2006-06-14-credit-freeze-usat_x.htm

so of course dumbaya will stump for it...

Where are the laws for "we, the people?" Are we a nation of citizens or of corporations? This crap has to stop. :grr: :nuke:

And stop using credit cards? It isn't like they're aren't enough good reasons why, ID theft, exorbitant interest rates, bankruptcy, forgery, data mining, etc. etc. ad nauseum. Now add this onto that list.

Look people, if you want a change in such government and corporate policies, you're going to have to hit these assholes where it hurts, in the pocketbook. And that means cutting up your cards, paying off the balance, and going strictly to a cash/check basis only.

Moaning and groaning about the problem, then going out and racking up another purchase on your card is not an effective way of making a difference. Hit them where it hurts, their bottom line. That will make them sit up and take notice.

to have a CC to rent a car, make hotel or airline reservations and hell just to cash a CHECK is lots of places. So the credit companies have us coming and going. Try, jut TRY to get a plane ticket with cash and see how many orifices are explored.

the card may be supplied by the employer but it is in your name and you are responsible for any debts on it.

You charge your travel and THEN apply for reimbursement. The employer gets to play the float, and you get stuck with the risk that the bill comes due before they reimburse you.

Really chintzy employers won't issue a company card - they expect you to use your own personal card. I worked for one of those once (large CPA firm)

since Visa is involved with it in some fashion....

but that debit card is just as prone if not more so to fraud as any credit card. it goes directly to your bank account after all...

Speaking of that, does anyone know of a good RFID blocking wallet?

I've never had a CC in my life, and have flown, rented cars, hotel rooms, etc. etc. Sometimes I get a hassle, and if so I hassle right back with the law. What the usual compromise is is that I give them my driver's license number or some such. And no, I've not had any orifices explored, perhaps it helps being 6'5", 280# with minimal fat:shrug:

If this really worries you, you could always get a debit card, most places I hear take them in lieu of a CC for such purposes. But really, I've had few problems over the years.

Having a credit card is becoming more and more of a sucker's game with every passing day.

In the last two years I have made hotel reservations; plane ticket reservations, and rented two cars without a CC. I have been able to cash every check I have recieved in the last 11 years without a CC.
No problems.
Now; I DO have a Visa-backed debit card; but it is never used in a credit capacity.

truly effective means of resistance now -- no credit cards, less gas, grow as much food as possible.

It's not all or nothing -- take whatever steps you can. I say this as someone who lives in a city designed, alas, for cars -- though I still try to use my bike when I can. And I have a ton of credit card debt, thanks in part to the marriage I was in (tho' some of it acquired in the rough financial sledding since), which I am struggling to get out of...

But yes -- withdraw our money from them, whenever/wherever we can.

Generally it's much more convenient than using cash, especially at the gas pump. I pay off my credit cards monthly. My debit card from Mastercard has an RFID chip in it that I'd just assume not have (how amazing, I can pay for stuff at McDonalds and 7/11 without swiping my card. :eyes:) Beyond that I like not having to go to the ATM that often nor worrying about having $$$ in my wallet.

I don't know why you think that checks would be any safer than a debit card. Every check you write has your account number and bank routing number on it, so anybody that check passes through could call up XYZ printers and print up checks with your info on them.

Doing check forgeries, among a couple of other illicit career moves, I know exactly how secure checks are these days. It is no longer simply a matter of warming up the printing machine, getting out your micker, and start printing away. The paper, the ink, all of this is and more is very specialized, and if you don't have access to these items, sure as shit you're going to get busted.

You can buy MICR toner anywhere. I worked for a bank and we had a few customers that just used checks they printed off on their inkjet printer (MICR line and all.) It would be especially easy to target somebody using lame checks like this. Also given junk like "phone drafts" and other crap like that floats through the check clearing system, the bank simply is not going to inspect anything that clears until the customer yells at them about it or they start bouncing a lot of checks.

And then let's see you try to actually pass some checks without getting caught.

I got out of the biz a couple of decades ago for two very good reasons, computers and cameras. Computers allow instant communication/confirmation and cameras allow identification. Sorry, but count me out of the check forging biz. Like I said, it isn't as easy as you seem to think it is. All the mom and pop operations were driven out years and years ago, and even the big time boys leave it alone now. After all, why go to all that hassle with magnetic inks, special dyes, etc. when instead they can simply slip a card reader into a gas pump, pull it out a week later and have all the credit card and ID info of literally thousands of people:shrug:

Hell, I wouldn't even touch TCs anymore, and they used to be the easiest scam around. But these days, it seems like CCs are the way to go. No forging needed, just playing with numbers floating around in the ether.

with a computer program bought at Office Max.

If I, or a company authorized by me, print up checks for my checking account I'm legally entitled to do so. OTHO printing up checks for someone else without their express permission and signing their name is illegal as it pretty much always has been... i think you're talking about the later not the former right?

You seem to think the banks' check processing centers have some sort of omnipresent knowledge about every customer's check documents and that's simply not the case.

an Ink jet. There's no law that says we can't, we haven't had any trouble at all in the years we've done so (except that due to the lack of the "magnetic ink" the checks don't scan as well with some readers) and we won't pay the crazy prices to buy checks when we use so few.

Actually unless the "Principles of Banking" and fed banking law have changed drastically in the last 13 years technically you can even write a check on a scrap napkin and the bank must accept it as long as ot has the proper information such as routing number, account number, signature, etc.

As I said we rarely use checks anymore... we pay with cash, bank checks, MO's or a debit card now depending on what it is. After a harsh learning experience we want nothing to do with credit cards (and credit in general) ... we just want to pay off all our debt and tell them aall to go pound salt.

decides to get a fraudulent credit card in the first person's name, s/he can do nothing about it if this bill passes.

A credit history contains far more than just credit card account histories.

The potential fraud victim will not be able to prevent new credit accounts being opened in their name if they cannot freeze their credit accounts...

Your chance of ID theft goes down considerably. You aren't putting your personal information out there all the time for some criminal posing as a cashier to note down.

I also agree that this bill is BS, in fact it is more BS cooked up by the credit card companies. That is why I think we need to start voting with our wallets, that and the fact that you expose yourself to less ID theft if you are cardless.

and I still have a credit card. I pay off my balance every month. So I use their money (30 day float) without paying any interest.

are they any further questions needed about them?

Even now - I can't believe what I just read. Amazing.

are actually debtors prisons.

If you don't want people randomly using your credit info.. why can't their be a flag on your ss#, when the credit bureau is tapped, then they have to notify you of the request.

I believe what they're talking about in the OP are the fraud alerts on the credit reports say something like:

"Contact <Customer Name> at <phone number> to verify identity before opening new accounts"

Because her name is quite common, and she's always having ID theft, etc. happening to her.

the social security number is SPECIFICLY prohibited from being used for ANYTHING other than tracking you SS contributions. They have no right and are in violation of federal law to be doing anything with anyones SSN.

which I suspect it will, it is just further proof that Congress does not care about the American people. It is just another gift to the banking and credit industry.

I told them I am writing all veterans groups and all my friends urging them to stand up against this bill.

Here's the letter I am sending to others.

Subject: Get angry, get active

Our Data got stolen, so how does congress react? They are quickly responding to this serious issue by putting the screws to us The Financial Data Protection Act of 2006 will make it virtually impossible for you to protect your credit. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R.-Ohio, is the sponsor of the bill. Most likely the credit card industries wrote the actual bill.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2006-06-14-credit-freeze-usat_x.htm


The proposed Financial Data Protection Act of 2006, expected to be voted on by the House as soon as next week, comes on the heels of the recent theft of sensitive data for 26 million veterans and active duty military personnel. If it becomes law, vets and military personnel who live in states that permit unrestricted credit freezes would lose that option.


If this law was already in effect we would not have been allowed to hear of the theft of the data.

The bill also would pre-empt laws in 29 states requiring companies, institutions and agencies to notify individuals about security breaches compromising their data. It sets national criteria for data protection and breach disclosures, and puts banking and Treasury officials in charge of compliance.

I am calling my congressman today. This really sucks. I am fed up with the corporate supremacist in congress.

This needs to get out to as many veterans as possible. When they raise hell en masse, I think people listen.

are getting very angry. I also told her that I am angry with her congressman for his vote against net neutrality.

to worry about being voted out... DIEBOLD is his friend.

bad that any manipulation would be apparent to the most casual voter.

Sickening how they want more and more..

ad an amendment that this protection be mandatory nationally in every piece of fucking pro-business legislation that is debated.

Oh, never mind.

These guys need a baseball bat to the face. The real reason they want this done is it costs them money to shut you down, and they don't want to have data they spent a lot of money collecting suddenly becoming useless. And they don't want people with bad credit shutting it down; they make money by reporting bad credit risks to everyone from landlords to employers. And I bet the government is buying this data as well.

"Gee, I didn't know we had any rights left for them to limit!"

:sarcasm:

their fellow kin? Sick assholes picking on The People.

to get rid of all my credit cards and rip them up...even still they can steal your identity!!!

The kid took it and bought nice tennies and other gear prolly 2 hours after he got hold of it at a Subway. He went to the local way cool mall (Laurel Park in Livonia, Michigan) and got fancy athletic shoes and other gear. Ran up about $1000 in about 2 hours time. Anyway, I caught it at work about the time he started charging, and stopped the presses. Never made it on my record, never had to pay a cent.

Bastards wanna stop the protecitons that protected me in this situation. It's getting harder and harder to be the forgiving person I am. I am almost wishing some real serious illnesses or accidents on these fockers!

H.R. 3997: Financial Data Protection Act of 2006 (Orwell again, anyone?)

Mostly the usual suspects. Until the Dems get rid of these far right enablers- they're destined to keep punting away winning issues- and very likely losing Congressional elections in the process.

There is NO excuse for cosponsoring this. None whatsoever.

Rep. Melissa Bean D-IL

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver D-MO

Rep. Ruben Hinojosa D-TX

Rep. Darlene Hooley (she also supports preempting ALL state food labeling laws)

Rep. Dennis Moore D-KS

Rep. David Scott D-GA

Oh, and looky looky- a so called Republican "moderate" Rep. Christopher Shays R-CT

He's right -- there is NO excuse for this. It has zero benefit for anyone but the financial industry. I just can't imagine how any congress person could justify supporting this. If anyone gets an answer from a rep's office on why they're supporting this, I'm sure we'd all love to hear the spin.

since if you freeze corporate access to your financial data, the government might actually have to get a warrant to browse through it (what a novel concept).

of this very bad piece of legislation.

Do you want to help send a message to Congress in November??

Lewis Katz, a Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University, is the Democratic opponent for the OH-14 race. Lew can use our help to send LaTourette back into private life.

Visit his website http://katzforcongress.com/

and donate if you can....volunteer if you are local.

With all of us working to elect Democratic candidates in November we can put a stop to legislation that hurts all of us.

LaTourette is becoming vunerable by his own actions in the House...let's take advantage of that.

In the last four months I have received information that my personal data has been stolen from the following institutions and/or companies:

1. Cooks Illustrated magazine informed me that its data base had been compromised and my name and credit card info could have been stolen if I had ordered anything through their online site in the last couple of years. (They suggested I put a fraud alert on my credit.)
2. Metropolitan State College of Denver admitted that a laptop computer was stolen. On the computer were names, social security numbers, addresses of its student base for a number of years. (They suggested that I put a fraud alert on my credit.)
3. The VA had a lap top computer stolen and over 26M veterans had their personal information compromised. (The VA suggested that veterans put a fraud alert on their credit files.)
4. The Denver Election Commission admitted two weeks ago that a filing cabinet containing microfiche files of Denver citizens' election data was missing. The data included name, address, social security number, date of birth, and copy of signature. (They suggested that all affected citizens put a fraud alert on their credit.)

Thanks Congress. The one thing that individuals could do to try and protect their identity before having it stolen and misused is now being removed. I guess the credit industry finds it too costly to protect the identity of its customers.

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm


88,348,579 people know exactly how you feel