Posted on: 16-06-09 13:10:18
I have an option to block or not receive any call from telemarketers.
Is there any way where I can opt for not issuing any credit(credit card,mortgage,loan etc) against my name unless I personally sign any agreement.
I have experience that even if you tell your banks they will never stop sending you the credit offers.
I had line of credit with one of my bank and I was not using it and told the bank
not to send any LOC cheques, but they never stopped and finally I had to close my account.
I mean, what rights/financial protection we have in this developed country where our credit report is being managed in overseas countries like Philippines?
How can you protect yourself? I cannot trust agencies like Trans Canada or Equifax where u can put fraud alert. By the time u get the alert, u r toast.
What are the good ways of protecting your finances?
It is just a general discussion which I feel is very important and positive suggestion is more than welcome. it will help to learn more about security.
Thanks
You can set up your credit file in such a way that no credit application will be approved without a telephonic confirmation from you.
The way it works in the US is that you set up this protection through an agency for a small fee (used to be $39.99 many years ago with PrivacyGuard, for example).
Every time a new credit account is being opened in your name, they will call you at a listed number.
First they ask questions to verify your identity and then ask for your confirmation to open the account.
If you confirm, it will proceed, else they will strike down that credit request.
There are two main benefits - (1) fraud check if someone is trying to open an account in your name and (2) self-check in case you requested a new credit product on the spur of the moment and later re-think (like those store credits).
The downside is that all your credit applications will not take much longer to go thru (i.e. wait for phone call).
This type of arrangement will not stop the LOC cheques though.
That one you have to work out with the bank using written requests and threats to close the account.
I completely agree that the cheques based on credit cards or LOC are extremely dangerous.
These days banks typically don't bother verifying signature for every single cheque clearing through them (there are millions every day).
So if such cheques falls into the wrong hands, they can easily siphon off thousands of $$ from someone's credit account and transfer to an offshore account, which will be impossible to ever trace and redeem.
I assume you can set up something similar with the Canadian arms of the credit bureaus.
Only two left now, since Experian went bust in Canada.
BTW, it's TransUnion and not Trans Canada (which is a utility company).
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"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."
-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"
Quote:
Originally posted by pratickm
You can set up your credit file in such a way that no credit application will be approved without a telephonic confirmation from you.
The way it works in the US is that you set up this protection through an agency for a small fee (used to be $39.99 many years ago with PrivacyGuard, for example).
Every time a new credit account is being opened in your name, they will call you at a listed number.
First they ask questions to verify your identity and then ask for your confirmation to open the account.
If you confirm, it will proceed, else they will strike down that credit request.
There are two main benefits - (1) fraud check if someone is trying to open an account in your name and (2) self-check in case you requested a new credit product on the spur of the moment and later re-think (like those store credits).
The downside is that all your credit applications will not take much longer to go thru (i.e. wait for phone call).
This type of arrangement will not stop the LOC cheques though.
That one you have to work out with the bank using written requests and threats to close the account.
I completely agree that the cheques based on credit cards or LOC are extremely dangerous.
These days banks typically don't bother verifying signature for every single cheque clearing through them (there are millions every day).
So if such cheques falls into the wrong hands, they can easily siphon off thousands of $$ from someone's credit account and transfer to an offshore account, which will be impossible to ever trace and redeem.
I assume you can set up something similar with the Canadian arms of the credit bureaus.
Only two left now, since Experian went bust in Canada.
BTW, it's TransUnion and not Trans Canada (which is a utility company).
Is it mandatory for the creditors to look at your credit report before issuing any credit?
What if they don't care to call me before opening an account? In such scenario, do I have any legal right?
Thanks
Quote:I don't think there's any rule that requires creditors to check credit report before issuing any credit.
Originally posted by web2000
Is it mandatory for the creditors to look at your credit report before issuing any credit?
They do that for their own protection.
In fact, they may not even report new accounts opened to the credit bureaus.
All of this is system has evolved over the years and different companies follow different practices on checking credit files and reporting account information.
Quote:The calling is actually done by a third-party agency, if you are referring to a credit monitoring type of service.
What if they don't care to call me before opening an account? In such scenario, do I have any legal right?
If a lender does not pull your credit file before issuing credit, then the credit bureaus and the monitoring agency won't know anything about it.
Similarly, if the creditor doesn't report account status to the bureaus on a regular basis, the monitoring agency won't know about it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."
-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"
Quote:
Originally posted by pratickm
They do that for their own protection.
That raised a very important question. In the case of fraud, only the victim is held responsible then why would creditor will take any chance to verify the identity of the person before issuing any credit.
All these problems are just because creditors do no suffer from the fraud.
Moral of the story is that you are not protected no matter what precaution u take.
Thanks
Quote:Well, they do - when they lose their money.
Originally posted by web2000
only the victim is held responsible then why would creditor will take any chance to verify the identity of the person before issuing any credit.
All these problems are just because creditors do no suffer from the fraud.
If someone steals a credit card and buys thousands of $$ of stuff and then disappears, both the real card holder and the creditor suffers.
If the card holder is absolved of all responsibility, then only the creditor will suffer because all that money is a loss for them.
If the card holder is held liable and they can't/won't pay-up, then his/her credit is trashed for many years to come but the creditor also doesn't get the money back.
Quote:There is no guaranteed fool-proof protection for sure.
Moral of the story is that you are not protected no matter what precaution u take.
There are always avenues and loop holes for the fraudsters.
And the more complex the protection gets, the more bureaucracy it creates for the common man, and the smarter the fraudsters get.
I read a news story recently that a lot of high-tech fraudsters are exploiting the loopholes in the PCI standards for payment processing and are hacking into the networks of smaller merchants and unmanned kiosks and siphoning off credit card numbers between the merchant and the bank's network.
Once they setup the hack, within a few days, they end up getting hundreds if not thousands of credit card numbers.
The real criminals are often doing this from third-world or remote countries where it is next to impossible to track them down and bring them to justice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."
-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"
Quote:
Originally posted by pratickm
Quote:Well, they do - when they lose their money.
Originally posted by web2000
only the victim is held responsible then why would creditor will take any chance to verify the identity of the person before issuing any credit.
All these problems are just because creditors do no suffer from the fraud.
If someone steals a credit card and buys thousands of $$ of stuff and then disappears, both the real card holder and the creditor suffers.
If the card holder is absolved of all responsibility, then only the creditor will suffer because all that money is a loss for them.
If the card holder is held liable and they can't/won't pay-up, then his/her credit is trashed for many years to come but the creditor also doesn't get the money back.
Quote:There is no guaranteed fool-proof protection for sure.
Moral of the story is that you are not protected no matter what precaution u take.
There are always avenues and loop holes for the fraudsters.
And the more complex the protection gets, the more bureaucracy it creates for the common man, and the smarter the fraudsters get.
I read a news story recently that a lot of high-tech fraudsters are exploiting the loopholes in the PCI standards for payment processing and are hacking into the networks of smaller merchants and unmanned kiosks and siphoning off credit card numbers between the merchant and the bank's network.
Once they setup the hack, within a few days, they end up getting hundreds if not thousands of credit card numbers.
The real criminals are often doing this from third-world or remote countries where it is next to impossible to track them down and bring them to justice.
I thought the card holder is forced to pay through collection agency if there is any fraud.
I also read about PCI standards and its loopholes.
I wish if there is any way in online banking where I can control which IP zone should be allowed to do transaction, then all third world IP can be blocked to reduce the attack surface. I don't know if banks do allow to connect through open proxies which most of the hackers do.
