| HSBC Survey: Consumers Slow to Seek Free Credit Reports, Despite ...
(CSRwire) PROSPECT HEIGHTS, Ill. - A new survey by HSBC - North America finds that while 82 percent of consumers fear identity theft, only four in 10 have taken advantage of the recent law - the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) - that gives consumers free access annually to their credit reports to check for errors. Checking credit reports regularly can help consumers detect identity theft, which, according to the Federal Trade Commission, has struck 27.3 million Americans in the past five years. It's also an opportunity for consumers to understand their credit status, see how their financial decisions impact their credit standing and assess their progress toward achieving financial goals. "Knowing your credit history represents the first step toward understanding and managing your financial well-being," says Loretta Abrams, vice president of community development and consumer advocacy at HSBC - North America.
Free steps towards protecting your ID
Thanks to a new law in Maryland, you can now request the three major credit reporting agencies not give out your credit report. It is just the newest way to protect you from identity theft. It will cost you $15, a five dollar fee from each credit reporting agencies. But there are two other steps you can take to guard your good name and they are both free.You see ads all the time promising you a free credit report. Those ads are all too familiar to Angie Barnett, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland. “It is all over the internet, we find them everywhere, I'm listening to the radio, you hear it constantly." But Barnett warns buyers beware. She says, “that you can get these free credit reports but what they are going to do is give you something you can already get for free then secondly they are going to try to sell you a bundle or package of services that are directly related to protecting you from identity theft." She goes on to say that those services are steps you can take on your own without paying.The federal government requires all three of the major credit reporting agencies, Transunion, Experian and Equifax, to give you a free copy of your report once a year. There is only one place on the internet where you can do that and it is http://www.annualcreditreport.com“We encourage people to be sure you stagger it," says Barnett.
Sir Ed passes away - Legendary explorer and mountaineer left mark on ...
Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand's favorite and most famous son, died Jan. 11 (local time) at the age of 88 in an Auckland hospital. Hillary, more popularly referred to as Sir Ed, rose to fame in 1953 as the first man to summit Mount Everest, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. But the former beekeeper also left his mark in the Antarctic, helping to establish New Zealand's Scott Base on Ross Island in 1957 and leading the first overland vehicle traverse to the South Pole in 1958. The residents at Scott Base, located near the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP)'s McMurdo Station, held a brief memorial ceremony at 1 p.m. local time and lowered the New Zealand flag in his memory. The flag remained down until midnight Jan. 12. The base staff will lower the flag again on the day of his funeral, which had not been set at the time of this writing.
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