Disposing of Consumer Report Information? New Rule Tells How

In an effort to protect the privacy of consumer information and reduce the risk of fraud and identity theft, a new federal rule is requiring businesses to take appropriate measures to dispose of sensitive information derived from consumer reports.

Any business or individual who uses a consumer report for a business purpose is subject to the requirements of the Disposal Rule. The Rule requires the proper disposal of information in consumer reports and records to protect against “unauthorized access to or use of the information.” The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the Disposal Rule.

According to the FTC, the standard for the proper disposal of information derived from a consumer report is flexible, and allows the organizations and individuals covered by the Rule to determine what measures are reasonable based on the sensitivity of the information, the costs and benefits of different disposal methods, and changes in technology.

Although the Disposal Rule applies to consumer reports and the information derived from consumer reports, the FTC encourages those who dispose of any records containing a consumer’s personal or financial information to take similar protective measures.

Who must comply?
The Disposal Rule applies to people and both large and small organizations that use consumer reports. Among those who must comply with the Rule are:

Consumer reporting companies

Lenders

Insurers

Employers

Landlords

Government agencies

Mortgage brokers

Automobile dealers

Attorneys or private investigators

Debt collectors

Individuals who obtain a credit report on prospective nannies, contractors, or tenants

Entities that maintain information in consumer reports as part of their role as service providers to other organizations covered by the Rule

What information does the Disposal Rule cover?
The Disposal Rule applies to consumer reports or information derived from consumer reports. The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines the term consumer report to include information obtained from a consumer reporting company that is used – or expected to be used – in establishing a consumer’s eligibility for credit, employment, or insurance, among other purposes. Credit reports and credit scores are consumer reports. So are reports businesses or individuals receive with information relating to employment background, check writing history, insurance claims, residential or tenant history, or medical history.

What is ‘proper’ disposal?
The Disposal Rule requires disposal practices that are reasonable and appropriate to prevent the unauthorized access to – or use of – information in a consumer report. For example, reasonable measures for disposing of consumer report information could include establishing and complying with policies to:

burn, pulverize, or shred papers containing consumer report information so that the information cannot be read or reconstructed;

destroy or erase electronic files or media containing consumer report information so that the information cannot be read or reconstructed;

conduct due diligence and hire a document destruction contractor to dispose of material specifically identified as consumer report information consistent with the Rule. Due diligence could include:

reviewing an independent audit of a disposal company’s operations and/or its compliance with the Rule;

obtaining information about the disposal company from several references;

requiring that the disposal company be certified by a recognized trade association;

reviewing and evaluating the disposal company’s information security policies or procedures.

The FTC says that financial institutions that are subject to both the Disposal Rule and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Safeguards Rule should incorporate practices dealing with the proper disposal of consumer information into the information security program that the Safeguards Rule requires (ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/safeguards.html).

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which was enacted in 2003, directed the FTC, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt comparable and consistent rules regarding the disposal of sensitive consumer report information. The FTC’s Disposal Rule became effective June 1, 2005. It was published in the Federal Register on November 24, 2004 [69 Fed. Reg. 68,690], and is available at ftc.gov/os/2004/11/041118disposalfrn.pdf.



Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Using Consumer Reports: What Landlords Need to Know

If you're a landlord, you may use consumer reports to evaluate rental applications - as long as you follow the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA is designed to protect the privacy of consumer report information and to guarantee that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) is as accurate as possible. The FCRA requires landlords who deny a lease based on information in the applicant's consumer report to provide the applicant with an "adverse action notice."

What is a Consumer Report?
A consumer report contains information about a person's credit characteristics, character, general reputation, and lifestyle. A report also may include information about someone's rental history, such as information from previous landlords or from public records like housing court or eviction files. To be covered by the FCRA, a report must be prepared by a CRA - a business that assembles such reports for other businesses. The most common type of CRA is the credit bureau.

Landlords often use consumer reports to help them evaluate rental applications. These reports include:

A credit report from a credit bureau, such as Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax or an affiliate company;

A report from a tenant-screening service that describes the applicant's rental history based on reports from previous landlords or housing court records;

A report from a tenant-screening service that describes the applicant's rental history, and also includes a credit report the service got from a credit bureau;

A report from a tenant-screening service that is limited to a credit report the service got from a credit bureau; and

A report from a reference-checking service that contacts previous landlords or other parties listed on the rental application on behalf of the rental property owner.

Landlords often ask applicants to give personal, employment and previous landlord references on their rental applications. Whether verifying such references is covered by the FCRA depends on who does the verification. A reference verified by the landlord's employee is not covered by the Act; a reference verified by an agency hired by the landlord to do the verification is covered.

What is an Adverse Action?
An adverse action is any action by a landlord that is unfavorable to the interests of a rental applicant. Common adverse actions by landlords include:

Denying the application;

Requiring a co-signer on the lease;

Requiring a deposit that would not be required for another applicant;

Requiring a larger deposit than might be required for another applicant; and

Raising the rent to a higher amount than for another applicant.

The Adverse Action Notice
When an adverse action is taken that is based solely or partly on information in a consumer report, the FCRA requires you to provide a notice of the adverse action to the consumer. The notice must include:

the name, address and telephone number of the CRA that supplied the consumer report, including a toll-free telephone number for CRAs that maintain files nationwide;

a statement that the CRA that supplied the report did not make the decision to take the adverse action and cannot give the specific reasons for it; and

a notice of the individual's right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information the CRA furnished, and the consumer's right to a free report from the CRA upon request within 60 days.

Disclosure of this information is important because some consumer reports contain errors.

The adverse action notice is required even if information in the consumer report was not the main reason for the denial, the increase in security deposit or rent or other adverse action. In fact, even if the information in the report plays only a small part in the overall decision, the applicant still must be notified.

The adverse action notice must name the CRA that provided the report to the landlord, even if the information came from another CRA. For example, a report from XYZ TenantScreen includes a credit report from ABC Credit Bureau. The credit report includes negative information that prompts the landlord to turn down the rental application. The adverse action notice should name XYZ TenantScreen as the CRA because XYZ TenantScreen actually provided the report to the landlord. The notice also can explain that XYZ TenantScreen got the credit information from ABC Credit Bureau, but that is not required under the FCRA.

While oral adverse action notices are allowed, written notices provide proof of FCRA compliance.

Take the Case of...
1. A landlord who orders a consumer report from a CRA. Information contained in the report leads to further investigation of the applicant. The rental application is denied because of that investigation.

Since information in the report prompted the adverse action in this case, an adverse action notice must be sent to the consumer.

2. An applicant with an unfavorable credit history, like past-due credit accounts, who is denied an apartment. Although the credit history was considered in the decision, the applicant's poor reputation as a tenant in his current location played a more important role.

The applicant is entitled to an adverse action notice because the credit report played a part, however minor, in the denial.

3. A person with an unfavorable credit history, like a bankruptcy, but no other negative indicators, who applies for an apartment. Rather than deny the application, the landlord offers to rent the apartment, requiring a security deposit that is double the normal amount.

The applicant is entitled to an adverse action notice because the credit report influenced the landlord's decision to require a higher security deposit from the applicant.

4. A landlord who hires a reference-checking service to verify information included on a rental application. Because the service reports that the applicant does not work for the employer listed on the application, the rental application is denied.

The applicant is entitled to an adverse action notice. The report is a consumer report from a CRA (the agency checking the references provided by the consumer on the application), and its report influenced the landlord's decision to deny the application.

5. A landlord who makes it a practice to approve an application if the prospective tenant shows an adequate income or has a favorable credit report, is dealing with an applicant who has an inadequate income and a bad credit report.

The applicant is entitled to an adverse action notice because the credit report influenced the denial, even though income was another factor.

Non-Compliance with the FCRA
Landlords who fail to provide required disclosure notices face legal consequences. The FCRA allows individuals to sue landlords for damages in federal court. A person who successfully sues is entitled to recover court costs and reasonable legal fees. The law also allows individuals to seek punitive damages for deliberate violations of the FCRA. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), other federal agencies and the states may sue landlords for non-compliance and get civil penalties.

However, a landlord who inadvertently fails to provide a required notice in an isolated case has legal protections, so long as he or she can demonstrate "that at the time of the . . . violation he maintained reasonable procedures to assure compliance" with the FCRA.



Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know

Your advertisement for cashiers nets 100 applications. You want credit reports on each applicant. You plan to eliminate those with poor credit histories. What are your obligations?
You are considering a number of your long-term employees for major promotions. Can you check their credit reports to ensure that only financially responsible individuals are considered?
A job candidate has authorized you to obtain a credit report. The applicant has a poor credit history. Although the credit history is considered a negative factor, it's the applicant's lack of relevant experience that's more important to you. You turn down the application. What procedures must you follow?

As an employer, you may use consumer reports when you hire new employees and when you evaluate employees for promotion, reassignment, and retention — as long as you comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Sections 604, 606, and 615 of the FCRA spell out your responsibilities when using consumer reports for employment purposes.

The FCRA is designed primarily to protect the privacy of consumer report information and to guarantee that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies is as accurate as possible. Amendments to the FCRA — which went into effect September 30, 1997 — significantly increase the legal obligations of employers who use consumer reports. Congress expanded employer responsibilities because of concern that inaccurate or incomplete consumer reports could cause applicants to be denied jobs or cause employees to be denied promotions unjustly. The amendments ensure (1) that individuals are aware that consumer reports may be used for employment purposes and agree to such use, and (2) that individuals are notified promptly if information in a consumer report may result in a negative employment decision.

What is a Consumer Report?
A consumer report contains information about your personal and credit characteristics, character, general reputation, and lifestyle. To be covered by the FCRA, a report must be prepared by a consumer reporting agency (CRA) — a business that assembles such reports for other businesses.

Employers often do background checks on applicants and get consumer reports during their employment. Some employers only want an applicant's or employee's credit payment records; others want driving records and criminal histories. For sensitive positions, it's not unusual for employers to order investigative consumer reports — reports that include interviews with an applicant's or employee's friends, neighbors, and associates. All of these types of reports are consumer reports if they are obtained from a CRA.

Applicants are often asked to give references. Whether verifying such references is covered by the FCRA depends on who does the verification. A reference verified by the employer is not covered by the Act; a reference verified by an employment or reference checking agency (or other CRA) is covered. Section 603(o) provides special procedures for reference checking; otherwise, checking references may constitute an investigative consumer report subject to additional FCRA requirements.

Key Provisions of the FCRA Amendments

Written Notice and Authorization.
Before you can get a consumer report for employment purposes, you must notify the individual in writing — in a document consisting solely of this notice — that a report may be used. You also must get the person's written authorization before you ask a CRA for the report. (Special procedures apply to the trucking industry.)

Adverse Action Procedures
If you rely on a consumer report for an "adverse action" - denying a job application, reassigning or terminating an employee, or denying a promotion — be aware that:

Step 1: Before you take the adverse action, you must give the individual a pre-adverse action disclosure that includes a copy of the individual's consumer report and a copy of "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act" — a document prescribed by the Federal Trade Commission. The CRA that furnishes the individual's report will give you the summary of consumer rights.

Step 2: After you've taken an adverse action, you must give the individual notice — orally, in writing, or electronically — that the action has been taken in an adverse action notice. It must include:
The name, address, and phone number of the CRA that supplied the report;

A statement that the CRA that supplied the report did not make the decision to take the adverse action and cannot give specific reasons for it; and

A notice of the individual's right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information the agency furnished, and his or her right to an additional free consumer report from the agency upon request within 60 days.

Certifications to Consumer Reporting Agencies.
Before giving you an individual's consumer report, the CRA will require you to certify that you are in compliance with the FCRA and that you will not misuse any information in the report in violation of federal or state equal employment opportunity laws or regulations.

In 1998, Congress amended the FCRA to provide special procedures for mail, telephone, or electronic employment applications in the trucking industry. Employers do not need to make written disclosures and obtain written permission in the case of applicants who will be subject to state or federal regulation as truckers. Finally, no pre-adverse action disclosure or Section 615(a) disclosure is required. Instead, the employer must, within three days of the decision, provide an oral, written, or electronic adverse action disclosure consisting of: (1) a statement that an adverse action has been taken based on a consumer report; (2) the name, address, and telephone number of the CRA; (3) a statement that the CRA did not make the decision; and (4) a statement that the consumer may obtain a copy of the actual report from the employer if he or she provides identification.

In Practice...
You advertise vacancies for cashiers and receive 100 applications. You want just credit reports on each applicant because you plan to eliminate those with poor credit histories. What are your obligations? You can get credit reports — one type of consumer report — if you notify each applicant in writing that a credit report may be requested and if you receive the applicant's written consent. Before you reject an applicant based on credit report information, you must make a pre-adverse action disclosure that includes a copy of the credit report and the summary of consumer rights under the FCRA. Once you've rejected an applicant, you must provide an adverse action notice if credit report information affected your decision.

You are considering a number of your long-term employees for a major promotion. You want to check their consumer reports to ensure that only responsible individuals are considered for the position. What are your obligations? You cannot get consumer reports unless the employees have been notified that reports may be obtained and have given their written permission. If the employees gave you written permission in the past, you need only make sure that the employees receive or have received a "separate document" notice that reports may be obtained during the course of their employment — no more notice or permission is required. If your employees have not received notice and given you permission, you must notify the employees and get their written permission before you get their reports.

In each case where information in the report influences your decision to deny promotion, you must provide the employee with a pre-adverse action disclosure. The employee also must receive an adverse action notice once you have selected another individual for the job.

A job applicant gives you the okay to get a consumer report. Although the credit history is poor and that's a negative factor, the applicant's lack of relevant experience carries more weight in your decision not to hire. What's your responsibility? In any case where information in a consumer report is a factor in your decision — even if the report information is not a major consideration — you must follow the procedures mandated by the FCRA. In this case, you would be required to provide the applicant a pre-adverse action disclosure before you reject his or her application. When you formally reject the applicant, you would be required to provide an adverse action notice.

The applicants for a sensitive financial position have authorized you to obtain credit reports. You reject one applicant, whose credit report shows a debt load that may be too high for the proposed salary, even though the report shows a good repayment history. You turn down another, whose credit report shows only one credit account, because you want someone who has shown more financial responsibility. Are you obliged to provide any notices to these applicants?

Both applicants are entitled to a pre-adverse action disclosure and an adverse action notice. If any information in the credit report influences an adverse decision, the applicant is entitled to the notices — even when the information isn't negative.

Non-compliance
There are legal consequences for employers who fail to get an applicant’s permission before requesting a consumer report or who fail to provide pre-adverse action disclosures and adverse action notices to unsuccessful job applicants. The FCRA allows individuals to sue employers for damages in federal court. A person who successfully sues is entitled to recover court costs and reasonable legal fees. The law also allows individuals to seek punitive damages for deliberate violations. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission, other federal agencies, and the states may sue employers for noncompliance and obtain civil penalties.



Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Credit Reports: What Information Providers Need to Know

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is designed to protect the privacy of credit report information and to guarantee that information supplied by consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) is as accurate as possible. If you provide information to a CRA, such as a credit bureau, be aware that amendments to the law spell out new legal obligations. These amendments were effective September 30, 1997.

Does the FCRA Affect Me?
If you report information about consumers to a CRA, you are considered a "furnisher" of information under the FCRA. CRAs include many types of databases -- credit bureaus, tenant screening companies, check verification services, and medical information services -- that collect information to help businesses evaluate consumers. If you provide information to a CRA regularly, the FCRA requires that the CRA send you a notice of your responsibilities.

What Are My Responsibilities?
The responsibilities of information providers are found in Section 623 of the FCRA, 15 U.S.C. §1681s-2, and are explained here. Items 2 and 5 apply only to furnishers who provide information to CRAs "regularly and in the ordinary course of their business." All information providers must comply with the other responsibilities.

1. General Prohibition on Reporting Inaccurate Information - Section 623(a)(1)(A) and Section 623(a)(1)(C).

You may not furnish information that you know -- or consciously avoid knowing -- is inaccurate. If you "clearly and conspicuously" provide consumers with an address for dispute notices, you are exempt from this obligation but subject to the duties discussed in Item 3.

What does "clear and conspicuous" mean? Reasonably easy to read and understand. For example, a notice buried in a mailing is not clear or conspicuous.

2. Correcting and Updating Information -- Section 623(a)(2).
If you discover you've supplied one or more CRAs with incomplete or inaccurate information, you must correct it, resubmit to each CRA, and report only the correct information in the future.
3. Responsibilities After Notice of a Consumer Dispute from a Consumer --Sections 623(a)(1)(B) and 623(a)(3).

If a consumer writes to the address you specify for disputes to challenge the accuracy of any information you furnished, and if the information is, in fact, inaccurate, you must report only the correct information to CRAs in the future. If you are a regular furnisher, you also will have to satisfy the duties in Item 2.

Once a consumer has given notice that he or she disputes information, you may not give that information to any CRA without also telling the CRA that the information is in dispute.

4. Responsibilities After Receiving Notice from a Consumer Reporting Agency -- Section 623(b).

If a CRA notifies you that a consumer disputes information you provided:
You must investigate the dispute and review all relevant information provided by the CRA about the dispute.

You must report your findings to the CRA.

If your investigation shows the information to be incomplete or inaccurate, you must provide corrected information to all national CRAs that received the information.

You should complete these steps within the time period that the FCRA sets out for the CRA to resolve the dispute -- normally 30 days after receipt of a dispute notice from the consumer. If the consumer provides additional relevant information during the 30-day period, the CRA has 15 days more. The CRA must give you all relevant information that it gets within five business days of receipt, and must promptly give you additional relevant information provided from the consumer. If you do not investigate and respond within the specified time periods, the CRA must delete the disputed information from its files.

5. Reporting Voluntary Account Closings -- Section 623(a)(4).
You must notify CRAs when consumers voluntarily close credit accounts. This is important because some information users may interpret a closed account as an indicator of bad credit unless it is clearly disclosed that the consumer -- not the creditor -- closed the account.

6. Reporting Delinquencies -- Section 623(a)(5).
If you report information about a delinquent account that's placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subject to any similar action, you must, within 90 days after you report the information, notify the CRA of the month and the year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded your action. This will ensure that CRAs use the correct date when computing how long derogatory information can be kept in a consumer's file.

How do you report accounts that you have charged off or placed for collection? For example:
A consumer becomes delinquent on March 15, 1998. The creditor places the account for collection on October 1, 1998.

In this case, the delinquency began on March 15, 1998. The date that the creditor places the account for collection has no significance for calculating how long the account can stay on the consumer's credit report. In this case, the date that must be reported to CRAs within 90 days after you first report the collection action is "March 1998."

A consumer falls behind on monthly payments in January 1998, brings the account current in June 1998, pays on time and in full every month through October 1998, and thereafter makes no payments. The creditor charges off the account in December 1999.

In this case, the most recent delinquency began when the consumer failed to make the payment due in November 1998. The earlier delinquency is irrelevant. The creditor must report the November 1998 date within 90 days of reporting the charge-off. For example, if the creditor charges off the account in December 1999, and reports this charge-off on December 31, 1999, the creditor must provide the month and year of the delinquency (i.e., "November 1998") within 90 days of December 31, 1999.

A consumer's account becomes delinquent on December 15, 1997. The account is first placed for collection on April 1, 1998. Collection is not successful. The merchant places the account with a second collection agency on June 1, 2003.

The date of the delinquency for reporting purposes is "December 1997." Repeatedly placing an account for collection does not change the date that the delinquency began.

A consumer's credit account becomes delinquent on April 15, 1998. The consumer makes partial payments for the next five months but never brings the account current. The merchant places the account for collection in May of 1999.

Since the account was never brought current during the period that partial payments were made, the delinquency that immediately preceded the collection commenced in April 1998 when the consumer first became delinquent.



Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Consumer Reports: What Insurers Need to Know

As an insurer, you may use consumer reports to underwrite insurance policies and to screen high-risk applicants—as long as you comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

The Act
The FCRA is designed to protect the privacy of consumer report information and to guarantee that the information supplied by credit reporting agencies (CRAs) is as accurate as possible. Consumer reports may include information on an applicant’s credit history, medical conditions, driving record, criminal activity, and hazardous sports. Amendments to the FCRA, which went into effect September 30, 1997, increase the legal obligations of insurers who use consumer reports.

The Adverse Action Notice
The following disclosure requirement applies to new applicants as well as current policy holders. When an adverse action is taken—such as a decision to deny insurance, increase rates, or terminate a policy—and it is based solely or partly on information in a consumer report, Section 615(a) of the FCRA requires you to provide a notice of the adverse action to the consumer. The notice must include:
the name, address, and telephone number of the CRA that supplied the consumer report, including the toll-free telephone number for credit bureaus that maintain files nationwide;

a statement that the CRA that supplied the report did not make the decision to take the adverse action and cannot give the specific reasons for it; and

a notice of the individual’s right to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information the CRA furnished, and the consumer’s right to a free report from the CRA upon request within 60 days.

Disclosure of this information is important because some consumer reports may contain errors. The adverse action notice is required even if information in the consumer report was not the main reason for the denial or rate increase. Even if the information in the report played only a small part in the overall decision, the applicant still must be notified.

While written adverse action notices are not required, many insurers provide them and keep copies for two years to show compliance with the FCRA.

Examples
The following examples illustrate situations where the adverse action notice must be given to insurance applicants.
A life insurance company orders a consumer report from a CRA, such as the Medical Information Bureau (MIB). Information contained in the MIB report leads to further investigation of the applicant. The application for insurance is rated or declined in whole or in part because of information obtained from the investigation.

Section 604(g) of the FCRA requires an insurance company, or any other user of medical information, to get the consumer’s consent—orally, electronically, or in writing—before obtaining medical information. That means the life insurance company in this situation would have to get the consumer’s consent before obtaining the consumer report from the MIB. In addition, since the MIB report formed part of the basis for the adverse decision in this case, the full Section 615(a) adverse action notice described above must be sent to the consumer.

A person with an unfavorable credit history, such as a bankruptcy, is denied automobile insurance at standard rates. Although the credit history was considered in the decision, the applicant’s limited driving experience was even more important.

The applicant is entitled to the Section 615(a) adverse action notice because the credit report played a part, however minor, in the insurer’s decision to charge a higher premium.

Non-compliance with the FCRA
There are legal consequences for insurers who fail to get an applicant’s permission before requesting a consumer report containing medical information or who fail to provide required disclosure notices. The FCRA allows individuals to sue insurers for damages in federal court. A person who successfully sues is entitled to recover court costs and reasonable legal fees. The law also allows individuals to seek punitive damages for deliberate violations. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission, other federal agencies, and the states may sue insurers for non-compliance and obtain civil penalties.



Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Businesses Must Provide Victims and Law Enforcement with Transaction Records Relating to Identity Theft

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) spells out rights for victims of identity theft, as well as responsibilities for businesses. Identity theft victims are entitled to ask businesses for a copy of transaction records — such as applications for credit — relating to the theft of their identity.

Indeed, victims can authorize law enforcement officers to get the records or ask that the business send a copy of the records directly to a law enforcement officer. The businesses covered by the law must provide copies of these records, free of charge, within 30 days of receiving the request for them in writing. This means that the law enforcement officials who ask for these records in writing may get them from your business without a subpoena, as long as they have the victim’s authorization.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the FCRA including this requirement, which is known as Section 609(e). Here is some additional information to help your business comply with this provision of the law:

Q. Who must comply with Section 609(e) of the FCRA?
A. The law applies to a business that has provided credit, goods, or services to, accepted payment from, or otherwise entered into a transaction with someone who is believed to have fraudulently used another person’s identification. For example, if your business opened a cell phone account in the victim’s name or extended credit to someone misusing the victim’s identity, you may be required to provide the records relating to the transaction to the identity theft victim or the law enforcement officer acting on that victim’s behalf.

Q. What documents must my business provide?
A. Your business must provide applications and business transactions records, maintained either by your business or by another entity on your behalf, that support any transaction alleged to be a result of identity theft. Records like invoices, credit applications, or account statements may help victims document the fraudulent transaction and provide useful evidence about the identity thief.

Q. What are the procedures for requesting these materials?
A. Requests for documents must be submitted in writing. Your business may specify an address to receive these requests. You may ask the victim to provide relevant information, like the transaction date or account number, if they know it. You also can require that victims provide:
1. proof of identity, like a government-issued ID card, the same type of information the identity thief used to open the account, or the type of information you are currently requesting from applicants; and

2. a police report and completed affidavit. Victims can use the FTC’s ID Theft Affidavit, available at ftc.gov/idtheft, or another affidavit you accept.

Q. Is it ever appropriate not to provide documents?
A. You can refuse to provide the records if you determine in good faith that:

you cannot verify the true identity of the person asking for the information;

the request for the information is based on a misrepresentation; or

the information requested is Internet navigational data or similar information about a person’s visit to a website or online service.

Your business may not deny disclosure of these records based on the financial privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (see Subtitle A of Title V of Public Law 106-102). Nevertheless, you may refuse to disclose them if state or another federal law prohibits you from doing so.

Q. Are there recordkeeping requirements of Section 609(e)?
A. Section 609(e) does not require any new recordkeeping procedures for your business.

For More Information
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair practices in the marketplace and to provide information to businesses to help them comply with the law. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Your Opportunity to Comment
The National Small Business Ombudsman and 10 Regional Fairness Boards collect comments from small businesses about federal compliance and enforcement activities. Each year, the Ombudsman evaluates the conduct of these activities and rates each agency's responsiveness to small businesses. Small businesses can comment to the Ombudsman without fear of reprisal. To comment, call toll-free 1-888-REGFAIR (1-888-734-3247) or go to www.sba.gov/ombudsman



Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Your Rights: Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights under the FCRA and how to order a free annual credit report.
A credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.


How do I order my free report?
You can order your free annual credit report online at annualcreditreport.com, by calling 1-877-322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

A Warning About "Imposter" Sites
The FTC advises consumers who order their free annual credit reports online to be sure to correctly spell annualcreditreport.com, or link to it from the FTC's website to avoid being misdirected to other websites that offer supposedly free reports,but only with the purchase of other products. While consumers may be offered additional products or services while on the authorized website, they are not required to make a purchase to receive their free annual credit reports.

For more information on free annual credit reports, read Your Access to Free Credit Reports.


Dennis Zabawa is an Leading Authority in Business Funding. Dennis is available to come and be a speaker at your next event. He has a great topic, "Why are you not wealthy?" For further information, please visit the website, www.creditiswealth.com

Networking: Giving to Give

Have you been approached at a networking event by someone who onlytalked about himself and seemed eager to thrust information intoyour hands about his business? He didn't ask anything at all aboutyou or your business.

How did you react? If you're like most people, you took a stepback, either literally or figuratively. Why? Because he wastrying to take from you without giving anything in return.
Contrast that behavior with the person who asked a lot of questionsabout you and seemed genuinely interested in what you had to say.When you mentioned that you were moving, she asked if you wantedthe name of a good moving company (not a company that she isconnected to or gains any benefit from).

How did you react to that person? If you're like most people, youfelt a genuine connection and wanted to get to know her better.

All too often, people approach networking events with the mindsetof "What can I get from this event or from the people I meetthere"? They are either completely focused on themselves and theirneeds or they are thinking about how they can do something thatwill be of mutual benefit to them and the other party (you dosomething for me and I'll do something for you).

Effective networkers, however, are not concerned about what theywill get. They are focused on other people and are thinking aboutwhat they can give to them, regardless of whether they will getanything in return. They approach networking and life with anattitude of abundance, knowing that the more they give, the morethey will receive.

Our challenge is for you to attend your next networking eventfocused only on other people and finding ways to meet their needs.

Use Credit Cards Wisely During the Holiday Season

When November rolls around every year, stores begin advertising like crazy, and people start getting in the mood to shop. Just about everyone has a list of people for whom gifts must be purchased, and the only way to accomplish this is obviously to spend money. Unfortunately, many people see the holiday season as a good excuse to put all purchases and expenses on a credit card because they don’t have enough cash on hand to pay for everything all at once.

The holiday season, however, is no reason to rack up credit card bills that can’t be paid. Using some smart shopping tips and other creative ideas can help prevent a person from spending too much money that they don’t have.As long as the holiday season is celebrated in moderation each year, people can rest assured that credit card debt will not haunt them for the rest of their lives.

This is in no way saying that credit cards are not useful tools and should not be used while shopping. It is, however, saying that credit cards should not be abused during November and December each year.

It’s very easy to go to a shopping mall and want to buy everything that is seen on the shelves.

With a credit card, it’s easy to over-buy things that aren’t really needed, because using plastic to buy things doesn’t always seem like real money is being spent. At times, credit card spending can get out of control very easily. To help curb this, a list of what needs to be bought on a shopping trip should be written before arriving. Once there, even though things are tempting, only items on the list should be purchased.

Another useful tip when it comes to using a credit card while shopping for gifts next holiday season is to write down everything that was purchased using the card. Making a list (and checking it twice!) will allow the credit card holder to keep track of how much was charged, and how large the bill will be at the end of the month. Many people are shocked when they receive their credit card statements in January of each year, because they are unaware that they charged so much during the months of November and December.

Something to keep in mind each holiday season is the fact that “more expensive” doesn’t always mean “better” when it comes to gifts. Many people would much rather receive a homemade gift, a home-cooked meal, or something small as opposed to an expensive items that may not even be liked or enjoyed by the recipient. Using creativity and the imagination when choosing gifts can do at least two things… be perceived as extremely thoughtful by the gift’s recipient, and also save money.A fancy meal at a restaurant on Thanksgiving, the week of Christmas, or on New Year’s Eve is always fun. However, once it’s over… it’s over. And, when the meal which was eaten is paid for with a credit card, it’s sure to give a person an upset stomach when the credit card bill arrives a month later. Seeing a charge of several hundred dollars on a statement for food that was consumed, digested, and expelled a month ago can be upsetting. So, instead of eating out, consider having a low-key pot-luck dinner in the home. Guests may even enjoy this venue more than a crowded restaurant.

Using a credit card is definitely safer than carrying a huge amount of cash in a purse or a pocket while shopping during the holiday season. With a credit card, it if is lost or stolen, it can be reported immediately and the card can be deactivated. Also, it’s quicker and more time-efficient to swipe a credit card in a machine than take five minutes to write a check for a purchase. So, as long as spending can be kept under control and gift buying is kept to a minimum, using a credit card can be a smart choice in November and December of each year.

Tips to help you reduce your budget so you can breathe again.

In a time when layoffs seem like they are lurking around every corner, when gasoline prices are so high you have to take out a second mortgage and when people are forced out of retirement to work odd jobs just to make ends meet, sitting down to look over a household budget can be a daunting task. How many of us let the receipts pile up in our wallets just so we don’t have to see how much in the hole we are at the end of the month? For how many of us does the phrase “too much month at the end of the money” ring too loud and clear? Fortunately, there are some simple ways to reduce your monthly budget that you can get started on right away.

Food
You’ve had a long and tiring day at work and you’re hungry. Your fridge and pantry are brimming with food you’ve bought the day before, but the thought of cooking is too much, so you pick up the phone and dial out for a pizza or Chinese food. I doubt many people can deny they’ve done this more than once in their lives. Let’s break this down so you can see what this costs your family. Just say you succumb to this desire to order food or eat out only once a week. For a typical family of four, this meal can cost anywhere from $30 to $60, depending on where you choose to eat. Even if we lowball it and go with $30 a week, that amounts to approximately $120 a month that could go to many other places that would benefit you more financially. Shave off at least two of these eating out excursions a month and you will see your budget greatly reduced.

Entertainment
Many couples or families go to the movies for their Friday night date to catch the latest flick. That’s not a big deal, right? Wrong! Again, for a family of four you will need four movie tickets, at least two buckets of popcorn, four sodas and some candy, right? This little two hour excursion has set you back at least $60. Even if you go to a matinee, instead, you’re still looking at over $50. If you don’t want to give up your movie time, watch a matinee and skip all of the snacks. Eat a meal at home beforehand so you don’t get cravings. Better yet, wait just a few more weeks and catch that same flick at a discount cinema where you can pay one or two dollars for a ticket instead of eight or ten. You can even go one step further and rent a DVD for the whole family to watch AND the snacks are free, because they came from your own pantry. Search for places in your town that you’ve never been to that are free of charge for your family or couple nights.

There are often festivals, live concerts, parks and pools that you can go to without having to shell a dime. Be creative.

CarI F a co-worker lives nearby or if you husband drives past your work place every day on the way to his own work place, why not car pool? With gas prices being as high as they have been, you can save up to $100 a month on gas and maintenance on your car AND you’re helping the environment at the same time by eliminating the number of cars on the road. Check with your work place to see if you can schedule a car pool with other colleagues.

Utilities
Little things make all of the difference. In the summer, keep your thermostat a few degrees higher where you are still comfortable but your air conditioner won’t be running constantly. Invest in solar screens for your windows that receive the most direct sunlight. It may cost a little extra money up front, but it will save you money in the long run. Wash only full loads once or twice a week, instead of running your wash with small loads every single day.

Luxury Items
That expensive cup of coffee on your way to work or those manicures you pamper yourself with twice a month do add up, even though it doesn’t seem like they do. If you don’t think so, stop doing them and start putting that money you were putting towards the coffee or manicures into a jar and see how much you have at the end of the month. It adds up. Buy gourmet coffee in bulk and grind it and brew it yourself at home before work. Invest a couple of dollars in those cuticle cutters and do your own manicures yourself at home.

What do you do with all this money you’ve saved? Save it for yourself and your family. Instead of letting it get sucked into your normal monthly budget, start up a retirement fund or add more to the one you already got, open an emergency fund, begin college funds for your kids or use it to pay your debt off quickly.

Seven Steps to Creating a Budget

You'd never set out on a cross-country road trip without consulting a map. And, likewise, you can't expect to reach your financial goals without developing a plan for spending and saving.

• Track spending for a month.
• Put savings on autopilot.
• Prioritize spending.
• Use cash for daily spending.
• Tackle credit card debt.
• Build emergency savings account.
• Seven ways to live within your means.

Indeed, budgets play a pivotal role in helping consumers pay off debt, feather their nest egg and make the most of their hard-earned dollars.

Yet, despite their best intentions, many Americans lack the money-management skills necessary to get their bank accounts under control. Why? Often, it's because they don't know where they stand, says Jim Tehan, a spokesman for Myvesta Foundation, a self-help consumer education Web site.

"People write out budgets all the time without knowing where their money is really going," he says. "What they've created is a wish list of how they'd like to spend their money, but it's not realistic. It's a page of lies."

Follow the Money:
Track SpendingThe first step to developing a budget, says Tehan, is to track your expenses for at least a month, using a checkbook ledger, a sticky note inside your wallet, or a Bankrate daily expense work sheet. Be sure to record every purchase no matter how small, including ATM fees.
"Once you know where your money is going, you can make an educated decision about how best to allocate your money," he says.

Many novice budgeters make the mistake of becoming too financially conservative, at least on paper."The No. 1 rule of setting budgets is to not cut all the fun out of your life. Inevitably, Spartan budgets that have no allowance for entertainment are doomed to fail."

Instead, learn to moderate.
"If you're eating out every night, and that's something you enjoy doing, try eating out once a week instead," says Tehan. "It's not about cutting out everything that gives you joy in life. It's about better allocating your money."Make Savings Contributions Automatically

Though every budget scenario is different, Curt Weil, a Certified Financial Planner for the Lasecke Weil Wealth Advisory Group in Palo Alto, Calif., says a good rule of thumb is to allocate at least 10 percent of your earnings toward savings, using direct deposit to pay yourself first.
Tehan agrees. "If you put that money aside before you even see it, you won't miss it. Direct deposit helps to put your savings on autopilot."

Short-term savings that you may need to access can be held in an interest-bearing savings account, six-month certificate of deposit or money market fund. Long-term savings, meanwhile, should be directed toward a tax-friendly retirement savings tool, such as an individual retirement account, or IRA, or 401(k).

The ultimate goal, of course, is to maximize your 401(k), the maximum is $15,500 for 2007. But those just starting out should contribute at least enough to get the employer match, says Weil.
Define spending and prioritiesAnother 35 percent of your earnings, he says, should be earmarked for housing and utilities. Weil says, however, that homeowners can often up that percentage since principal payments are already a form of forced savings, and the mortgage interest they pay is tax-deductible.

If you're saving for something specific, such as a new car or your child's college education, you may want to set aside another 10 percent of your earnings into an interest-bearing account or a tax-favored 529 college savings plan.

Everything else-- the remaining 45 percent-- is discretionary, for use on food, entertainment, clothing and vacations.

That's where priorities come in. You can't have everything you want, says Martin Siesta, a Certified Financial Planner for Compass Wealth Management in Maplewood, N.J., but you can direct your dollars toward things you want the most."If consumers start by deciding what's most important to them, then cutting back on some of the things that aren't that important isn't really a sacrifice," he says.

Pay with cashOne you've determined how much to set aside for saving, spending and investing; it's time to make those numbers stick. The growing popularity of credit and debit cards makes it all too easy to overspend.

With the exception of your mortgage and car loan, most consumers should implement a strict policy of paying with cash for groceries, clothes, vacations and nonessential items.

Siesta also recommends relying less on ATMs, especially those that charge a fee. Withdrawing a fixed amount of discretionary money at the beginning of the month, he says, forces you to make better spending choices.

"By spending cash out of an envelope you begin to get a better feeling for where your money is going and what your priorities really are."

Strategically pay down expensive debtFinancially speaking, of course, you'll never get ahead if you don't also implement a plan to pay down your debt. Interest payments made to credit cards not only cost you big, but also deny you the ability to apply that money toward savings or entertainment.

"I approach it from an investment point of view," says Weil. "Not having to pay interest is the same, economically, as earning interest. So not having to pay credit card interest is like earning 18 percent."

According to Myvesta Foundation, the average American carries $2,328 in credit card debt, spread out over 2.9 cards.

Conventional wisdom maintains that consumers with multiple credit card balances should tackle the card with the highest interest rate first, while continuing to make minimum payments on their other cards. Once the first card is paid off, focus on the next highest rate card.

Tehan contends, however, some debt-laden consumers get a psychological boost by paying off the smaller balances first. "Paying off your highest rate card first makes sense because it saves you the most money, but if you have several smaller cards it can be easier psychologically to get those out of the way first. That way you can see some immediate progress, which gives you a little boost," says Tehan.

The secret to paying off debt is to determine how much you can afford to send each month and make those payments consistently.

"It's important to keep sending the maximum amount you can afford to send," says Tehan.

"Some people make the mistake of reducing the amount they send when they see their payments going down."

Build a safety net
No matter what your debt situation, you should also begin saving for a rainy day.

Financial planners recommend setting aside three- to six-months' worth of living expenses into an emergency fund, in case you or your spouse lose a job, fall ill or get hit with an unexpected bill.

"It's important to set aside savings while you're paying off debt," says Tehan. "It may sound backward, but if you don't have an emergency account and you pay down your credit cards for six months and then an emergency pops up, all the progress you have made is going to be instantly wiped out."

The most painless way to save, of course, is to set aside any financial windfalls you receive, such as bonuses, tax refunds or yearly raises. You could also try saving your change or any $1 bills that find their way into your wallet.

Live within your meansLearning to live within your means is a simple matter of spending less than you make. For most consumers, that means cutting back. It does not mean doing without.

According to Siesta, there are dozens of ways to reduce your monthly expenses without crimping your lifestyle.

Live within your means•
If you're paying multiple credit cards, consider rolling the balances over to a lower rate card, taking note of any introductory rates that may expire.

• Still have an adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM?
If you're planning to stay put, it's time to refinance to a fixed mortgage before interest rates climb any higher.

• If you're paying private mortgage insurance, or PMI, check to see if it can be canceled.
Under the Homeowners Protection Act of 1998, servicers are required to automatically terminate PMI on loans originated after July 29, 1999, when the loan is paid down to 78 percent loan-to-value, which means you have 22 percent equity in your home. In some cases, you can request PMI cancellation when your equity reaches 20 percent.

• Slash health-care costs by ordering generic medications through a mail-order pharmacy.
"If you're taking a medication regularly, you can save a lot of money using a mail-order service," says Siesta, noting consumers should consult their medical plans first.

• Depending on your family's needs and comfort zone, you can also save big by raising the deductibles on your home and auto insurance.

• Don't be afraid to play hardball.
Many consumers today continue to pay more than they should for cable TV, Internet service and local and long-distance phone plans. By approaching your current providers with more competitive offers and a threat to switch teams, you can often significantly lower the rates you pay.

• It's equally important to pay your bills on time.
Not only will you avoid late fees, but you'll keep your credit score clean, which rewards you with the best possible rates on future loans.

And above all else, stop trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Your neighbors with the latest clothes and luxury cars may be drowning in debt, and while you may not sport a designer watch, you will be able to sleep at night.

"Being in control of your finances not only saves you money, but it also makes you a more financially secure person and family," says Tehan.

Saving money monthly on your budget can be easy by following a few simple cost cutting ideas. Look at your monthly expenses and truly see where you sp

Have you ever reached the end of the month, looked at your checkbook and wondered where all your hard earned money was spent? Don’t despair. Many people feel the same way as you. Now it’s time to really take a look at where all your money has been spent.

Make a list of all the money you’ve spent going out for fast foods. Add to this list the frequent trips to the grocery/corner market to pick up forgotten items here and there. See a pattern emerging? How many afternoons have you had to run to the market to purchase something for dinner because you forgot to take the meat out of the freezer to thaw or your child had forgotten to tell you about a boxed lunch he/she needs for a school trip? Probably more time than you’d care to admit.

Following is a list of money saving ideas. Simple things that will make a positive impact on your strained budget.

Hang a clothes line and instead of using the dryer to dry the clothes. Take the few minutes to hang them out. This will save you dollars on your gas/electric bill. An added bonus is the clothes smell fresher and your also helping the environment.

Bake items instead of purchasing. That bag of cookies you buy at the grocery store can cost you three to four dollars. Baking cookies will cost you pennies on the dollar.

Go back to the basics. Our mothers, their mothers and so on didn’t run to the store everytime they needed a loaf of bread or something sweet. They pulled out the cookbook and baked fresh from scratch. Not only do you get more for your money but you also get better quality. You're not ingesting or asking your family to ingest all thepreservatives and additives the store bought foods contain.

Buy in bulk. Go to the grocery store and plan to spend a few hundred dollars versus the amount you spend on weekly shopping trips. Less trips to the store, less gas to put in the car and less stress on you. Bulk buys are cheaper because your buying in quantity. Find or create a storage area for your non-perishables and purchase a used freezer for your meats. Buying bulk saves you hundreds of dollars a year on the grocery bills. Hundreds of dollars a year on gas for the car because you’ll have less trips to the market.

Look for off brand name items. The quality is more than likely just as good as the brand name items.

Plant a garden. Grow your own vegetables and freeze them. Most all vegetables can be stored in the freezer in ziplock bags for several months with out effecting the flavor or the texture of the item. Seeds are a few cents per package compared to the dollar or more you will pay for either canned or frozen vegetables. Not only will you have fresh vegetables and save money but the gardening will give you exercise and is a great stress reducer.

Purchase and raise your own farm animals if you have the land and the time to do so. Depending on how you feel about animals you can raise them for meat or you canraise them for sale. Either way you will save hundreds of dollars.

Trading with neighbors. Start a trade program. If your neighbor raises chickens and you make fresh baked bread, swap the eggs for the bread. You’ve gained a dozen or so eggs and your neighbor has gained a loaf of fresh bread. This is also great with home-made soaps, scented oils and so on, whatever your craft. Bring bartering and trading back into the picture. Who says we always have to pay cash for what we need?

Make your own soap. It’s a fairly easy project as well as a fun project. You can find recipes for soap on the Internet, in bookstores or at the library. The supplies can be a little expensive at start up but if you figure the cost, you are only paying pennies for each bar you make.

These are just a few cost cutting ideas. After reading this you can probably think of many more yourself. Just remember, always be aware of each dollar your spending and try to think of ways to save, even if it’s only pennies, each and every day. Soon you’ll find yourself with a few extra dollars at the end of each month.

Spring-clean your financial records

Have you ever wasted precious weekend hours searching for tax-related documents? If the television died, could you locate the warranty to see if it's still covered? Ever forgotten an online account password? These are all good arguments for setting up a proper filing system.
Consider this: A recent survey uncovered that nearly a quarter of adults have incurred late-payment fees because they couldn't find billing statements. So poor paperwork management is not only time-consuming, it's expensive.

Here are a few helpful document filing categories:
Tax-related documents. These include receipts for deductible items, income and investment statements, and mortgage and home improvement expense receipts. The IRS has up to six years to audit you (there's no time limit if they suspect fraud), so keep all tax returns and related receipts and statements at least that long. IRS Publication 552 recommends what to save and for how long (http://www.irs.gov/).

Checking and savings accounts. Enter ATM and debit card deposits, withdrawals and purchases into your check register right away to keep a running balance. Check all entries against your monthly statements for accuracy. Save cancelled checks for deductible expenses with tax returns. Banking online is an easy way to keep your recordkeeping current.

Utility, phone, cable and credit card accounts. Review bills for any errors or mischarges. Once payments have cleared, you can shred the bills unless you need a record for tax purposes (like home-office tax deductions).

Pay stubs. Save until your year-end W-2 form arrives. When your annual Social Security income statement arrives, double-check annual income amounts. If you spot an error, call 1-800-772-1213.

Investment and retirement funds. Keep monthly and quarterly statements until you receive year-end statements. Always save records of any after-tax contributions to retirement funds to prove you've already paid the taxes.

Housing. Retain paperwork on your mortgage, refinancing, lease or rental agreement. Also save home improvement receipts for possible tax advantages when you sell.

Major purchases. Save original sales receipts for appliances, electronics and other major purchases and attach to product warranties and owner's manuals. When purchasing items online, save sales receipts and shipping confirmations until the items have arrived and cleared your credit card statement.

Insurance policies. Maintain files for homeowner/renter, car, life, disability and medical insurance policies. Indicate on medical bills how and when you paid in case of billing disputes; also, save for six years if you deduct medical expenses from your income taxes.

Wills and trusts. Keep copies of your will and living trust and contact information for attorneys who helped prepare them. Important: Don't put your only copies in a safe deposit box, since it will likely be sealed should you should die unexpectedly.

Passwords. Create a list of all online accounts and passwords and store in a secure location.
A few additional tips:• Store critical documents such as your will, trusts, birth/marriage certificates, insurance policies, old tax returns and passport in a fireproof, lockable storage box.
Also, keep additional copies in a safe deposit box or with a trusted acquaintance in case of major home damage.

• Periodically back up information in computer files on CDs or an external hard drive.

• Always shred mail or documents containing personal information rather than simply throwing away.

• Consult a financial professional about your particular situation. If you don't know one,

There are many ways to lower your grocery costs; the first thing is to know

There are a few secrets that we all could use to know about supermarkets and the best way to save money. The very first thing you should remember is to never, ever go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You will spend a small fortune. Always eat before going grocery shopping this will eliminate the urges to buy the extra junk foods.

When you enter the grocery store begin shopping right away; complete your grocery shopping in less than thirty minutes. Researchers have stated that consumers spend fifty cents per minute after they have been in a supermarket longer than thirty minutes. A trick to finishing your shopping within thirty minutes is to have a well-prepared shopping list. Do your research for sales before you get to the store, this will help you from being detoured by sale signs. If you use coupons have them sorted by the aisles the products are on, this way you want have to search to find the coupon for the product you are buying. If you have children try to get a babysitter for an hour, this will eliminate chasing the children and saying no every five minutes.

There are several other ways to save money at the supermarket on products that are just as good as the next guy. Some supermarkets push the higher priced paper towels, the off brand paper towels are just as good at picking up small spills and wiping hands as the more expensive brands. Another trick item at the supermarket is bottled water; there is sparkling mineral water, seltzer water and club soda. Each of these is carbonated water, and the least expensive is usually the one with the better taste. Generic products are available for almost any product in a supermarket. These products are holding up against the major brands in taste, appearance and much more important cost.

Produce in supermarkets are a big let down, but with today’s processing of fruit and vegetables there is little that can be done about it, you must try to get the best for your money. When you are in the produce aisle think about when you are going to use this product. If you will use the produce within a day or two look for items that are almost ripe, if you will use produce within a week, look for items that have not yet completely ripened. This will allow the fruit or vegetable the extra time to ripen and you will have food that taste well.

When you are in the dairy department of your local supermarket, look for milk products that are sold in box cartons instead on plastic jugs. For Juices do the same, because the fluorescent lighting in the supermarket oxidizes milk and juices, leaving a flat taste and removes the vitamin C content.

If you have made it to the check out in less than thirty minutes, then you will save a bundle. This next big obstacle is the check out aisle itself. This is where you have your impulsive buys like magazines and candies and the really convenient items. These you want to avoid, these are usually marked up and they are targeted just for impulsive buying.

Save at the grocery store while shopping without using coupons! This article describes 25 ways to save.

1. Use loose tea.--
Tea bags can cost double, so spend a couple of bucks on a tea strainer and buy loose tea instead.

2. Carry a calculator.--
Figuring out the total as you shop will ensure that you buy onlyu what you need. Also, watch the scanner and go over the register tape carefully when checking out. Scanner errors cost customers millions of dollars annually.

3. Compare costs.--
Prices vary for fresh, canned, and frozen versions of fruits and vegetables, as well as for different cuts, (whole, sliced, etc.) so consider all the options.

4. Choose produce by weight.--
Use the scale to get the best value on fruits and vegetables. One head of lettuce may be larger but less dense than another; heavier grapefruit ando ranges are juicier. Be sure to shake off any excess water before weighing fresh greens.

5. Read the small print on flyers.--
You'll be out of luck if you do your grocery shopping for a sale item that might be limited to "Friday only" or "starting Sunday".

6. Buy large packages of paper goods.--
Paper towels, toilet paper, and napkins are cheaper in bulk, so it's better to buy more and store them.

7. Avoid single-serving juices.--
The same goes for prepared gelatin and pudding. Even better: Buy large sizes and fill small reusable containers.

8. Compare tuna prices.--
The cost difference between canned light and white/albacore tuna is often considerable. Chunk or flaked tuna costs less and works just as well in most dishes.

9. Get a supermarket discount card.--
To entice shoppers, many markets offer cards that give substantial savings. The cards are free, and the discounts--somtimes as much as 50 percent--change periodically.

10. Steer clear of packaged foods.--
They usually cost more. Instead, stop by the deli counter for cold cuts and cheese. Buy a head of lettuce instead of a ready-to-go bag. Check out the bakery counter too.

11. Buy Spanish olive oil.--
Spanish olive oil tends to be up to $4.00 less than Italian olive oil. The same quality for less money.

12. Freeze your own convenience foods.--
Packaged pancakes, waffles and French toast can be costly, so make your own and freeze them.

13. Buy only grocieries and food-related items.--
A drugstore or supercenter is your best bet for nonfood items such as shampoo and toothpaste.

14. Avoid extras.--
Toppings displayed near ice cream and dips stocked near chips are far more expensive than options such as chocolate syrup or homemade dip.

15. Use orange juice made from concentrate.--
It's a much better deal than ready-made or fresh squeezed orange juice.

16. Buy bags of frozen vegetables instead of boxes.--
With bagged veggies, you can measure out what you need and reseal the bag. And you're not paying for the extra packaging.

17. Don't feel compelled to make everything from scratch.--
Some convenience foods actually cost less (and there's no waste): canned beets, frozen squash, pearl onions, canned pumpkin and many other unsauced frozen vegetables, especially in large bags.

18. Compare pasta prices.--
Italian pasta can cost twice as much as American brands. Note that pasta prices also vary by shape.

19. Buy bouillon cubes.--
Cubes are much cheaper than canned broth.

20. Buy a jar of popcorn.--
Instead of buying microwave bags, make your own popcorn, which comeso ut to be about 2 cents per cup.

21. Pass on the frozen pops.
It's less expensive to make your own from fruitj uice.

22. Compare differents brands by price-per-weight or price-per-unit.
Just because boxes or jars are the same size doesn't mean they cost the same. Compare weights of different brands to see which is a better value.

23. Consider shopping at a discount warehouse.--
Though you pay a membership fee, you can save big bucks. The same honey-glazed ham at a wholesale club may cost half of what it does at your local supermarket.

24. Pass on purchased bread crumbs.--
It's more economical to freeze bread ends and stale bread. Then when you have enough, make bread crumbsi n your blender or food processore. If you're not going to use them right away, freeze them.

25. Compare alcohol prices.--
Many states permit the sale of beer and wine in supermarkets, but often you pay more for the convenience. Call the liquor store and check prices first.

Run your business like a non profit

About a month after we started Y Combinator we came up with the phrase that became our motto: Make something people want. We've learned a lot since then, but if I were choosing now that's still the one I'd pick.

Another thing we tell founders is not to worry too much about the business model, at least at first. Not because making money is unimportant, but because it's so much easier than building something great.

A couple weeks ago I realized that if you put those two ideas together, you get something surprising. Make something people want. Don't worry too much about making money. What you've got is a description of a charity.

When you get an unexpected result like this, it could either be a bug or a new discovery. Either businesses aren't supposed to be like charities, and we've proven by reductio ad absurdum that one or both of the principles we began with is false. Or we have a new idea.

I suspect it's the latter, because as soon as this thought occurred to me, a whole bunch of other things fell into place.

Examples
For example, Craigslist. It's not a charity, but they run it like one. And they're astoundingly successful. When you scan down the list of most popular web sites, the number of employees at Craigslist looks like a misprint. Their revenues aren't as high as they could be, but most startups would be happy to trade places with them.

In Patrick O'Brian's novels, his captains always try to get upwind of their opponents. If you're upwind, you decide when and if to engage the other ship. Craigslist is effectively upwind of enormous revenues. They'd face some challenges if they wanted to make more, but not the sort you face when you're tacking upwind, trying to force a crappy product on ambivalent users by spending ten times as much on sales as on development.

[1] I'm not saying startups should aim to end up like Craigslist. They're a product of unusual circumstances. But they're a good model for the early phases.

Google looked a lot like a charity in the beginning. They didn't have ads for over a year. At year 1, Google was indistinguishable from a nonprofit. If a nonprofit or government organization had started a project to index the web, Google at year 1 is the limit of what they'd have produced.
Back when I was working on spam filters I thought it would be a good idea to have a web-based email service with good spam filtering. I wasn't thinking of it as a company. I just wanted to keep people from getting spammed. But as I thought more about this project, I realized it would probably have to be a company. It would cost something to run, and it would be a pain to fund with grants and donations.

That was a surprising realization. Companies often claim to be benevolent, but it was surprising to realize there were purely benevolent projects that had to be embodied as companies to work.
I didn't want to start another company, so I didn't do it. But if someone had, they'd probably be quite rich now. There was a window of about two years when spam was increasing rapidly but all the big email services had terrible filters. If someone had launched a new, spam-free mail service, users would have flocked to it.

Notice the pattern here? From either direction we get to the same spot. If you start from successful startups, you find they often behaved like nonprofits. And if you start from ideas for nonprofits, you find they'd often make good startups.

Power
How wide is this territory? Would all good nonprofits be good companies? Possibly not. What makes Google so valuable is that their users have money. If you make people with money love you, you can probably get some of it. But could you also base a successful startup on behaving like a nonprofit to people who don't have money? Could you, for example, grow a successful startup out of curing an unfashionable but deadly disease like malaria?

I'm not sure, but I suspect that if you pushed this idea, you'd be surprised how far it would go. For example, people who apply to Y Combinator don't generally have much money, and yet we can profit by helping them, because with our help they could make money. Maybe the situation is similar with malaria. Maybe an organization that helped lift its weight off a country could benefit from the resulting growth.

I'm not proposing this is a serious idea. I don't know anything about malaria. But I've been kicking ideas around long enough to know when I come across a powerful one.

One way to guess how far an idea extends is to ask yourself at what point you'd bet against it. The thought of betting against benevolence is alarming in the same way as saying that something is technically impossible. You're just asking to be made a fool of, because these are such powerful forces.

[2] For example, initially I thought maybe this principle only applied to Internet startups. Obviously it worked for Google, but what about Microsoft? Surely Microsoft isn't benevolent? But when I think back to the beginning, they were. Compared to IBM they were like Robin Hood. When IBM introduced the PC, they thought they were going to make money selling hardware at high prices. But by gaining control of the PC standard, Microsoft opened up the market to any manufacturer. Hardware prices plummeted, and lots of people got to have computers who couldn't otherwise have afforded them. It's the sort of thing you'd expect Google to do.

Microsoft isn't so benevolent now. Now when one thinks of what Microsoft does to users, all the verbs that come to mind begin with F.

[3] And yet it doesn't seem to pay. Their stock price has been flat for years. Back when they were Robin Hood, their stock price rose like Google's. Could there be a connection?

You can see how there would be. When you're small, you can't bully customers, so you have to charm them. Whereas when you're big you can maltreat them at will, and you tend to, because it's easier than satisfying them. You grow big by being nice, but you can stay big by being mean.
You get away with it till the underlying conditions change, and then all your victims escape. So "Don't be evil" may be the most valuable thing Paul Buchheit made for Google, because it may turn out to be an elixir of corporate youth. I'm sure they find it constraining, but think how valuable it will be if it saves them from lapsing into the fatal laziness that afflicted Microsoft and IBM.

The curious thing is, this elixir is freely available to any other company. Anyone can adopt "Don't be evil." The catch is that people will hold you to it. So I don't think you're going to see record labels or tobacco companies using this discovery.

Morale
There's a lot of external evidence that benevolence works. But how does it work? One advantage of investing in a large number of startups is that you get a lot of data about how they work. From what we've seen, being good seems to help startups in three ways: it improves their morale, it makes other people want to help them, and above all, it helps them be decisive.

Morale is tremendously important to a startup—so important that morale alone is almost enough to determine success. Startups are often described as emotional roller-coasters. One minute you're going to take over the world, and the next you're doomed. The problem with feeling you're doomed is not just that it makes you unhappy, but that it makes you stop working. So the downhills of the roller-coaster are more of a self fulfilling prophecy than the uphills. If feeling you're going to succeed makes you work harder, that probably improves your chances of succeeding, but if feeling you're going to fail makes you stop working, that practically guarantees you'll fail.

Here's where benevolence comes in. If you feel you're really helping people, you'll keep working even when it seems like your startup is doomed. Most of us have some amount of natural benevolence. The mere fact that someone needs you makes you want to help them. So if you start the kind of startup where users come back each day, you've basically built yourself a giant tamagotchi. You've made something you need to take care of.

Blogger is a famous example of a startup that went through really low lows and survived. At one point they ran out of money and everyone left. Evan Williams came in to work the next day, and there was no one but him. What kept him going? Partly that users needed him. He was hosting thousands of people's blogs. He couldn't just let the site die.

There are many advantages of launching quickly, but the most important may be that once you have users, the tamagotchi effect kicks in. Once you have users to take care of, you're forced to figure out what will make them happy, and that's actually very valuable information.

The added confidence that comes from trying to help people can also help you with investors. One of the founders of Chatterous told me recently that he and his cofounder had decided that this service was something the world needed, so they were going to keep working on it no matter what, even if they had to move back to Canada and live in their parents' basements.

Once they realized this, they stopped caring so much what investors thought about them. They still met with them, but they weren't going to die if they didn't get their money. And you know what? The investors got a lot more interested. They could sense that the Chatterouses were going to do this startup with or without them.

If you're really committed and your startup is cheap to run, you become very hard to kill. And practically all startups, even the most successful, come close to death at some point. So if doing good for people gives you a sense of mission that makes you harder to kill, that alone more than compensates for whatever you lose by not choosing a more selfish project.

Help
Another advantage of being good is that it makes other people want to help you. This too seems to be an inborn trait in humans.

One of the startups we've funded, Octopart, is currently locked in a classic battle of good versus evil. They're a search site for industrial components. A lot of people need to search for components, and before Octopart there was no good way to do it. That, it turned out, was no coincidence.

Octopart built the right way to search for components. Users like it and they've been growing rapidly. And yet for most of Octopart's life, the biggest distributor, Digi-Key, has been trying to force them take their prices off the site. Octopart is sending them customers for free, and yet Digi-Key is trying to make that traffic stop. Why? Because their current business model depends on overcharging people who have incomplete information about prices. They don't want search to work.

The Octoparts are the nicest guys in the world. They dropped out of the PhD program in physics at Berkeley to do this. They just wanted to fix a problem they encountered in their research. Imagine how much time you could save the world's engineers if they could do searches online. So when I hear that a big, evil company is trying to stop them in order to keep search broken, it makes me really want to help them. It makes me spend more time on the Octoparts than I do with most of the other startups we've funded. It just made me spend several minutes telling you how great they are. Why? Because they're good guys and they're trying to help the world.
If you're benevolent, people will rally around you: investors, customers, other companies, and potential employees. In the long term the most important may be the potential employees. I think everyone knows now that good hackers are much better than mediocre ones. If you can attract the best hackers to work for you, as Google has, you have a big advantage. And the very best hackers tend to be idealistic. They're not desperate for a job. They can work wherever they want. So most want to work on things that will make the world better.

Compass
But the most important advantage of being good is that it acts as a compass. One of the hardest parts of doing a startup is that you have so many choices. There are just two or three of you, and a thousand things you could do. How do you decide?

Here's the answer:
Do whatever's best for your users. You can hold onto this like a rope in a hurricane, and it will save you if anything can. Follow it and it will take you through everything you need to do.

It's even the answer to questions that seem unrelated, like how to convince investors to give you money. If you're a good salesman, you could try to just talk them into it. But the more reliable route is to convince them through your users: if you make something users love enough to tell their friends, you grow exponentially, and that will convince any investor.

Being good is a particularly useful strategy for making decisions in complex situations because it's stateless. It's like telling the truth. The trouble with lying is that you have to remember everything you've said in the past to make sure you don't contradict yourself. If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything, and that's a really useful property in domains where things happen fast.

For example, Y Combinator has now invested in 80 startups, 57 of which are still alive. (The rest have died or merged or been acquired.) When you're trying to advise 57 startups, it turns out you have to have a stateless algorithm. You can't have ulterior motives when you have 57 things going on at once, because you can't remember them. So our rule is just to do whatever's best for the founders. Not because we're particularly benevolent, but because it's the only algorithm that works on that scale.

When you write something telling people to be good, you seem to be claiming to be good yourself. So I want to say explicitly that I am not a particularly good person. When I was a kid I was firmly in the camp of bad. The way adults used the word good, it seemed to be synonymous with quiet, so I grew up very suspicious of it.

You know how there are some people whose names come up in conversation and everyone says "He's such a great guy?" People never say that about me. The best I get is "he means well." I am not claiming to be good. At best I speak good as a second language.

So I'm not suggesting you be good in the usual sanctimonious way. I'm suggesting it because it works. It will work not just as a statement of "values," but as a guide to strategy, and even a design spec for software. Don't just not be evil. Be good.

Notes
[1] Fifty years ago it would have seemed shocking for a public company not to pay dividends. Now many tech companies don't. The markets seem to have figured out how to value potential dividends. Maybe that isn't the last step in this evolution. Maybe markets will eventually get comfortable with potential earnings. (VCs already are, and at least some of them consistently make money.)

I realize this sounds like the stuff one used to hear about the "new economy" during the Bubble. Believe me, I was not drinking that kool-aid at the time. But I'm convinced there were some good ideas buried in Bubble thinking. For example, it's ok to focus on growth instead of profits—but only if the growth is genuine. You can't be buying users; that's a pyramid scheme. But a company with rapid, genuine growth is valuable, and eventually markets learn how to value valuable things.

[2] The idea of starting a company with benevolent aims is currently undervalued, because the kind of people who currently make that their explicit goal don't usually do a very good job.
It's one of the standard career paths of trustafarians to start some vaguely benevolent business. The problem with most of them is that they either have a bogus political agenda or are feebly executed. The trustafarians' ancestors didn't get rich by preserving their traditional culture; maybe people in Bolivia don't want to either. And starting an organic farm, though it's at least straightforwardly benevolent, doesn't help people on the scale that Google does.

Most explicitly benevolent projects don't hold themselves sufficiently accountable. They act as if having good intentions were enough to guarantee good effects.

[3] Users dislike their new operating system so much that they're starting petitions to save the old one. And the old one was nothing special. The hackers within Microsoft must know in their hearts that if the company really cared about users they'd just advise them to switch to OSX.

Private equity firms fill variety of roles

So what exactly are these private equity firms you’ve heard about in the financial media? Well, they generally make their money by offering companies guidance to make them more efficient and funding to rescue them or help them grow.


There are several kinds of private equity organizations. One is the venture capitol group, which tends to make somewhat risky investments in young, growing firms before they go public and trade stock. Then there are the leveraged buyout outfits, which like to buy huge public companies by taking on a lot of debt. The LBO firm will take the company private and use much of its excess cash to pay off its debt, often while trying to improve the efficiency of the company. Eventually the acquired company will be sold to another buyer or to the public, via initial public offerings.


Other private equity investments include buying chunks of private companies and buying distressed companies, with the intent of restructuring and then selling them. There are private equity funds too which aggregate and invest the money of smaller investors. Money invested in private equity is often tied up for at least several years. Private equity organizations aren’t required to make public the kind of information that public companies must disclose.


Some of the biggest names in private equity are Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts with assets estimated at more than $86 billion. The Carlyle Group, with more than $75 billion, and the Blackstone Group, with more than $98 billion.

Practical money saving tips that you and your family can use. They will add up when practiced regularly.

You're sitting around the kitchen table going through the bills and asking yourself, "Where does all the money go?"You have a good job and you don't think you live extravagantly. How do you get control of those finances and end the month ahead? Here are some tips

Use Grocery Coupons
You can get grocery coupons in your local newspaper and also from the Internet. Many grocery stores put items on sale the same week that the coupon comes out in the newspaper. If you are not using coupons at all, starting to use them can easily save a family of four $40 a week.

Stay Away From Fast Food Restaurants
These outlets are efficient, but you can avoid them if you plan ahead. Eat breakfast at home rather than on the way to work and bring your lunch. If these small steps save you only $3 a day, that means $60 a month.

Review Your Long Distance
Thanks to deregulation, the price of the carrier must pay to provide a long distance call has plummeted in recent months. Not all carriers are passing on the savings to customers, however.
Look for one that is and you'll save quite a bit if you make a large number of calls each month.

Shop Where They Have The Good Prices
The local mall may not be the best place to shop. Consider closeout stores such as TJ Maxx and Marshall's, online shopping (both merchants and auctions), classified ads, thrift stores, and other sources.

Review Your Energy Usage
Energy costs have risen quite a bit lately in some locales and there is no reason to believe those increases will moderate.

Therefore, paying attention to energy usage can help your bottom line mightily.
Start by trying to use less heating and air conditioning. Setting your heating thermostat 4 degrees cooler or your air conditioning thermostat 4 degrees warmer can cut your heating and cooling costs by 40% in some locations. Change your thermostat by one degree and see if it works.

Check with your energy company for ideas on conservation. Most are anxious to see us use less energy and some even offer rebates and special plans. These help.

Along the same lines, pay attention to where you buy gas for the car. Prices vary widely.

Review Your Credit Card Situation
If you have a balance on a high-balance credit card, look into switching to a lower interest card. If you have an 18% card and pay $180 a month, it will take you 10 years to pay off that balance. Switch to a 9% card and $126 will pay that card off in 10 years.

Ads for low interest credit cards are all over the web. Look into them. Be careful, however, about cards with low "teaser" rates that go up at the end of a short term-often three months. They impose huge penalties and higher rates if you are even one day late.

If credit cards are a problem for you, stop using them. You can get a debit card with the Visa logo from most banks which you can use for shopping by phone and online if you need to.

Review Your Insurance
If you haven't looked into your insurance in awhile, that might be worth doing. Prices for insurance vary tremendously. Many websites allow you to compare insurance rates. Just type in "insurance" in a search engine and you will easily find one of those sites.

Watch Those Cash Expenses
You go out on some errands. You stop for a cup of coffee. Later you see a magazine with an interesting article and you pick it up. Later it is hot, so you get a soft drink at the mall.

Those small outlays can add up in the course of a monthIf you are tempted to make those small expenses, here are some steps you can take:

Carry only a limited amount of cash.
That way you won't be as likely to give in to the desire for a brownie and coke.

Write each of those small expenses in a notebook.
Sometimes just having to write them acts as a restraint, especially if you are going to show them to a spouse or another person to whom you are accountable.

Never leave the house hungry.
That way you will be less tempted to succumb to the desire for fast food and snacks. And especially, don't leave the house hungry if you are going to see a movie. Snacks and drinks in theaters are highly overpriced.

Take a few minutes to go through this list and your monthly bills. Have some blank paper to figure on and write down what you are going to do to save money. You'd be surprised how much some of these simple steps