Protecting Your Identity During The Holiday Season

Eat, Drink, & Be Weary of Identity Thieves

The holiday season is upon us and with it comes cheerful get-togethers, festive food and drink, shopping sprees, travelling, and gift giving.  However, for identity thieves, the holidays mean pocket-picking, charity and gift card scams, phishing, skimming, and other unscrupulous theft strategies at a time when consumers are distracted with holiday merriment and thus more vulnerable.

Despite the holiday madness, with just 5 shopping weeks left, it is important to be alert and vigilant when it comes to knowing the status of your identity and how to defend it against thieves.

10 Tips for Avoiding Identity Fraud

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Identity Theft is a Booming Business

 By Jake Stroup, About.com Guide   October 21, 2011

There has been a disconcerting trend in the party-line concerning identity theft recently. We all know that you can "prove" anything with statistics by choosing to report numbers that reflect a desired perception. You can even prove the opposite of the truth. What I've seen in the identity theft world is that some law enforcement and government publications prefer to use statistics that make it seem identity theft is on the decline.

But nothing could be further from reality. If anything, identity theft seems to be evolving into a more sophisticated business model, with product vendors, trainers, and even after-market support for the aspiring identity thief. READ THIS STORY

Interested in a Identity Theft Protect Plan and Restoration Services?  Click this link to see how these services can help serve and protect you, your spouse and even your children.

Pasco couple fear losing home to foreclosure for paying mortgage too early

NEW PORT RICHEY — Seventy-year-old Sharon Bullington may lose her home because she paid her mortgage a week early.

That may not make much sense to the thousands of homeowners who are behind on their mortgages in Florida. But it seems it does to Bank of America, which has filed to foreclose on Bullington and her husband, James, 78, who is terminally ill.

When James became ill, the couple encountered financial difficulties because of high medical bills. The couple asked Bank of America to modify the loan.

There was a catch. The couple would have to first officially default on their $1,400-a-month payment. The couple did that and entered into the modification plan, which reduced their payment to $916.

Sharon Bullington made the January payment on Dec. 23, and the bank accepted the money, according to court records.

The next month, she made the February payment over the phone. Weeks later, the money had not been withdrawn from her bank account. After Bullington asked the bank about it, a representative told her she had punched in the wrong routing number. In March, the bank kicked the couple out of the modification plan.

Bullington pleaded for help in a June letter to Bank of America president Brian Moynihan and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor.

One of Moynihan's aides, Ana Olivera, told Bullington the foreclosure could not be stopped. She wrote in a two-page letter that the payment due on Jan. 1, 2011, had been made in December.

"In accordance with the Trial Payment Letter dated December 15, 2010, it indicates that if you are not able to make each payment in the month in which it is due, you will not be eligible for a modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program," the letter said. This is a stange case, read the full story here

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