Car Buying and Identity Theft

Did you know that identity theft criminals accumulate up to $53 billion a year
in profits from identity theft? What many consumers don't realize is that a thief
pays for an item at a retail outlet.

You then get your credit card statement and realize that you did not buy that item. You ask for the item to be credited to your account. But even though you don't have to pay for the item,and the thief still has it, the retail outlet will raise prices , and so the person who has to pay at the end is you and I.

How Do You Protect Your Identity When You
Are At The Dealership?

CarCredit.com's car loan processing network is comprised of honest car dealerships for you to deal with. If you happen not to deal with one of these car dealerships, it is important to realize that you need to take some precautions before you complete a car loan application.

• Call the better business bureau and find out if the dealership
  has had complaints against them, if so, find another dealership .

• If you feel uncomfortable and the salesperson is asking you a
  lot of irrelevant personal information, just go to another dealership .

How do identity thieves steal your information? They:

• steal your wallet or purse while you are walking on the street

• they even rob your postman or women hoping that there will
  be a credit card ready to be activated in the pile of mail

• break into your home, or if you do not have a locked mailbox,
  they will go through it and look for bank statements, mortgage
  statements, etc

• go through your recycling blue box or a garbage can to look
  for old paper loan application forms, credit card statements, etc.

• send you bogus emails asking for personal information pretending
  to be a legitimate company

Here are some tips you may want to consider next time you shop for a car loan. Look for websites such as: AutoCredit.com, FastAutoApproval.com, and CarApproval.com. They deal with reputable automobile dealerships. Safeguard your financila items: Consider buying a money belt instead of putting your money in your purse, for men, consider going to the travel store and buy a inside zip leather belt and put your credit cards and money in there. Perhaps ask your bank if you could pick up your statements instead of having them sent to your home. Shred all your bank statements, credit card statements and mortgage statements. Go the extra mile and cut out your credit card number from all your statements. Consider going to the bank physically and not do internet banking. No matter how good your spyware or anti-virus software is, there are very smart computer hackers that can record your keystrokes and figure out what you inputted for your account number and password. It is so easy for them to wait for you to log off and type in your account number and password and withdraw your entire bank account.

Source: Newsweek July 4, 2005 Issue

Tanya Theys is owner of a pet hotel affectionately known as Rosie's Place in Wisconsin. She researched hundreds of articles on home improvement loans. She found Rene's website to have the most useful information on: bad credit payday loans, personal unsecured loans, bad credit mortgage loans and car loan tips & calculators.

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