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The most egregious sharing and it results directly in identity theft is the sharing of your financial information after getting a credit card. I didn't have my

The most egregious sharing and it results directly in identity theft is the sharing of your financial information after getting a credit card. I didn't have my own credit card until a couple months ago. I am old. As soon as that thing landed, I now get a constant stream of junk mail with my name and contact info plastered all over it telling me I need insurance, annuities, death insurance, more credit cards, financial management, etc. This should be illegal. The banks should be 100% on the hook for identity theft, they caused this themselves. Infact, I signed up for the Amazon Prime Card and they incessantly try to get me to upgrade to "account protection". How about YOU protect my account, you sent me the card (which appears to NOT have a mag stripe or a chip and pin, rendering it useless except online), how about you only authorize its use for Prime purchases shipped to my house? I really should stop using Amazon. Garbage.

rpedela 8y ago
I understand the frustration but how is that identity theft?
- nerpderp82 8y ago
  My mailbox is full of unsolicited offers from financial services companies, already filled out, they just have to be sent back. It is a huge liability.
  - rpedela 8y ago
    Including social security numbers and other unique identifiers?
    - huehehue 8y ago
      The number of American companies that will assign debt to your name without reasonable identity verification is greater than zero.
      - rpedela 8y ago
        Okay, do you have a source? Regardless how is getting unsolicited financial mail, identity theft? I really don't understand. Am I missing something?
        dvtrn 8y ago
        I'll save you a direct source and offer this: do you live in the US? In a state with lax consumer protection laws regarding payday loans? Just do a quick search for online payday loan and start up, if you dare, a few applications and see how easy it is to get a high interest payday loan just by possessing a driver's license that you can scan and upload. Doesn't even have to be yours. Long as it isn't expired. It is shockingly and worryingly easy. Now if you're wondering how they managed to take out a loan in my name with nothing but a driver's license and no SSN or anything else, to that I would say ask my attorney because four years and a sum of money I'd rather have spent on more fruitful things like maybe buying a house--we still don't know, and neither does "Speedy Cash".
BenjiWiebe 8y ago
Strange. My Amazon prime credit card has a chip and a mag stripe, and I continue to get very little junk mail even after having their card for a while...
- nerpderp82 8y ago
  I don't think the Amazon prime card generated deluge of mail. It is mostly their "account protection" up-sell that grates on me. Sell me the service, then frighten me into upgrading the security on said service.
perl4ever 8y ago
There's something called DMAchoice that lets you opt out of a lot of junk mail. It's at https://dmachoice.thedma.org/ https://dmachoice.thedma.org/ Since I signed up, I hardly ever get junk mail from anyone I haven't done business with. I don't think I've gotten a credit card solicitation in years.
- nerpderp82 8y ago
  This is awesome, thanks.
- nostromo 8y ago
  I’ve tried this multiple times and it doesn’t seem to work for me. I literally get no value from the post office other than packages. None. I actually just got rid of my mailbox when I bought a house, but they just started laying it on the ground. I legit want a mailbox that visibly shreds everything placed in it like a Banksy painting at this point as a revolt against endless spam.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago
    > visibly shreds everything placed in it like a Banksy painting at this point as a revolt against endless spam I wonder if there's money to be made in a mailbox that instantly drop the contents into a shredder.
  - jrowley 8y ago
    I think you are looking for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zubmkHMRP3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zubmkHMRP3U
- LeoPanthera 8y ago
  Important to point out that this service isn't free. It's only $2 for 10 years, but still worth knowing.
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    Wait what? If I paid, I didn’t realize it.
olliej 8y ago
Where they get you is that they /require/ you to have multiple years of credit history over multiple accounts if you want to get a mortgage. I almost couldn’t get a mortgage loan because wellsfargo (in between committing fraud) insisted on having three lines of credit that had been in use for more than a year. I only had two - i had to use my recurrent gym payments as a third and that required more paperwork and hit our maximum loan amount. This was despite having a single employer and a consistent income for a decade. Banks and credit agencies need to be reigned in - actual liability for losses they caused, and provide you with market rates for credit monitoring - because we know that they’re not paying that when they give you a year of “free monitoring”. Also credit agencies should be financially accountable when they make false claims about you. They don’t need to put any work into making sure they’re accurate as they decide you’re responsible for it, and they make money from us having to get credit monitoring.
Beestie 8y ago
The credit card solicitations are coming from companies that are purchasing credit headers from the credit reporting bureaus (Trans Union, Equifax & Experian). The credit header is just your name/address/credit score band. Just log in to each bureau and opt out of credit header sharing. They will honor it. Use annualCreditReport.com for one annual credit report/yr from each bureau.

rpedela 8y ago

I understand the frustration but how is that identity theft?

nerpderp82 8y ago
My mailbox is full of unsolicited offers from financial services companies, already filled out, they just have to be sent back. It is a huge liability.
- rpedela 8y ago
  Including social security numbers and other unique identifiers?
  - huehehue 8y ago
    The number of American companies that will assign debt to your name without reasonable identity verification is greater than zero.
    - rpedela 8y ago
      Okay, do you have a source? Regardless how is getting unsolicited financial mail, identity theft? I really don't understand. Am I missing something?
      - dvtrn 8y ago
        I'll save you a direct source and offer this: do you live in the US? In a state with lax consumer protection laws regarding payday loans? Just do a quick search for online payday loan and start up, if you dare, a few applications and see how easy it is to get a high interest payday loan just by possessing a driver's license that you can scan and upload. Doesn't even have to be yours. Long as it isn't expired. It is shockingly and worryingly easy. Now if you're wondering how they managed to take out a loan in my name with nothing but a driver's license and no SSN or anything else, to that I would say ask my attorney because four years and a sum of money I'd rather have spent on more fruitful things like maybe buying a house--we still don't know, and neither does "Speedy Cash".

BenjiWiebe 8y ago

Strange. My Amazon prime credit card has a chip and a mag stripe, and I continue to get very little junk mail even after having their card for a while...

nerpderp82 8y ago
I don't think the Amazon prime card generated deluge of mail. It is mostly their "account protection" up-sell that grates on me. Sell me the service, then frighten me into upgrading the security on said service.

perl4ever 8y ago

There's something called DMAchoice that lets you opt out of a lot of junk mail. It's at https://dmachoice.thedma.org/ https://dmachoice.thedma.org/ Since I signed up, I hardly ever get junk mail from anyone I haven't done business with. I don't think I've gotten a credit card solicitation in years.

nerpderp82 8y ago
This is awesome, thanks.
nostromo 8y ago
I’ve tried this multiple times and it doesn’t seem to work for me. I literally get no value from the post office other than packages. None. I actually just got rid of my mailbox when I bought a house, but they just started laying it on the ground. I legit want a mailbox that visibly shreds everything placed in it like a Banksy painting at this point as a revolt against endless spam.
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago
  > visibly shreds everything placed in it like a Banksy painting at this point as a revolt against endless spam I wonder if there's money to be made in a mailbox that instantly drop the contents into a shredder.
- jrowley 8y ago
  I think you are looking for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zubmkHMRP3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zubmkHMRP3U
LeoPanthera 8y ago
Important to point out that this service isn't free. It's only $2 for 10 years, but still worth knowing.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  Wait what? If I paid, I didn’t realize it.

olliej 8y ago

Where they get you is that they /require/ you to have multiple years of credit history over multiple accounts if you want to get a mortgage. I almost couldn’t get a mortgage loan because wellsfargo (in between committing fraud) insisted on having three lines of credit that had been in use for more than a year. I only had two - i had to use my recurrent gym payments as a third and that required more paperwork and hit our maximum loan amount. This was despite having a single employer and a consistent income for a decade. Banks and credit agencies need to be reigned in - actual liability for losses they caused, and provide you with market rates for credit monitoring - because we know that they’re not paying that when they give you a year of “free monitoring”. Also credit agencies should be financially accountable when they make false claims about you. They don’t need to put any work into making sure they’re accurate as they decide you’re responsible for it, and they make money from us having to get credit monitoring.

Beestie 8y ago

The credit card solicitations are coming from companies that are purchasing credit headers from the credit reporting bureaus (Trans Union, Equifax & Experian). The credit header is just your name/address/credit score band. Just log in to each bureau and opt out of credit header sharing. They will honor it. Use annualCreditReport.com for one annual credit report/yr from each bureau.