The digital age has been both a blessing and curse.
Twitter, Facebook, blogs, credit cards, and smart phones have all become an integral part of 21st century life. But all of this comes at a steep price””our privacy.
Never before have so many known so much about us, and what they know has financial ramifications. Worse yet, errors and identity theft may provide distorted pictures that could cost us even more.
That’s why it’s important to understand who is keeping an eye on us and to make sure the information they’ve collected is correct.
Credit Reporting Agencies
Your credit report determines how much you’ll pay for an auto, home, or personal loan. But did you also know it could be used to determine whether or not you get a job?
According to the New York Times, about 60 percent of employers now perform credit checks on job applicants. A low credit score could easily dampen your job prospects.
But what the nation’s three credit reporting agencies know about you is often inaccurate, the result of errors or identity theft you may not even be aware of.
That’s why it’s important to know what’s in your credit report. By law you’re allowed to get a free copy of your credit report from each of the major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Visit annualcreditreport.com. This is the only federally approved location for obtaining free credit report information. (Quick tip: Do not obtain all three reports at once, but space it out, ordering a different report every four months. This allows you to monitor any suspicious activity or inaccurate information throughout the year.)
The C.L.U.E Insurance Database
Insurance companies live by the golden rule that people who’ve made claims in the past are more likely to make claims in the future. Consequently, a history of auto or homeowner’s claims may make it difficult to get insurance at reasonable rates in the future.
Your insurance claims history is contained in a C.L.U.E. (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) auto or personal property report. Insurance companies rely on your C.L.U.E. reports to determine the insurance premiums you’ll pay.
But again, mistakes or identity theft could have you paying unnecessarily high rates. Fortunately, the law says you can obtain a free copy of your C.L.U.E reports at least once a year. Obtain a copy of your reports by visiting LexusNexus.com.
The Chex Checking Account System
If you’ve been denied a bank or credit union account you may be victim of the Chex reporting system. This database tracks bounced checks and other incidences of bank fraud. Rack up too many insufficient funds check returns and you could find yourself blacklisted by the Chex database.
But as with the C.L.U.E. data base and credit reports, identity theft and errors can entrap even the most conscientious of us. To obtain a copy of your Chex report, visit the ChexSystem website.
The Retail Equation Returned Merchandise Database
Have you ever noticed the brother or sister wearing expensive gear with the price tag subtly tucked away? We all know they’ll be at their favorite store the next morning doing the return shuffle.
It seems department stores have taken notice too. They’ve resorted to using a database service that tracks merchandise returns. Your Return Activity Report is a history of your returns at stores of participating merchants. Return too many items and you might be denied future returns, whether your returns are legitimate or not.
If you’ve been denied a return, your can check your Return Activity Report by visiting TheRetailEquation.com.
Social Media Background Checks
More frightening than the information reporting agencies collect on us, is the amount of personal information we leave on the web.
Every time we turn on our computers and visit a blog, community website, or social media site we leave digital bread crumbs which may come back to bite us.
As reported by the New York Times, many employers are now hiring companies to perform social media background checks on potential employees.
Start-up company Social Intelligence, run by Max Drucker, looks at anything a prospective employee may have said or done on the Internet in the last seven years.
“Less than a third of the data surfaced by Mr. Drucker’s firm comes from such major social platforms as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. He said much of the negative information about job candidates comes from deep Web searches that find comments on blogs and posts on smaller social sites, like Tumblr, the blogging site, as well as Yahoo user groups, e-commerce sites, bulletin boards and even Craigslist.
Then there are the photos and videos that people post””or find themselves tagged in””on Facebook and YouTube and other sharing sites like Flickr, Picasa, Yfrog and Photobucket.”
Yes, those embarrassing photos, questionable comments or obscenity laced tweets could cost you a potential job.
Information is being collected about us all the time. Your best bet? Although you may be in the privacy of your home, assume anything you leave on the internet could be seen by a potential employer. Also keep on top of the numerous consumer reports generated about you, so that errors or identity thieves don’t ruin you financially.
BMWK, have you ever been subject to a social media check? Have you ever checked you own credit, CLUE, Retail Equation, or Chex report?
Ronnie_BMWK says
Great Post…very informative..thanks for pulling this all together and providing the links.
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