LIFESTYLE n IDENTITY PROTECTION
Protect Yourself.
Protect Your Identity.
By Carol Fisher
1. Your mortgage originator pulls your
credit report from the credit bureaus
to obtain your credit score and
process your loan application.
2. The credit bureaus may place your
personal information on a pre-
screened list (also called a trigger list).
3. Within hours the credit bureaus may
sell the list to hundreds or thousands
of companies. Your mortgage origi-
nator does not authorize the sale of
your personal information and cannot
stop it. Only you have the ability to
stop this practice.
4. Within hours you begin to receive
phone solicitations for mortgage
products from numbers and com-
panies you don’t recognize.
5. Within days you begin to receive mail
solicitations for mortgage products.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
1. The “bait-and-switch” scheme. This
scheme is run by companies who get
business by luring consumers in with
low rates and then switching the loan
product.
2. Solicitations (phone and mail) that
appear to be from your current
mortgage company. Always confirm
who you are speaking with.
3. Solicitations asking for pin numbers,
passwords, your mother’s maiden
name and/or your social security
number.
4. If you believe you have been the
target of one of these deceitful
practices or some other abuse of
the system, please report the incident
to the Federal Trade Commission
at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357);
TTY: 1-866-653-4261.
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VOL 4, Issue 4
WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Opt-Out of prescreened offers.
2. Register with the Do-Not-Call Registry,
www.donotcall.gov.
3 .
C o n t a c t t h e Fe d e r a l Tr a d e
Commission.
4. Contact Congress.
5. Stop other forms of direct marketing
by visiting the Direct Mail Association’s
Web site at: www.dmaconsumers.org/
consumerassistance.html
Worried? Want to Do More
to Protect Your Information?
Voice your concerns by calling your
Congressional Representative at
202-224-3121.
FAQs
What is a prescreened offer of credit
or insurance? A firm offer of credit
or insurance is defined as any offer
of credit or insurance to a consumer
that will be honored if the consumer is
determined, based on the consumer’s
credit report, to meet the specific
criteria used to select the consumer for
the offer, subject to c