This Week in Your Wallet: Lessons from the Target Breach
It’s been a tough week if you’re Target – or one of the Target shoppers impacted by a massive data breach.
(In case you’ve been out of the country (or living under a rock) more than 40 million Target customers received bad news last week when the major retailer announced that their credit and debit card accounts might have been compromised in a massive data breach, which occurred between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. Names and important card information (numbers, expiration dates and security codes embedded in magnetic strips) were all stolen.
Now, millions of Americans (maybe even some of you) are left watching their statements like hawks. For debit card customers of Chase who used their cards at Target during the affected period, the ramifications are even greater. Debit card withdrawals have been limited to $100 and total purchases to $300 per day.
What’s most daunting about all of this is that this breach – though a massive example – is far from the only example. According to Javelin Strategy and Research the number of breaches climbed 340% between 2010 and 2011.
So, what do you do? Recently on TODAY, I discussed how to protect yourself from fraud while shopping. Here are a few of my tips. For more, you can catch the full segment here.
- Be on alert. If you were in the store over the holidays, you should check your account for any suspicious or unusual activity. Do this online if you can so that you don’t have to wait for your next statement. And keep tabs on it.
- Pull your credit reports. You can do this for free from annualcreditreport.com. What you’re looking for is an indication that someone is fraudulently opening new accounts in your name.
- Set up fraud alerts on your credit files. Even if nothing has happened thus far, you may want to set up fraud accounts on your credit file with all three credit reporting agencies. (If you notify one of the credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian or TransUnion, it will notify the other two for you.) This will flag your account that you’ve been victim of a fraud, and it requires creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity if someone applies for credit in your name. Or, even more drastic, to freeze your accounts. This move, which often costs a small amount, means that opening credit in your name will be impossible unless you unfreeze your accounts.
- Contact your bank. If you see something that appears fraudulent, REDcard holders should contact Target at 866-852-8680; others should contact their bank. The bank will likely close your card immediately and issue you another. It’s important to do this as quickly as possible.
- Watch your mail. If your statement doesn’t arrive on time, it could mean an ID thief has changed your address. Be cognizant of this.
How about signing up for a credit monitoring service? Target is offering this to affected customers for free, so yes, go ahead. But understand credit monitoring services protect primarily against new account fraud. This is when a criminal uses your personal information to open a credit card, mobile phone, or other account using your name, Social Security number, and other personal information. It doesn’t actually stop the opening of new accounts, but it can enable you to get a jump on them. Now onto some other news…
Another statement to watch is your cable bill
Out of the hundreds of channels you’re paying for each month, on average, how many of them do you actually watch? I’d venture to guess it’s a small percentage, making la carte packages the most sensible and feasible options. Well, as MarketWatch reports, consumers shouldn’t get their hopes up for future unbundled options. Even with the current consolidation talk in the industry, analysts are saying not to expect personalized options, like unbundled packages, or even lower prices. If anything, expect higher cable bills, because cable prices (generally) double every 10 years…and I guess we’re approaching the mark.
MarketWatch goes through the pros and cons of unbundling cable packages. For instance, if consumers only picked (and paid for) a select amount of channels, the prices for the most popular channels would inflate. While consumers might end up paying less overall each month, they’d be getting exactly their money’s worth – 50 channels for $50 opposed to 120 channels for $60. Also, some bundling packages include Internet, and unbundling might increase the price for it. If you’re on the fence about cutting your cable cord, MarketWatch offers a tool to see if you’re ready to say bye-bye.
Tax Season Delayed
Tax season will start up to two weeks later this year (originally slated for Jan. 21), because of the government shutdown in October, according to an announcement made by the Internal Revenue Service last week. Apparently the IRS needs some time to get their systems in order, which in return gives us some more time to prep. Naturally, that doesn’t mean you get additional time to file. The due date is still April 15.
DailyWorth outlines some of the costliest mistakes we can make when doing our taxes. Among them, skipping charitable deductions. Don’t let your good deeds go unnoticed, especially your non-cash contributions. If you donate a hefty amount of clothes or home goods to a charity, maintain a written record of communication (dates, times and amounts) with the qualified charity. Some other overlooked deductions include expenses for job-hunting, education and home mortgages. For example, you can deduct for business cards, mileage to and from interviews and major educational expenses, like tuition. For more costly mistakes, you can see the full post here.
Have a great week,
Jean
