I've Been Mugged

7 Tips To Avoid A Rejected Credit Card During Vacation Travel

Today, banks are more vigilant than ever about spotting potential fraud. One way banks spot potential fraud includes charges outside of the cardholder's normal usage pattern -- the area where you live, work, and use your credit card. Often, when consumers go on vacation you intentionally travel outside of your area. Nobody wants a credit card purchase denied while traveling, especially when you don't have the cash with you.

So, what can consumers do to avoid having your credit card denied while shopping during vacation? Banks and credit card issuers advise consumers to:

1. Understand where your credit card is accepted outside of the United States. You can visit the customer service section of your bank's or credit card issuer's website. For example: the Help Center in the Discover site lists the regions where that credit card is accepted, including an international Country Acceptance Map. This is also helpful to understand any exchange rates used, and/or any fees or surcharges that might apply for purchases in different currencies. The Visa Travel Preparation Page provides similar information for cardholders traveling internationally.

2. Decide which credit cards you will bring. You may decided to leave at home the credit cards with high foreign transaction fees, don't offer purchase protection insurance, doesn't offer frequent-flyer mileage, and/or aren't accepted in the countries which you will visit. Experts advise consumers to bring at least two credit cards, and use one as a back-up in case your primary card doesn't work.

3. Notify your bank or credit card issuer of your upcoming travel, and the specific locatons where you will use your credit card. For example, Capital One directs its Visa cardholders to call its Customer Service department (1-800-955-7070) before their trip to provide the following information:

• Credit card number
• Travel destination(s): states and/or countries
• Travel start and stop dates
• Which cardholders will be traveling (if multiple people have accounts)

In Capital One's automated voice system, cardholders speak to enter and select voice prompt options. Say "More Options" and then "Report Upcoming Travel" to access the relevant option. Then, you can enter all of the necessary information, or you can speak with a human representative.

Obviously, if your vacation travel itinerary includes several cities and/or countries, you will want to have all of that information ready. When you contact your bank or credit card issuer, they will provide an international customer service phone number you can call while traveling outside the United States, should you have any problems. Last month before my vacation, I used Capital One's automated voice system. My travel itinerary included about six countries, and I found the system pretty easy to use to enter the necessary information.

4. Watch out for PINs. In some regions, automated kiosks require credit cards with smart chips. If your credit card doesn't have this new technology, it may not work.

5. If you want to use your debit card instead, first contact your bank, credit union, or card issuer to report your travel itinerary. Visit their website to find their office and ATM locations in the states or countries you will visit, any other banks they have partnerships with, any fees (e.g., conversion, foreign transaction) that apply, and any PIN number limitations (e.g., fewer digits). Generally, in-network ATM machines have lower fees than out-of-network ATM machines.

Experts advise consumers to keep sufficient cash with you for smaller purchases. The fewer times you use your debit card, the less you expose it to identity theft and fraud risks. If you read this blog regularly, then you already know that I use my debit card only at my bank's ATM machines. To me, it is too risky to use a debit card in a local retail store or gas station, especially in another country. There is no way to know if the card entry pads (or gas station pumps) has been compromised with skimming devices.

6. If you want to use a prepaid card instead, CardHub advises consumers:

"As long as your prepaid card bears the MasterCard or Visa logo and you notify your issuer of your travel plans, you should be able to use it abroad...”

Wise consumers will still check with their card issuer to get a copy of their prepaid card agreement, to find ATM locations in the states or countries you will visit, any other banks they have partnerships with, and any fees (e.g., conversion, foreign transaction) that apply. Again, in-network ATM machines generally have lower/fewer fees than out-of-network ATM machines. Compare the fees for your prepaid card against fees for your credit/debit cards. Understand your rights, protections, and the differences between credi, debit, and prepaid cards. If decided to use a prepaid card, make sure you load enough money onto it before you leave for your trip.

If you are unsure about whether prepaid cards are for you or not, there are plenty of online resources to help you decide. You can learn more by browsing the Prepaid Cards section of this blog. The posts in this blog section contain plenty of links to external sites and resources.

7. Check for foreign travel advisories. These may suggest additional precautions you should take in the countries you will visit.

Having done all of this, you can then travel with peace of mind.

60 Minutes: Dispute Processes At Credit Reporting Agencies Fail To Fix Errors in Consumers' Credit Reports

Recently, the 60 Minutes television news magazine reported about the credit reporting industry. The report focused on problems with the dispute process: failures by the largest three credit reporting agencies to correct errors reported by consumers on their credit reports.

Basically, one out of every five Americans has an error on their credit report. That is a massive amount of credit reports with errors, since the companies archive credit reports for about 200 million Americans and since each person has at least three credit reports (e.g., one report each at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, plus regional credit reporting agencies). That is an unacceptably high error rate.

Few other businesses would remain operating with such a high error rate. Think of it this way: if one out of every five airplane passenger was killed or injured during a crash, then that airline would be out of business. At a minimum, the public wold demand changes and accountability. If one out of every five credit card purchases were incorrect or lost, that bank would be out of business. And, consumers would demand changes and accountability. But somehow, credit reporting agencies remain in business despite high error rates. If you made an error in one out of five projects at your job, your employer would likely suspend or fire you.

If you are unfamiliar with what credit reporting agencies do, here's what you need to know. The banks and lenders you already have loans or credit accounts with, provide your history to the credit reporting agencies about your loans, payments you've made (or failed to make), outstanding loan balances, and the associated dates. When a loan is paid off, your credit report should indicate that. Like social networking websites, you are the product since credit reporting agencies make money by selling your credit reports to potential lenders (e.g., banks, retail stores, phone companies, educational loan companies), both when you apply for credit and when potential lenders request credit reports in order to send out offers via e-mail or snail mail.

Credit reporting agencies also make money by selling to consumers both credit scores and credit monitoring services, whose monthly fees can be as high as $18. 60 Minutes reported that these credit monitoring services don't provide consumers with the exact same credit reports that the credit reporting agencies sell to potential lenders. I'd like to hear more about that.

Your credit report is the basis of future lending decisions made by potential lenders. A bad or inaccurate report will affect and lower your credit score, the overall number used to indicate your credit worthiness. A low credit score can cost you money: denied credit applications, or approved loans but with a far higher interest rate. Bad reports can include valid late or non-payments on your loans. The errors in credit reports can include another person's data co-mingled with yours (obviously, that should never happen), a dead person's data co-mingled with yours, or a credit report that doesn't accurately reflect a loan you truly paid off on time and/or in full.

The $4 billion credit reporting industry is dominated by three huge companies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. What 60 Minutes didn't mention is that credit reporting agencies regularly do business with data brokers, such as Acxiom, to buy and sell your personal information. Credit reporting agencies experience data breaches, just like other companies.

The reality is that information in your credit report is transmitted around the globe, since much of the credit report maintenance and customer service operations are outsourced to firms in other countries (e.g., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chili, Costa Rica, El Salvadore, Honduras, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Peru, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Uruguay). The work is often performed by low-wage workers. Readers of this blog are already know this, since this blog reported a 4-part series in 2008 about offshore outsourcing within the industry. The 60 Minutes reporter interviewed several former credit reporting agency workers in Chile, who admitted that they really didn't have any way to investigate errors, and were directed to simply assign number codes to error disputes submitted by consumers, and then rubber-stamp inputs from lenders; regardless of whether that input was correct or incorrect.

If this makes you mad, it should. The 60 Minutes report included concerns by the Attorney General for the state of Ohio, Mike DeWine. He is concerned that the credit reporting agencies don't fix mistakes in consumers' credit report, that the high error rates are the industry's fault (and not the banks'), and that the industry violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). While the industry claims that it adequately protects the credit reports of children, DeWine's office has taken action to check the accuracy of the credit reports of youth in the state's foster care system.

60 Minutes reported that some consumers have sued credit reporting agencies to get a resolution and errors fixed. Consumers shouldn't have to go to that extreme to resolve errors in their credit reports. Perhaps, some enterprising class-action attorney will take up the challenge.

You can watch the report below. After watching it, report any credit problems you have had to the CFPB. You should also contact your elected officials and demand action:

Want to learn more? Read:

• Equifax And Its Customers To Pay $1.6 Million In FTC Settlement About Alleged Improper List Sales
• FTC Survey: The Good And Bad Experiences Of Identity-Theft Victims With Consumer Reporting Agencies
• Data Breach At Experian Credit Reporting Service
• Ohio Attorney General helps foster youth with credit report errors
• How to dispute errors in your credit reports (video)
• The website with truly free credit reports for consumers

HSBC Agrees To Pay $5.25 Million Settlement To NCUA

Last week, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) announced a settlement agreement with HSBC. HSBC hs agreed to pay $5.25 million to the NCUA for a complaint about its sale of residential mortgage-backed securities to five failed credit unions. The settlement agreement does not require HSBC to admit fault.

Similar to FDIC and the banks it oversees, the NCUA charges the credit unions it oversees with fees to cover failed credit unions and to protect depositors' assets. The NCUA uses the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund (TCCUSF) to cover failed corporate credit unions. In this instance, the true risk of the mortgage-backed securities sold to corporate credit unions allegedly wasn't disclosed and led to the failed credit unions. Any payments the NCUA collects is used to offset future fees the NCUA charges for the TCCUSF.

The NCUA had filed five lawsuits against various securities firms, and had negotiated settlements with Deutsche Bank Securities ($145 million) and Citigroup ($20.5 million).

Corporate credit unions provide various services (e.g., short-term loans, check clearing, electronic funds transfers, ATM networks) to the consumer credit unions they serve. Consumer credit unions are the credit unions which we consumers join. Corporate credit unions are chartered by the NCUA or states.

In its 2010 annual report, the NCUA listed the following corporate credit unions:

Corporate Credit Union Name	State	Assets (Mill)	Members
Corporate America CU	Alabama	$3,701.7	369
First Corporate	Arizona	$979.4	51
Western Bridge Corporate Federal	California	$16,756.3	1,010
System United Corporate Federal CU	Colorado	$2,091.3	363
Southeast Corporate	Florida	$2,561.5	390
Georgia Corporate Federal CU	Georgia	$1,737.1	171
Iowa Corporate Central CU	Iowa	$108.2	159
Members United Bridge Corporate Federal	Illinois	$10,012.9	2,166
Kansas Corporate	Kansas	$302.3	148
Kentucky Corporate	Kentucky	$363.3	105
Louisian Corporate	Louisiana	$146.7	172
Eastern Corporate	Massachusetts	$507.5	278
Tricorp	Maine	$617.1	184
Central Corporate	Michigan	$2,394.3	359
Missouri Corporate CU	Missouri	$501.0	223
Treasure State Corporate CU	Montana	$386.3	63
First Carolina Corporate	North Carolina	$1,917.7	172
Midwest Corporate	North Dakota	$181.7	60
Corporate One Federal CU	Ohio	$2,881.1	768
MidAtlantic Corporate	Pennsylvania	$3,025.7	888
Volunteer Corporate	Tennessee	$1,351.7	256
Southwest Bridge Corporate Federal	Texas	$7,745.3	1,377
VA Corp	Virginia	$1,056.5	229
Corporate Central CU	Wisconsin	$1,623.7	281
West Virginia Corporate Federal CU	West Virginia	$228.1	110
U.S. Central Bridge Federal	Kansas	$18,412.9	56
Total		$81,591.1	10,428

Bill Maher: End Abusive Relationships With Your Bank

An important message about the Move Your Money Project from Bill Maher, with his usual wit and humor:

Big Banks vs. Credit Unions

If you are unsure about whether or not to move your money from a big banks to a small, community bank and credit union, consider the statistics below from Consumer Reports:

Item / Fee	Big Banks	Credit Unions
Non-interest Checking (per month)	$10.27	$6.00
Minimum Balance to Waive Fees	$1,115.97	$500.00
Online Bill Payment (per month)	$6.95	$0.00
Use Another Bank's ATM (per transaction)	$2.21	$1.07
ATM Surcharge (per transaction)	$2.96	$2.79
Overdraft (per transaction)	$34.48	$27.82
Insufficient Funds (per transaction)	$34.48	$27.82
Stop Payment (per transaction)	$31.09	$19.43

To learn more:

• Javelin Research Reports Results About Bank Transfer Day
• Learn About Credit Unions. Free Workshops At A Nearby City
• Keeping Its Commitment To Its Customers: A Bank Does The Right Thing
• Bank of America Merchant Services And Money Network Announce New Payroll Solution
• How To File A Complaint About A Bank
• Move Your Money To... Walmart? A Good Deal?
• Some Banks Reverse Decisions To Add New Debit Card Fees

Javelin Research Reports Results About Bank Transfer Day

Finally, some firm statistics are being released about the results of Bank Transfer Day, when consumers moved their money from big banks to credit unions and local community banks. Based on extensive research, Javelin Strategy & Research estimated that 5.6 million U.S. adults moved their money during a 90 day period. Some details:

• 11% (610,000 of the 5.6 million) mentioned Bank Transfer Day as the reason they moved their money
• 26% said that high banking fees were the reason they moved their money

Javelin concluded that both Bank Transfer Day and the Occupy Movement had a measurable impact when compared to research results from prior years. So, a true grassroots movement can have an impact.

Previously, CUNA revised downward its estimates of Bank Transfer Day results due to a flawed methodology. CUNA did not change its estimate of more than 40,000 new credit union accounts opened by consumers on November 5, Bank Transfer Day.

Javelin designed the online research questionnaire and surveyed 5,878 consumers during December 2011. The survey process included:

"... targeted respondents based on representative proportions of gender, age, income, and ethnicity, and data was weighted to U.S. census proportions. The survey is based on a set of questions that were first fielded in 2003, and are now deployed on a twice-annual basis."

Javelin has research identity theft and fraud, with reports covering 2008 and 2010, plus trends in corporate data breaches. I have found Javelin's work reliable, but still await more results about Bank Transfer Day. It would be great to know the average bank account balance transferred, since the big banks seem to have focused on getting consumers to consolidate their accounts (e.g., checking, savings, and investments). The big banks are probably willing to lose consumers with smaller balances.

In a recent conversation with banking industry analysts, the Bank of America CEO reported a 20 percent increase in account closures during the fourth quarter of 2011.

Learn About Credit Unions. Free Workshops At A Nearby City

While there hasn't been much mentioned lately in the mainstream news media, consumers are still moving their money out of the big banks to local community banks and credit unions. If you want to learn more about what a credit union is and its benefits, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is hosting free workshops in several citys.

The NCUA is the independent federal agency that regulates and supervises federally chartered credit unions. The NCUA operates the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), which insures deposits at federal credit unions and most state-chartered credit unions. Deposits are insured up to $250,000 per account.

Upcoming workshop dates and locations through June 2012:

• March 3: Phoenix, AZ
• March 10: Los Angeles
• March 22: Richmond, VA
• April 11: Chicago
• April 12: Portland, ME
• April 19: Philadelphia, PA
• May 3: Detroit, MI
• May 11: Minneapolis, MN
• May 19: New York, NY
• May 23: Albuguerque, NM
• May 30: Baltimore, MD
• June 2: Denver, CO
• June 7: Omaha, NE
• June 9: Dallas, TX

To learn more and register for a workshop, visit the NCUA website. The NCUA operates the MyCreditUnion.gov website for consumers, with plenty of resources, tips, and advice. This prior blog post includes basic information about how to find a credit union near where you live.

CUNA Revises Downward Its Estimate Of New Accounts

An I've Been Mugged reader at the American Bankers Association provided a link to this December 6 American Banker article: Credit Unions Eat Crow On Customer Numbers. The article reported that the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) revised downward its initial estimate of the number of new accounts opened at credit unions by consumers who moved their money from large banks during the weeks leading up to Bank Transfer Day.

The CUNA is a trade association of 90 percent of 7,400 state and federally chartered credit unions serving about 93 million Americans. The CUNA originally estimated on November 3 that consumers opened 650,00 new accounts at credit unions from September 29 to November 2. The revised estimate is a third of the initial estimate: 214,000 new accounts at credit unions during this period. The American Banker article concluded:

"The [CUNA] association's scaling back of its numbers on Monday gave credence to banking industry officials and others who criticized the association's methodology last month."

The CUNA has admitted that its initial estimate was "rushed and flawed." The CUNA has not changed its estimate of more than 40,000 new credit union accounts opened by consumers on November 5, Bank Transfer Day.

I found the title of the American Banker article unnecessarily excessive: "Credit Unions Eat Crow On Customer Numbers." First, final new account numbers are not yet available, only estimates. Second, I hope that ABA members stay focused on the needs of consumers rather than this one-upmanship about a single flawed CUNA survey. If big banks truly were meeting consumers' needs, then this move-your-money situation would not exist. Banks have a lot of consumer trust to regain after huge credit card interest rate increases and alleged foreclosure abuses during the past two years. A recent consumer satisfaction survey found:

"Consumer satisfaction with credit unions has soared this year, posting scores well above their large-bank competitors, according to the 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index... The satisfaction score for credit unions rose 8.7 percentage points to 87 points on a scale of 0 to 100. The index said it is the highest satisfaction score ever for any of the 47 industries."

Third, if you read about the genesis of Bank Transfer Day, it was a voluntary call by a person for consumers to move their money by November 5. Consumers can continue to move their money after November 5, and it may simply take consumers longer to move their money. Fourth, consumers value stability. This analysis suggested that credit unions survived recent economic crises better than commercial banks.

On December 1, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) agency reported performance results about credit unions during the third quarter of 2011:

"Membership and Total Assets Growth Continues: Despite a slight decline in number, federally insured credit unions added more than 450,000 members during the third quarter, growing to 91.4 million individuals. In all, membership has increased by almost 1 million during the first 9 months of 2011. Credit union total assets also continued to expand, standing at $951.1 billion on Sept. 30, an increase of almost $8.7 billion for the quarter... For the second quarter in a row, credit union lending increased to end the period at $567.1 billion, an increase of $3.1 billion over the prior quarter. New auto loans and other real estate loans continued to decline, while used vehicle loans, unsecured loans—including credit cards—and first mortgage real estate loans again all rose during the quarter. Notably, demand for non-federally guaranteed student loans jumped 20.5 percent during the third quarter to end at $1.3 billion on Sept. 30."

The NCUA report included only the 7,179 federally insured credit unions, and excluded results for October 2011 and Bank Transfer Day. I look forward to reading in January comprehensive actual results, not estimates, from all sources for all of 2011.

Credit Unions: A New I've Been Mugged Topic

Since many consumers are moving their money from the big banks to community banks and credit unions, I have added a new topic in the tag cloud in the near right column. "Credit Unions" includes content of interest to credit union customers. I hope that you like the new category.

CUNA Says 650,000 Consumers Have Already Moved Their Money To Credit Unions

The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) has estimated that since September 23, when Bank of America announced its plans to introduce a $5.00 monthly fee for its customers to use their debit cards, about 650,000 consumers have opened accounts at credit unions. That total is more than the number of people who joined credit unions during all of 2010.

That bears repeating. About 650,000 consumers have moved their money to credit unions. They didn't pledge to move their money, or make a vague promise. They actually moved their money.

Those 650,000 new credit union accounts are estimated to be worth about $4.5 billion or just under $7,000 per account. And, Bank Transfer Day -- the November 5 date promoted by the Occupy movement -- hasn't arrived, yet. Many credit unions are open and ready to help consumers move their money on Bank Transfer Day. CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney said:

"The results indicate that consumers are clearly making a smarter choice by moving to credit unions where, on average, they will save about $70 a year in fewer or no fees, lower rates on loans and higher return on savings."

As I see it, that $70 annual savings is a minimum savings, assuming the big banks will probably find other ways to introduce new fees, rather than do the sensible thing and cut costs.

CUNA is the national trade association that represents credit unions in the United States.

According to CUNA, many consumers have visited the aSmarterChoice.org website to find credit unions near where they live and work. Read this article for more search tips to find a credit union. While some of the big banks have cancelled their plans for a monthly debit card fee, there are more reasons to move your money.

Yes, the backlash against the big banks is well underway.

ABC News: The Backlash Is Underway As Consumers Move Their Money To Credit Unions

ABC News broadcast the segment below during the Monday evening national news. In response to new debit fees imposed by the big banks, the backlash is underway as consumers move their money to credit unions and community banks:

A Primer: Finding A Credit Union To Move Your Money To

Many consumers feel "mugged" by the big banks and their many banking fees, and are moving their money to a community bank or credit union. If you are looking for a credit union, there are a few things you should know. I am looking for a new bank or credit union, given the new debit card fees and poor treatment.

To learn about credit unions, first I visited the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) website. The NCUA is the independent federal agency that regulates and supervises federal credit unions. The NCUA operates the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), which insures deposits at federal credit unions and most state-chartered credit unions. Deposits are insured up to $250,000 per account.

The NCUA website explains what a credit union is and how they operate. Some consumers like credit unions because they believe all banks will ultimately add fees for checking accounts. Besides offering low and no fees compared to the big banks, the attraction of a credit union is:

"... cooperative financial institution that’s owned and controlled by the members. Since they’re not-for-profit, they exist to serve you, the member. Not for profit, not for charity, but for service is a credit union motto. As a member, you have a say in how the credit union is run..."

I like the idea of having a say, since that is not happening at the big bank where my accounts currently are. At the NCUA website, I used the find a credit union to develop a short list of three or four credit unions located near where I live. The tool delivers summary information about each credit union: name, address, phone, CEO name, credit union type, number of members, charter number, status, and other pertinent data. I found this information useful with creating my custom list of prospective credit unions to apply to.

To join a credit union, you have to apply. Some have specific membership criteria; others do not. You will probably want to find credit unions located near you, since their network of ATM machines is not a broad as the big banks. To me, that is a small consequence to avoid the numerous fees charged by the big banks.

To learn more, you can also follow the NCUA on Facebook. Or you can also visit the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) website. While the NCUA website focuses on the needs of consumers, the NAFCU website provides information for both its members and for consumers. You can also follow the NAFCU on Facebook.

The NAFCU also provides a credit union locator tool to find a credit union, and a compare rates tool, to compare the interest rates by type (e.g., savings, mortgages, consumer loans, and credit cards) at credit unions. I found the compare rates tool not very useful, since it only lets you compare all interest rates in a state by type, or rates by type nationally. The compare rates tool doesn't let you compare rates by type within a state.

To be fair, while I like a lot of the information about banks in articles at Bankrate.com, its compare rates tool includes interest rates for a variety of financial products (e.g., checking, savings, CDs, credit cards, mortgages, auto, student loans) at banks, but lacks relevant checking and savings fees. In 2009, this blog first covered the Move Your Money Project (MYMP) website. At that time, the search tool only included community banks. The search tool was upgraded last year and includes both community banks and credit unions.

The Find a Better Bank (FBB) website lets consumers search across both banks and credit unions. I found many of the questions in the FBB search tool intrusive on privacy, and just wanted the site to simply display a list of nearby banks with their key check/savings interest rates and relevant fees.

What search tool have you used to find a credit union or a community bank to move your money to? If you have used any of the above search tools, please share your experiences: good or bad.

[November 1, 2011 Update: In a Facebook message, the NCUA announced today, "We have launched the completely restructured and redesigned www.ncua.gov and rolled out phase II of our consumer-focused website www.MyCreditUnion.gov. The site www.ncua.gov is now exclusively tailored toward the business aspect of the agency, whereas consumer content moved to www.MyCreditUnion.gov with an identity aimed at attracting web-surfing consumers who either want to learn about credit unions or need help with their credit union. The new site incorporates the latest functionality in web technologies and features."]

Statistics: Consumers Moving Money To Smaller Banks And Credit Unions

I shared in a prior post a video from the Move Your Money site. If you haven't heard, there is a movement underway by consumers to move their hard-earned money from big banks to small community banks and credit unions. Some of the reasons why people move their money:

• Poor customer service
• Dislike the bank's policies
• Dislike the bailouts the big banks received
• Dislike the bank's mortgage lending practices
• High credit card interest rates and unfriendly terms for cardholders
• Large bonuses paid to the bank's executives
• Money spent on corporate acquisitions instead of services for consumers

Some recent statistics from Forbes magazine:

"Our survey about banking of 2,068 U.S. adults was conducted from Feb. 17-19, 2010. We found that 37% said that a big national bank was their primary source for banking. We asked all respondents if they have “considered moving some or all of (their) banking from a large national bank to a community bank or credit union because (they) are unhappy with the policies or behavior of large national banks.” Nearly one in three (32%) answered yes."

The main statistics to remember (bold text added):

"Fourteen percent of all adults said that in the past year they have actually moved some of their banking from a large national bank to a community bank or credit union. We asked them why they moved their banking and listed several possible reasons. They could choose more than one reason. Based on that question, we found that 9% of all U.S. adults have taken some of their business away from big banks as a protest."

Data Breach Affects 5,000 Liberty Bay Credit Union Customers

Last week, my wife received a letter from the credit union where she banks:

April 16, 2009

Dear Member,

Re: Liberty Bay Debit Card

Although this is a general advisory for your information only, the Credit Union recommends that you cancel your existing card and have a new card issued.

MasterCard has recently informed the Liberty Bay Credit Union that your Liberty bay Debit card has been suspected of being compromised and or exposed. MasterCard is in the process of investigating this unauthorized access of your card information. To date, no fraud on these accounts has been reported at the Liberty bay Credit Union.

Please contact the member Services Dept. at 617-XXX-XXXX [phone number redacted], if you would like us to issue you a new Liberty Bay Debit card with a new number and pin. Once you have requested a new card your compromised card will automatically be cancelled in 30 days.

We apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused you. If you have any further questions regarding this matter please do not hesitate to call the Member Services Department.

Sincerely,
Member Services Department
Liberty Bay Credit Union

So far, my wife hasn't received any notices from MasterCard. She checks her bank statements online, so she is sure that there hasn't been any fraudulent charges submitted -- so far.

My wife called Liberty Bay Credit Union (LBCU) to learn more about the data breach and what LBCU is doing to help. An LBCU representative said that MasterCard did not release any details about the breach, and that all of LBCU's 5,000 members were affected.

This is troubling for several reasons:

• Members deserve better notification about the breach details. The letter did not list the types of sensitive personal data stolen. I didn't seen any news releases about the breach at LBCU's Web site.
• The letter contains the typical, unhelpful language, "To date, no fraud on these accounts has been reported..." In my experience, it takes fast notification of consumers who are often best positioned to notify the bank (or credit union) of which charges are bogus.
• LBCU's notification should be stronger than an "advisory." It doesn't offer any credit monitoring services. It doesn't indicate what the credit union is doing to help -- like pressure MasterCard for breach details. It doesn't mention who is paying the cost of new accounts for LBCU members. (Hopefully, MasterCard or the company that suffered the breach is paying the cost, and not LBCU.)
• If members request a new debit card account, the old account should be canceled immediately. It should not take as long as 30 days. That delay seems unacceptably slow and prone to fraud.
• The lack of details about the breach incident causes me to wonder if this breach is part of the larger Heartland Payment Systems breach
• The tone of the letter gave me the impression that LBCU is being totally reactionary and is letting MasterCard perform all of the investigative work.

My wife is understandably angry. Again, a company (e.g., MasterCard, one of its payment processors, or a vendor) has been unable to adequately protect consumers' sensitive personal data, and this has inconvenienced consumers. And, this was not the first breach notice my wife has received from a financial institution. It makes her question whether our financial industry really knows what it is doing about data security.

I question the speed of LBCU's notification. Consider this January 23, 2009 news story from USA Today:

"Visa and MasterCard have begun notifying member banks around the nation to contact patrons whose card accounts may have been compromised in the Heartland Payment Systems data breach. Robert Baldwin, Heartland's President and CFO, said in a USA TODAY interview that Visa and MasterCard are "instructing many card issuers" to offer fraud-monitoring protection, replace cards, or do a combination of both for customers whose card purchases were processed by Heartland."

Consequences of the Heartland Data Breach (Part Two)

In Part One of this story, we met Janet after fraudsters had attempted to submit charges to her Visa credit card. Janet's story continues with some unexpected twists, which we all can learn from.

After Visa -- and not her credit union -- had notified Janet of some fraudulent charges, Janet followed my advice and notified Visa in writing (e.g., a letter via Postal Mail with a Return Receipt) that the charges were indeed bogus. Visa removed the bogus charges.

Janet was curious why her credit union had not notified her about the fraudulent credit card charges, since the credit union issued her Visa credit card. Her credit union indicated that her situation was not a result of the Heartland Payment Systems data breach, since her credit card number wasn't on the list of compromised card numbers the credit union received.

This seemed odd to me since Visa's arrangement with Heartland is well documented in the news media. Thinking that here situation was resolved, Janet was surprised to receive via postal mail a letter from Experian notifying her of an attempted address-change request. Somebody was attempting to change Janet's address on her Experian credit report. This was a troubling surprise for several reasons:

• Janet had not submitted an address to change to Experian or to any other credit reporting agencies
• Janet has a Security Freeze on her credit reports at the three major credit reporting agencies (e.g., Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to prevent unauthorized access. An attempted address change by a fraudster is clearly an unauthorized access.
• In its letter, Experian also said that it had sent a notice of this attempted address change to both the new address and to Janet's current address

Janet is puzzled why Experian would send a letter to the new address when she alread has in place a Security Freeze prventing access to her Experian credit report. Next, Janet did what anyone would do: she called Experian's customer service number to talk with a representative. Janet did not want to just send a letter to Experian. She wanted faster action, since identity thieves were trying to access her sensitive personal data.

Sadly, Janet has been unable to talk with a human representative at Experian. When calling the Customer Serivce number, she gets stuck in an endless series of menus to phone messages, with no way to talk to a human customer service representative. Same results with Experian's web site.

Janet followed my advice and filed a police report with local law enforcement. After filing the report, the detective involved has also been unable to contact a human representative at Experian.

Janet asked me what she should do next, since she is leaving for vacation for 10 days. I said that while she is on vacation, I will try to contact the President or CEO of Experian to see what type of response I could get for her. Janet is also contacting her local Congressional Representative.

Janet should be able to talk with a human representative from Experian, especially during a time when identity thieves are attempting to access her Experian credit reports. Janet's experience so far seems to indicate a customer service melt-down at Experian.

This story is far from over. If you want to learn what happens, sign up for either e-mail or RSS updates from I've Been Mugged. As I learn more, I will post it in this blog.

Consequences of the Heartland Data Breach

About a week ago, my friend Janet (not her real name) received a phone call from Visa about suspect charges on Janet's Visa credit card through her credit union. Janet asked me not to disclose the name of her credit union, but it is a well-known higher education credit union located in the Northeast.

Janet asked me what she should do next. Her story has implications for many consumers.

Visa was proactive with contacting Janet about several small charges. Visa wanted to know if the charges were valid. Together, the five charges were less than $50 total, but Visa explained to Janet that often identity thieves and fraudsters submit small charges first. The identity thieves hope that the charges go paid and unnoticed, since many consumers don't check their monthly credit card statement. The real damage is done later when large, fraudulent charges are submitted.

Janet informed Visa that the charge were indeed bogus. Visa closed her credit card account and opened a replacement account. Visa also said that they were going to send Janet an affidavit to sign, indicating that the charges were were indeed fraudulent, which Janet must sign and return to Visa.

My advice to Janet:

1. Keep breathing. Yes, identity theft is scary but her situation is manageable. It definitely seemed that fraudster had obtained her credit card number, if not more sensitive personal data.
2. Definitely sign the form and return it to Visa via Certified postal snail-mail with a return receipt requested. That way she'd have a written record of when Visa received her signed form.
3. Keep a copy of the signed form for her records.
4. File a police report with her local police department, and attach a copy of the affidavit if needed.
5. Definitely accept the new credit card account Visa had arranged
6. Check her credit reports for any bogus entries. (Janet had already placed a Security Freeze on her credit reports years previously, when this became available in Massachusetts.)
7. Inform her credit card issuers of her upcoming travel abroad, so they know that credit card purchases in certain countries within certain dates will be valid charges; and do not suspend or close her credit card accounts
8. File a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, since the FTC tracks fraud and relies upon consumers to notify it
9. Check her monthly credit card statement closely for bogus charges. Janet said that she already did this regularly and would continue doing so.

Then, I asked Janet if her credit union or Visa had mentioned the Heartland Payment Systems vendor. Like most consumers, Janet hadn't heard of Heartland since Heartland isn't a vendor consumers usually do business with. Janet, like most consumers, is familiar with the credit card companies and banks.

I briefly explained to Janet the Heartland data breach, how hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers were exposed/stolen, and how Heartland isn't sure exactly how many credit/debit card accounts were exposed/stolen. A January 2009 Washington Post story mentioned that the Heartland breach may be the largest breach ever for the number of accounts stolen. Janet said that she'd ask Visa about it the next time she talked with them on the phone.

A few days later, Janet informed me that Visa confirmed that they use Heartland to process credit card transactions, and that this was probably a result of the Heartland breach. Janet's story has several implications for consumers:

• Check your credit card statements closely every month
• File a police report about the fraud with local law enforcement. If local law enforcement won't accept a police report, contact the elected officials in your state
• File a complaint with the FTC. The FTC analyzes the size and scope of identity theft and fraud
• Use a credit card issuer that proactively will warn you of possible bogus charges before your monthly statement arrives
• Know the sensitive personal data about yourself that you should protect
• If you suspect that identity thieves have collected more sensitive personal data than just your credit/debit card number, check your credit reports at the big-three credit reporting agencies for accuracy and for any bogus entries
• If you are the victim of fraud, consider placing a Fraud Alert or a Security Freeze on your credit reports at the big-three credit reporting agencies
• Know the difference between a Fraud Alert and a Security Freeze
• Know the risks of shopping with your debit card versus your credit card. Even better, use cash at retailers you believe may not practice good data security

What bothers me about Janet's story is:

• As of April 12, the Heartland breach site still does not disclose the number of consumers' credit/debit card accounts affected by its data breach. Either the company knows and refuses to say, or they don't know the number affected. If Heartland knows, then the number must be huge -- bigger than the TJX debacle
• Consumers like Janet are not being informed that their credit/debit accounts may have been affected (e.g., stolen) during the Heartland data breach. This seems to contradiction states' laws requiring consumer notification
• At its breach web site, Heartland encourages companies not to take any action about the Heartland breach since things will be fixed soon. Huh? Consumers have been affected. This "take no action" advice seems to also apply to communications to consumers. After all of the problems in the financial and banking industry during the past year, I would have thought that Heartland would understand the benefits of transparency about communications. Keeping secrets does damage, and consumers' trust is damaged or broken by secrets
• Janet's credit union doesn't seem to have provided much help, so far

To be fair, this week Janet plans to contact her credit union for more information and to see what they are doing about the fraud. Maybe Janet's credit union is following Heartland's advice.

If you have experienced fraud recently on your credit card or debit card account, I hope that you'll follow Janet's lead to protect yourself and your sensitive personal data. If you want to share your story below, it would be appreciated.