Did you know when you apply for credit with a company, and they pull your credit report, your name and address is then sold by the credit reporting agency to various credit companies to pre-approve you for their product or service?  These offers of credit are often called “trigger leads” or “prescreen offers”.  When a credit report is requested from the credit agencies it is flagged and a “lead” is created.  These leads are generated daily so the companies purchasing them know that the information is current.  Your name, address and phone number is then sold to marketing, credit card, mortgage and insurance companies as “trigger leads” or “prescreen offers”.

Did you know that 1 in 3 Americans have been victims of identity theft? This is partly because of the garbage they are throwing away.  Negligence when throwing away your personal information such as credit cards, credit card offers, receipts, and statements can cost you your identity.  Criminals often sift through trash to take advantage of innocent people.

Are you a college graduate or do you  know someone that is?  Leaving the safe haven of university life for the real world can be a difficult transition. From paying off student loans to the shock of auto and health insurance rates, there is a host of new financial experiences awaiting you, and some situations for which you may not have prepared.

Members often have a high trust for the credit union to which they belong.  When they receive emails or phone calls identifying the correspondent as a credit union representative they immediately place trust in that individual.   We are going to explain two very popular scams being used by criminals today to gather credit union members personal information.