TedCo Software Financial Matters Blog

Wheatworks Software, LLC has launched Bank-Marketing-Software.com a website offering Wheatworks’ new promotional software product for banks which is branded with a bank’s corporate dress, contact information and links to the bank’s Internet resources.

CustomCalcs(tm), the promotional software division of Wheatworks Software, LLC, brands the popular Financial Calculator Suite with a bank’s corporate graphics turning it into a fully-functional promotional item the bank distributes to customers.

Fully branded for bank marketing, Financial Calculator Suite, a Windows®-based collection of financial calculators, is designed to assist a bank’s customers with the financial calculations related to their financial planning while constantly reminding the customer of the bank.

Customers think in a focused way about finances when using a financial calculator. And when that calculator carries a bank’s brand, the customer cannot avoid thinking of the bank whose graphics, message and contact information is in front of them, embedded in the software.

CustomCalcs’ marketing software for banks is designed to be given away for promotional purposes. The branded Financial Calculator Suites are offered as downloads from web sites, given away on CD-ROMs at teller desks, given away at financial seminars, and financial authors have included their branded software with books.

Screen shots showing examples of branded financial software are available at http://www.bank-marketing-software.com/gallery.php. The gallery showcases software Wheatworks’ clients use to attract new customers, build goodwill and promote their banks.

Because this custom branded bank marketing software is designed to be given away for promotional purposes, the distribution license provides broad, royalty-free, distribution rights.

Learn more at http://www.bank-marketing-software.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Rick Wheat
Managing Partner
Wheatworks Software, LLC
http://www.bank-marketing-software.com

I received another phoney email today that appears to be from BancorpSouth Consumer Support. It is NOT.

The email is a phishing attempt. A thief somewhere wants to trick me into providing my personal banking information.

The message subject of today’s email is: “Internet Banking notification – Bancorp South”

The intent of this phoney email is to trick me into clicking the link it contains with the hope that I’ll fill in the form that appears in my browser with my personal banking information.

Here’s what you need to know about email messages you receive from “your” bank:

YOUR BANK WILL NOT SEND YOU AN EMAIL ASKING FOR YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION. YOUR BANK ALREADY HAS YOUR INFORMATION.

Do NOT click links in these phishing messages and NEVER fill out a form because “your” bank sent you an email.

The following web sites offer important information about phishing and ways you can protect yourself from financial scams:

Anti-Phishing Working Group

Microsoft’s Anti-Phishing Home

Firefox 2 Phishing Protection

Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar

I’ve just finished a conversation with Rhonda of TeleCheck about the information TeleCheck Services, Inc. maintains about me and my wife. My wife had a check declined today at a local store. After it was declined the cashier gave her a slip of paper with our bank’s ABA number, checking account number, a reason code and a phone number.

I live in a small town. My wife stopped by our community bank on the way home and talked with the President about our account. Nothing unusual there. No missing money or other problems. (It took me a while to accept it, but this is just one of many examples of why living in a small town can be a wonderful thing. I prefer our local, community bank services to those of the big banks.)

When she got home and told me about the incident, I called the phone number on the slip of paper and after entering long strings of numbers in response to audio prompts I was connected to an uncheerful lady who asked me very pointedly to provide additional information. I asked a few questions about why she needed the information. She tended to ignore these.

Long story, short: the driver’s license number associated with my checking account was also incorrectly associated in TeleCheck’s database with a Regions Bank account for someone who has “similar information”. TeleCheck resolved the matter by “disassociating” the driver’s license number from the Regions Bank information.

In three days the local store will have an updated database and will again accept our checks.

Irritated by the blunt tone of the person I spoke with and aggravated that another faceless corporation has it’s manipulative fingers in my financial matters, I decided to learn more.

I found an article about TeleCheck in a November 29, 2005 article in “Retail Info Systems News” that ends, “TeleCheck will host all shared negative database files for Wal-Mart.” Hmm. Another company collecting information about consumers for the benefit of corporate America. And in my case, the information was wrong.

I visited the TeleCheck website at www.telecheck.com. After exploring the site I found the TeleCheck contact information page. There are two phone numbers listed in the Check Writer Information phone directory. The first is the Declined Check Information for Check Writers 1-800-366-2425. The second phone number was what I wanted for this second call.

1-800-TELECHECK offers a “Free annual file disclosure pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act”. I called this number and after entering more numbers on the telephone pad I was able to speak with a lady named Rhonda. She was much friendlier and more helpful than the first lady.

Rhonda gave me a verbal report on both of our driver’s license numbers (she had to speak with my wife for permission) and said reports will be mailed in 7 days.

I suggested to Rhonda that TeleCheck (with their incorrect data) has a great deal of power over my ability to buy things with checks. She agreed.

I wondered how the data TeleCheck maintains about me and my wife could be confused with another person’s information. It happens. It could be that the register has lint on the reader or the written signature dropped onto one of the numbers at the bottom of the check.

Finally, TeleCheck’s refusal to provide full information unless an inquirer provides information to fill holes in their database seems a bit coercive. If I failed to provide answers to their requests for information, TeleCheck indicated the report they provide me may be incomplete. Almost like saying, “Yes. We have information about you but we won’t tell you what it is unless you tell us all we wish to know.”

On a personal note, I’m left to wonder if the first lady who answered the phone number for declined checks was so brusque because she assumed that if I’m calling about a declined check I must be a deadbeat. Or maybe she was having a bad day. It didn’t seem to matter that it was TeleCheck that made the mistake which caused the problem and had to “disassociate” my data from another person’s record before they will approve my checks.

Unless you’ve taken steps to avoid receiving them, chances are good that your mailbox is inundated with pre-approved credit card offers. One way thieves can steal your identity is to use these pre-approved credit card offers to open accounts in your name. Experts report this is one of the hardest types of identity theft to detect.

Where do they get your pre-approved credit card offers? From the credit card companies!

Thieves can easily obtain the pre-approved card offers from your trash and from your mail box.

The obvious way to prevent the theft of your identity from pre-approved card offers stolen from your trash is to shred the offers before you throw them away. Even though you didn’t ask for the pre-approved offer and don’t want it after you receive, you should never simply toss it in the trash. Shred the pre-approved credit card offer first.

A more proactive approach to handling these credit card junk mails is to opt out of receiving them. Credit card companies receive your personal information from the credit bureaus!

It’s important to stop the pre-approved offers at their source, the credit bureaus that release your information to credit grantors. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) because Federal law in 1970. It was amended in 1996 and one of those amendments requires the credit bureaus to provide consumers with an opportunity to opt-out if they don’t want their names and addresses sold for marketing purposes.

The toll-free Opt Out number is 888-5OPTOUT (888-567-8688) and was setup just for this purposes.

When you call the Opt Out number you’ll be given three choices: opt out for a period of 5 years, add your information back to the marketing lists, or permanently opt out. If you choose to permanently opt out you must return a form that will be mailed to you.

You can also opt out online by going to: www.optoutprescreen.com.

When you call to opt out, you will interact with a computer. First, you will be asked to verify information. You will confirm your phone number, address, last name, first name, social security number and date of birth.

A form will be mailed to you within 5 business days if you choose to permanently opt out. If you do not return the form, you will be opted out for only five years.

Also, although your information will be removed from the lists of the four credit reporting bureaus, you may continue to receive offers for several months if your information has already been sold to credit grantors for firm offers.

Finally, before the call ends, you will be offered the chance to verify opt out information for a spouse or child.

While shredding pre-approved credit card offers before trashing them is someone you can do, calling 888-567-8688 and opting out is the sure way to stop receiving them.

Finally, it seems ironic that Federal law requires citizens to opt out of a marketing process that results in stolen identities. It’s easy to imagine that lobbyists for enough financial companies making money with the pre-approved offer process influenced the writing of the law to favor these companies instead of the citizens who must learn about opting out, perform the opt out process, and shred these unrequested offers to avoid the risk of becoming identity theft victims.

During the last few years interest rates have been low. Yet at the same time, a large number of home buyers have used adjustable rate mortgages to buy homes. Instead of locking in a fixed rate mortgage (FRM) for 5.5% to 6% for 30 years and knowing exactly what one’s payment will be for the entire term of the mortgage loan, home buyers have jumped on the teaser rates of as little as 1% offered on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).

Unfortunately for those who jumped on the ARM bandwagon, interest rates are already low and are generally expected to adjust upward in the future. You see the ads for ARMs on TV like, “borrow $500,000 for only $1,600 per month!” The fine print scrolls so quickly and is so fine you don’t have a chance to read that in a year or two that $1,600 per month can jump to as much as $3,000 per month or more as the adjustable interest rate adjusts.

Before you sign for an adjustable-rate mortgage you MUST know the details. And one of the best places to get a healthy introduction to adjustable rate mortgages is the Federal Reserve Board’s website. The FRB’s “Consumer Handbook on Adjustable-Rate Mortgages” starts by explaining, “your monthly payments could change”, “your payments may not go down much, or at all”, “you could end up owning more money than you borrowed”, and “if you want to pay off your ARM early to avoid higher payments, you might have to pay a penalty.”

You can read the “Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages” online or download a PDF version which you can print and read as you wish away from your computer.

If you or someone you know is considering an ARM, point them to the Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages.

Washington Mutual has sold its mortgage servicing business to WellsFargo. The accounts of 1.3 million mortgage servicing customers will be soon transferred from WAMU to WellsFargo.

Whether it’s a letter from WAMU or another mortgage servicing company, chances are pretty good that your mortgage will be sold a time or two during the 20 or 30 years you make payments. When you get the letter (AKA “Notice of Servicing Transfer“), what should you do.

First, hang onto it and file it in the folder where you keep your other mortgage-related documents.

Second, document that status of your mortgage. If you’re one whose mortgage servicing is being transferred from WAMU to WellsFargo, login to your WAMU account and print the information you see in your web browser: Account Summary, Loan Details, Escrow Summary, Transaction History, Amortization Schedule and other pages that contain information about your current loan status.

Third, using the online Document Request feature or by calling your current mortgage servicer, request paper copies of the information you have printed. Ask for copies of all your loan documents including the HUD-1, the Escrow Statement, a Payoff Quote, and other documents the servicer has available. It’s better to have these and not need them, than need them and not have them.

Fourth, if your mortgage loan payment is being automatically drafted from a checking or other account, pay close attention to your account statements to ensure the payments occur as they should after the transfer. If you use a third-party service to make your loan payments (an online bill paying service for example), remember to provide the service with the new mortgage servicer’s payment information (account number, address, etc.).

Fifth, while you may have no say in whether your mortgage loan is transferred to another servicer, you do have some very clear consumer rights and protections related to your loan servicing. These are detailed in section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (AKA RESPA) which is Federal law. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has an excellent web site with information about your RESPA-guaranteed rights.

Finally, if you have problems or experience any difficulties resulting from the transfer of your mortgage loan from one servicer to another, always communicate with your loan servicer in writing.

One of the most informative web sites about mortgage fraud is the Mortgage Fraud Blog sponsored by The Dollar Law Firm, PC and Interthinx, the leading provider of fraud services and solutions for the mortgage industry.

The Mortgage Fraud Blog is at http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com. It covers current information on mortgage fraud schemes, indictments and fraud prevention. Comprehensive is an understatement. Check it out.

Your bank will never ask you for your user name and password in an email. Why? Your bank already has them! Only a thief will send you an email asking for your online banking information.

Most people are savvy enough to delete an email containing a direct request for their online banking information.

But watch out for phoney bank web site links in emails that look like they come from your bank! Sending an official looking email with links to phoney look-alike banking web sites is called ‘phishing’.

With Check 21 becoming law next month, on October 28, it may become much easier for criminals to drain your bank account. The bad guys will go phishing. All they need to do is send you an email (that looks official, as if it were sent from your bank) and persuade you to click a hyperlink in the message and logon to their perfect visual copy of your online banking web site.

Once a crook has your user name and password, he has it made. The thief will create an image of one of your cleared checks made out for an amount that seems right for your account (with your username and password he’s already explored your online banking account). He will put your forged signature on it (your scanned checks with your signatures are online), and, Wham!

He deposits the phoney check and there goes your money.

And unlike the way a credit card company protects you from online fraud, don’t expect to get your money back from the bank before they’ve taken their time to investigate. (I posted earlier about the Terms of Service of one local bank requiring that customers “To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to be responsible for all unauthorized or erroneous transactions initiated through BANKNAME Online.”

In other words, guard your online banking user name and password. They literally represent the entire amount of money in your account (as well as the money available on overdraft). If you have overdraft protection tied to your checking account a criminal may write checks that drain your account and then run to the limit of your overdraft protection. If this happens, your money is gone and you owe the amount due on the credit card you used for overdraft protection.

Here’s a hint that may help protect you. Avoid overdraft protection if you don’t really need it. If you use it and have it tied to a credit card, use a card with a very small credit limit. Avoid using a card with a $5,000 or $20,000 limit for overdraft protection!

If you do any online banking, pay close attention to the ways your bank protects itself from protecting you.

Here’s part of one bank’s online service agreement (The first sentence hurts when you read it):

“To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to be responsible for all unauthorized or erroneous transactions initiated through BANKNAME Online. … An “unauthorized electronic fund transfer” means an electronic fund transfer from a Deposit Account that is initiated by another person without your authority to initiate the electronic fund transfer(s) and from which you receive no benefit …. We may require that the notice be in writing.”

It continues, “You could lose all the money in your Deposit Account, some or all of the money in any linked account, or up to your maximum overdraft line of credit if you have a check overdraft protection line of credit, if you fail or refuse to immediately advise the Bank of the unauthorized use of your PIN.”

This begs a few comments.

1) If someone walks into your bank and robs it, or a bank employee embezzles money, your account is protected. But according to the service agreement above, if someone steals money out of your account using BANKNAME’s online services, BANKNAME is not responsible, YOU are responsible!

2) Stay on top of all account information your bank provides about your transactions. If you see something you don’t remember, call your bank.

3) Your bank is not “your” bank. It’s a business designed to make money for the people who own it. Times have changed even in my small town. I know many of the people who work in my community bank, but I no longer trust any financial institution to look out for my best interests. In fact, I think the statement above clarifies well who the bank is protecting.

4) Form a relationship with a personal banker. Don’t be a stranger. Knowing an “insider” well won’t change the bank’s rules for you, but it may be helpful to have a bank officer who can assist you in interpreting their impact on your finances.

5) It may not be wise to attach a credit card to your account for use as overdraft protection. Nor does it make sense to attach a line of credit to the account if the bank is warning that you could lose “up to your maximum overdraft line of credit”! Consider which could be more costly, a bounced check or a maxed out overdraft line of credit?

6) You are responsible for protecting your finances. Don’t be lazy about it and don’t trust your bank to do it for you!

There is a safety factor built into a credit card account that is generally not available from banks for debit/ATM cards. If funds are stolen from your credit card account, your credit card company will be more likely to protect you from the fraud and will do so quickly. On the other hand, if funds are fraudulently taken from your checking account, your bank account will be short the stolen funds while the bank reviews the fraudulent activity.

This is the reason one should use a credit card and not a debit card for online transactions.

Credit card companies aren’t perfect, though. And when you find yourself banging your head against your credit card company, it’s good to know what your options are.

The BCSAlliance.com site has a useful page of information titled, “What you can do to stop credit card company abusive practices. It looks like it may be helpful information for those times when you need to know what your options are when your credit card company may not be playing fair with you.

The page is at: http://www.bcsalliance.com/creditcards_complain.html