The app is called Ibotta.

The Ibotta App is free app to download or you can sign up with facebook, google or email.

It will download the “offers” available. You scroll through and pick the item that you’re going to purchase. It will tell you how much you’ll get paid for purchasing the item. You click on “Earn” and it will have a few things, with a short video (they’re 10 seconds), take a survey (a poll, you pick 1 our of 4 options), post it on twitter or facebook. It’s actually really simple. Once you click your item, it will tell you how much is “pending” for you once you purchase your items.

The draw back is they won’t transfer the funds until you’ve reached $5.00. It took me 2 weeks to reach the $5.00, I would say, don’t base your store list on what items are listed in the app. Make your list, gather your coupons and then check Ibotta, to see if you can get some extra money back for your purchase.

Once you’ve reached the $5.00 minimum, you can have the money transferred to your paypal account, which is free to sign up. You put in the card number of where you want the funds to go and your set.

Try it out for a while and see what you think. Hey, if you don’t like it, you can always delete it off your phone.

If you want to sign up, Click HERE

Place a “Fraud Alert” on your credit report, and review your credit report carefully. The Fraud alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures before they open a new account, a loan or make changes to an account that has your  name on it. Make sure you call all THREE Credit bureaus to place the Fraud alert on each report. You will give them a phone number to call if someone (or you) is opening a new account, loan or making changes to your account. Don’t give them a number that you won’t be at. Some financial institutions will have you place a “code word” on your account so when you come in they’ll ask this every time. The fraud alert is good for 90 days on your credit report. If you feel you want it longer then you’ll need to call them all again.

Credit Bureaus: Equifax, Transunion, Experian

Close your account. Call each company that you have an account with and tell them what happened and to close out the accounts so they can not be used. This is good for credit cards, because thieves can make your cards out pretty quick.

File a police report. When you file a police report with law enforcement, they will help with creditors who may want proof of the crime. Most financial institutions will need a “case number” to go along with your affidavit of the fraud.

Report the thefts to the Federal Trade commission. Your report, helps law enforcement across the country in their investigations.  1-877-ID-THEFT (435-4338) or online at ftc.gov/idtheft

Be cautious about giving your personal information to someone you don’t know. Don’t leave your purse or wallet in the car or trunk. Look at your surroundings, is something out of place. Go with your gut instinct. Be wise, be smart, be careful.

“Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements.”- ftc.gov

The second “D” in the ID theft series is…… “DETECT”

Your financial accounts are well, YOURS. You are the only one who has access, or should have access to these accounts and you should be the one to monitor the activity and report anything that is out of your regular spending habits. VISA gives you 90 days to report anything that is fraudulent, that is 3 months worth of time to go through your statements. If you don’t check your accounts on a regular basis, you should. This is the OCD part of me about checking things.

Be on alert for some signs that usually require immediate attention. Pay attention if your bills come through the mail and they don’t show up on time. Be alert if you receive calls or letters about purchases you didn’t make, or have denials of credit for no reason.

Inspect your credit report. Your credit report contains information about you, including what accounts you have and your bill payment history. There are 3 credit bureaus. Equifax, Experian and Transunion. You are able to get a FREE credit report, ONE from EACH bureau  a year. You can get them all at once and go over them OR you can get one from Equifax now, then Experian 4  months from now, then Transunion 4 months after that. That way you can check your credit throughout the year and make sure that there is no fraud on your credit report.

www.annualcreditreport.com

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ID Theft

]]> http://utah.todaysmama.com/2013/04/19/identity-theft-lesson/feed/ 0 http://utah.todaysmama.com/2013/04/18/common-ways-id-theft-happens/ http://utah.todaysmama.com/2013/04/18/common-ways-id-theft-happens/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:00:51 +0000 Megan Harris http://utah.todaysmama.com/?p=24180 Identity thieves are skilled at what they do. There are a few methods used to steal your personal information.

Dumpster diving -  They rummage through trash looking for bills and other papers that have your personal information on them.

How to avoid this - When going through your mail, even if its junk mail, open it up and shred the contents. Take all personal documents you need to get rid of to your financial institution and have them shredded if you do not own a shredder.

Skimming - They steal your credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.

How to avoid this - If you use the ATM, or swipe your card at the gas station, there should be NOTHING on the machine itself. Take your fingers and grab the card swiper and pull. If it comes off, that is the skimming device. Take it into the place of business and tell them what happened. The thieves are close by. If you grab the card reader and it doesn’t come off, you’re fine. I do this at the gas station ALL the time. You get funny looks but hey, it is MY info not theirs, and I’ll take the funny look over having my info stolen any day.

Phishng - The thieves pretend to be your financial institution or companies and send spam or pop up messages to get you to reveal your personal info.

How to avoid this - If you didn’t make the contact, DON’T give out your info. Your financial institution has it, they’ll never call to get it.

Changing your address - They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a “change of address” form.

How to avoid this - Have your bills emailed to you (paperless) instead of mailed.

The old fashions… Stealing - They’ll steal your wallet or purse, mail.

How to avoid this - Don’t keep your purse in your car, keep minimal cards in your wallet or purse. Have a copy of your cards (front and back) in a safe place at home so if your purse does get stolen you have the numbers to call and have them stopped immediately.

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Mountain America Credit Union is holding a free business seminar on April 30th, 2013 from 8:30-10am. It will be help at the Tanner building at 7197 So Center Park Dr, West Jordan Utah. You need to RSVP for the event.  A light breakfast will be served.

Click HERE to send in your RSVP.

“Identity theft is a serious crime. It occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes. Identity theft can cost you time and money. It can destroy your credit and ruin your good name.“- ftc.gov/idtheft

How can we avoid Identity theft? There are certain things we can do to help prevent it. The first “D” is “DETER.” If we safeguard our personal information we can deter thieves.

1. Shred ALL financial documents with your personal information before you throw them away. If you don’t have a shredder at home, you can take a few documents at a time to your financial institution OR you can call them and ask when there having their free shred day and then take a big box in to have shredded.

2. Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the internet unless YOU know who you are dealing with. Your financial institution won’t call you asking you for your information, they already have it on file when you opened your account. If YOU didn’t make the contact, DON’T give them your personal info.

3. Protect your social security number. DON’T carry your social in your wallet or write it on a check (don’t put it on a check).

4. Never click on links sent to you in unsolicited emails. Instead, type in a web address you know or google the website first. Make sure all of your computer security is up to date.

5. Don’t use obvious passwords. “Love” is the most common password used. Don’t use your birthday, mother’s maiden name, current pet or last four of your social.

6. Keep your personal information in a safe place at home. ESPECIALLY if you have roommates, have outside help, or are having work done to your house. Don’t keep your purse or wallet by your front door.

Website you can check out for more info:    www.ftc.gov/idtheft              www.onguardonline.gov

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And then came the tween stage and I suddenly realized that kids are WAY more expensive the older they get. Braces, new clothes constantly (for rapidly growing bodies), lots more food (for rapidly growing bodies), gas money budget through the roof (for very busy active children), it literally never ends. Add glasses on to that budget, contacts. Yikes. Glasses and contacts can be so expensive. And guess what? Kids’ eyes are changing as rapidly as their growing bodies. My son’s near sightedness just doubled in extremity. The cheapest frames (just the frames) at the optometrists were $80. My daughter also needed her contacts refilled. I hate paying that much money for frames for a growing teenager (who also has a tendency to lose things like glasses).

So, we just tried out this awesome new site. Which I am telling every mother of teenagers about. Now we are still waiting for the glasses because it takes about 2 weeks. And let’s be honest you are probably going to get better quality frames and custom fitting at your optometrist. However, for a growing (slightly spacey) teenager, paying less is better. I can shell out $30 for a pair of glasses that includes the prescription and anti glare finish. So what if they only last a little while? I am guessing his prescription is going to change before he breaks the glasses.

So here is this awesome site that has glasses starting at $6.95. We bought a little more expensive version. You enter a photo of yourself and can even virtually try the glasses on. Then you add all your prescription information. They have hundreds of styles to choose from as well.

ZENNI.COM

Virtual photo of new glasses from zenni.com

Just trying to help all those desperate moms out there looking for a chance to save a buck. Because you also need to buy new tennis shoes and pay the dentist this week.

What are some warning signs you can watch for so that you can help avoid fraud happening to you. The first rule is…… If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. My personal rule is, go with your gut instinct.

If you get a phone call or an email that pressures you to act “right away” and you start feeling weird about it. Hang up. If they keep calling or emailing, take down their information and take it in to your financial institution to turn it in to their fraud department.

If something “guarantees success.”

If you have to pay to get your ‘winnings’ or you have to pay to get your ‘prize’, then NO.

If it doesn’t have the look of a real business

Misspelled words.

Buyers want to overpay you for an item and have you send them the difference. This one happened to me. When my husband was in Iraq he wanted to sell his motorcycle so we listed it on KSL. I had a few offers, but one was VERY interested in the bike. We corresponded via email. He told me when he would arrive and pick the bike up. THEN it got extremely fishy. He couldn’t make it, something happened, could I ship it to him (RED FLAG), could his friend pick it up, (RED FLAG). I was wise to the fact that he just wanted my money. I pretend to be fine with shipping the bike. We were asking $1200 for the motorcycle, he sent me a check for $6000.00. In his email he said to keep $1200 for the bike, $500 for shipping cost and $1000 for my time. Instead of calling the number on the cashiers check, which looked VERY real, I googled the bank name, called to verify if the check was good, which I knew it wasn’t. I sent it to the fraud department along with all the emails I had. I then received very threatening emails from the buyer of the bike, which I also sent to the fraud dept. He never got the bike or my money.

If it doesn’t feel right to you, then it’s not.

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There is a lot of fraud. It’s everywhere. You can help to prevent it.

Here are some facts and points to talk about with family and friends. And remember, a lot of fraud happens to young kids ages 18-25 and our grandparents.

Your bank will never e-mail or call you and ask you for your account number. Your financial institution HAS your account number, why would they call you for it?

Don’t wire money to people you don’t know. Do you really have a dead relative in a far away country?

Be Cautious of work-at-home job offers. If you didn’t do the research about the company and a company just calls you out of the blue…. something isn’t right.

Foreign lotteries are illegal in the U.S. You can’t win no matter what they say. If YOU didn’t buy the lottery ticket, chances are it’s fake.

Check your monthly bank statements for charges you don’t recognize. Visa gives you 90 days to dispute a charge that you did not make. Check your statements.

Order a copy of your credit report from each of the three credit bureaus once a year.  www.annualcreditreport.com

If you think something isn’t right, check it out yourself. Don’t call the number your given. Do the research and find out for yourself. OR best bet, call or take it in to your financial institution and let them know whats going on, they will help you!

I was checking out some of my favorite bloggers today, in between cleaning up and the piles of laundry that came the past week and I found something that I love and I am going to do, even frame, YES frame so it is out where I can see if every day and so that I can be accountable for my Resolutions or Wishes for 2013.

It is a free Resolutions printable from Loliana  It does print light-  It is for personal use, not for resale.

Here is my cute frame. Now to get it filled in by Friday.

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