I have never asked for credit card companies to exist and I have never asked for them to have such a lax application process. So why should I be punished if they fuck up and give somebody a card in my name?
Identity theft is a real issue these days.
Question is: Am I able to call up every major credit card company, give them my info and tell them to never ever ever issue a card in my name? Even if the applicant knows the answer to the questions they ask (What was your mothers maiden name etc.). These questions are easy for somebody other than me to know.
I will tell them that the only time they can issue me a card is if I show up in person to an office with ID and other identifying paperwork.
This should stop identity theft at least as far as credit cards go.
Interesting proposal. I forgot where I saw videos of phone conversations (yes videos) of a guy calling in to credit card companies and mumbling words when asked security questions only to have the person on the other line give them the info he needed.
there is a thing you can do that stops all applications and requires your approval for a certain number of months. I only know because that company that promises identity theft security just issues the order for you every month for $10.
Hope that at least gives you hope and sets you in the right direction of research.
That thing that you speak of is called a credit freeze. You can have your credit frozen for free, but these companies are exploiting it and charging 10 dollars per month for a “credit monitoring” service that you do not not need.
Honestly don’t worry too much about identity theft. I’ve had credit cards for over 10 years now, ordered thousands of items online and never had a problem.
IMO that’d be a big hassle for questionable results. It’s really easy to get false charges dropped should anything happen. Fucking Jamaicans. (No, really.)
I just pull my credit report once a year to check for anomalies.
It would be far less effort to signup for a credit monitoring company.
I signed up for one and have received about a 1/10 of the typical mail I usually got with free credit card offers, 0% balance transfers, cash advance checks,etc.
And the government agrees, which is why they passed that law that lets you pull your credit report for free once a year.
I had one fraudulent charge show up on a credit card in the thousands and thousands I have spent online. One five minute call to dispute, they mailed me a form that took 2 minutes to fill out, and it was removed and I never heard about it again.
I just wish I could have found out how they got the card. I’m pretty careful about dealing with only reputable companies, shred all documents at home, run a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware and require strong passwords on all computers/user accounts at home. I’m guessing someone hacked a company I had done business with in the past.