In This Issue:   Organize Your Finances   Featured Event   Tip of the Month   Interactive Tool   Equifax and BBB   Featured Product

Featured Products

Organize Your Finances After Tax Season

While Tax Day is the day everyone thinks about, the entire month of April is National Financial Literacy Month. That means that the whole month — both before and after the 15th — is the perfect time to stop and take stock of your financial health and learn ways you could improve it.

The most important habit to maintain all year that will greatly ease the stress of tax time is organization. Be sure to file your important documents in a place that you can always find them. This also lets you refer back to previous years when you’re preparing your taxes. Be sure to keep track of any income, including investments, interest and dividends, and your stock history.

Also maintain a careful record of any and all deductions that could apply to your taxes. You will find that if you consistently keep these papers in one place, it will be easy to declare any deductions you might have when filing — and who wouldn’t want to do that? Don’t forget — it’s not just your mortgage interest or charitable contributions… Other expenses, such as business expenses for which you were not reimbursed might fall in this category. Being meticulous over the year could help you save next tax time.

After filing your taxes, be sure to keep all of this information along with your tax records themselves. Having these documents on hand will help you stay organized each year when you file your taxes and will help you retrieve this information should you ever be chosen for an audit. To be on the safe side, it’s a good idea to keep these documents for six years. Any documents relating to your home, however, should be kept as long as you reside in it and for several years after the sale.

Should you be fortunate enough to receive a tax refund, resist the urge to spend it frivolously. A tax refund is the perfect opportunity to build healthier finances, making subsequent tax months easier on your mind and wallet. If you have any debts, consider putting a portion of your refund toward them. If not, consider investing it prudently in an IRA. You can also set it aside for any unexpected costs that may arise.

By remaining organized and level-headed about taxes and your finances, you can take steps to keep each tax season stress-free.

Featured Event: BBB "Secure Your ID" Days

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Equifax have formed a unique partnership to deliver the first coast-to-coast series of community-based events to arm consumers and small business owners with the identity protection tips and resources they need to engage every day. 

We’ll even shred some of your documents containing your personal identifiers right on-the-spot.  Bring up to three boxes or bags of paper-based documents, and you can watch them being shredded right before your eyes, giving you the instant gratification that you’ve just closed another loophole in your own protection. 

For more information about how to find the local BBB Secure Your ID Days event near you, visit www.us.bbb.org/secureID. 

Tip of the Month: Navigating Through Your Enhanced Member Center

At Equifax, we’ve taken steps to make your Member Center work for you. New navigation and a comprehensive dashboard have been added to the Member Center to simplify your experience, allowing you to take full advantage of your product’s features.

Once you log into the Member Center, you’ll notice that all of your products can now be accessed through the tabbed navigation at the top of your screen. These tabs allow you to utilize all the features of your products and access important information quickly and easily. If you do not have a particular product, that product’s tab will appear grayed out with a “minus” icon. And, should you have any questions or concerns, scroll down to the “Contact Us” section on the initial page of the Member Center to get in touch with a helpful representative.

Interactive Tool: Calculate Your Net Worth

Your net worth is the value of all of your assets, minus the total of all of your liabilities. Put another way, it is what you own minus what you owe. If you owe more than you own, you have a negative net worth. If you own more than you owe, you have a positive net worth.

This calculator helps you determine your net worth. It also estimates how your net worth could grow (or shrink!) over the next ten years.

Equifax and BBB Identity Theft Alerts: Has Your Computer Modem Been Hijacked?

"Modem hijacking" appears to be on the rise, judging from complaints received by Better Business Bureaus, state and federal agencies and telephone service providers in the past year. Victims discover that their computers have become programmed to make international telephone calls, without their knowledge.

How does this happen? Typically, the "hijacking" occurs when a customer with dial-up access to the Internet clicks "I Accept" or "Yes" on certain pop-up ads that offer "free" Internet content.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, these scams are typically associated with adult sites. The sites claim to be "free" or advertise "no credit card is needed," then prompt the user to download a "viewer" or "dialer" program.

Once the program is downloaded the software reconfigures the customer’s modem to dial international calls. The consumer may not realize it if he or she did not carefully read all the fine print of the terms before clicking the "accept" button. Calls are then dialed automatically and at random times, without the customer’s knowledge, and are carried by the customer’s long distance carrier to international destinations.

Modem hijacking can also affect broadband customers who have a dial-up telephone line — to send faxes, for example — connected to their computer. There have been reported instances where a consumer triggered the download by simply attempting to close the pop-up ad.

Victims typically become aware of the "hijacking" when the charges show up on their long distance bills. Unless the customer has selected an international discount calling plan, these calls are billed at higher basic international rates, so the dollar amounts involved can total hundreds of dollars.

The BBB joins with the FTC to advise consumers, particularly those with dial-up access to the Internet, to take the following precautions:

• Consider a dedicated phone line for your computer, restrict it to local calls, and disconnect the line to your modem when it is not in use.
• Make sure your modem makes an audible noise when dialing a phone number, so you can be aware when a new connection is being made.
• If you see a dialog box on your computer indicating that it is dialing when you did not direct it to, cancel the connection and hang up.
• Beware of the dangers of downloading "viewer" or "dialer" software. Read online disclosures carefully, clicking through to every level of detail. Do not click on "OK" unless you know exactly what you are agreeing to.
• If you use a high-speed DSL or cable connection, disconnect any phone line you used in the past to dial up the Internet.
• Consider installing a program on your computer to block pop-up ads and identify and remove the types of programs that may be associated with modem-hijacking scams.

Take action if you believe you are the victim of a modem hijacking. Save your bill as it may help identify the scammers when you report the incident. Contact the billing company and dispute the charges.

© 2008 by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. Arlington, VA
Used by permission. The name Better Business Bureau is a registered service mark of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.