Business Ideas

Archive for September, 2009

Lifelock Getting Picked

Since February 2008 Lifelock the company that guarantees that your identity will not be stolen has been hammered by legal problems. Lifelock charges consumers 10 a month for the privilege of allowing the company to manage your Fair Credit Reporting Act right to a free initial security alert and which automatically opts out a consumer from preapproved credit offers for six months. The Lifelock website states:

LifeLock the industry leader in proactive identity theft protection offers a proven solution that prevents your identity from being stolen before it happens. We’ll protect your identity and personal information for only 10 a month and we guarantee our service up to 1000000. Lifelock website
A consumer must know what it is they are shopping for and buying. Part of the education of the consumer comes from the vendors or retailers where the consumer shops. Lifelock as quoted above claims that their product prevents your identity from being stolen before it happens. Prevents? Come again? It would make sense to say in the careful speech of legalese reduces the likelihood of identity theft or works to protect your identity. The word prevents clearly implies a nonconditional protection. A consumer reading this if he or she is able to overcome their natural inclination to say too good to be true might jump at the opportunity to purchase such protection.

But can Lifelock truly prevent your identity from being stolen. Three legal actions aimed at Lifelock beg to differ. First on February 13 2008 the Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath opened a civil investigation of Lifelock based upon the appearance of CEO Todd Daviss Social Security Number in a full page advertisement in the Great Falls Tribune. Assistant Attorney General Jesse Laslovich is quoted as saying in an article in the same newspaper there also are some businesses cropping up that may only claim to protect people from identity theft pointing out the nature of Lifelocks business is the utilization of nocost initial security alert placed on the credit file by the three credit repository agencies upon request. An additional concern implied by the Attorney General is that the advertisement including Daviss Social Security Number may itself be contributing to attempted identity fraud The Social Security number in the advertisement is registered to numerous people Laslovich said. Thats probably because people see it and try to use it to open lines of credit he added. Great Falls Tribune

Lifelocks second blow came from the credit repository Experian filing a civil suit in the Federal District Court of Central California announced on February 21.

Experians suit alleges that Lifelock is abusing the Fair Credit Reporting Act right to an initial security alert essentially comparing the use of the alert in a permanent fashion to crying wolf. The Fair Credit Reporting Act states in 605A a1 that a suspicion that the consumer has been or is about to become a victim of fraud or related crime including identity theft is the definition of an initial alerts purpose.

Experian also claims that Lifelocks advertising is false and misleading. Another claim is that Lifelocks ordering of credit reports for its customers which are provided free of charge according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act when requesting an initial fraud alert 612. Charges for certain disclosures d Free disclosures in connection with fraud alerts is being conducted without adequate disclosure meaning that consumers are unaware or are not told by Lifelock that the credit reports they receive are provided free by the credit repositories per federal law. Experian goes on to claim that companies are not legally able to place the fraud alerts for consumers which seems to be a stretch provided that consumers are authorizing the company to do so.

Experians most pertinent complaint involves the applying of initial fraud alerts without the imminent fear of or possibility of fraud. The credit bureaus argument is that the protective nature of an initial security alert will be diminished if the alerts become too common place. Experian argues that creditors will essentially be forced to treat every initial alert as equal implying that eventually the alerts will be ignored.

Lifelock is counting on the practice that creditors will always place a telephone call to the consumer upon discovering the initial security alert. However The Fair Credit Reporting Act does not require a creditor to make a telephone call to the consumer every time an initial security alert is found but is permitted to take reasonable steps to verify the consumer’s identity and confirm that the application for a new credit plan is not the result of identity theft meaning that it is possible that the use of database to verify the personal identifying information of the consumer probably suffices to meet the requirements of the law. If the database does not reflect new fraudulent activity the alert may not work. Another possibility is to mail a letter to the consumer. Experian seems to have a good point.
Fair Credit Reporting Act

605A. Identity theft prevention; fraud alerts and active duty alerts 15 U.S.C. 1681c1

h Limitations on Use of Information for Credit Extensions

1 Requirements for initial and active duty alerts

B Limitation on Users

ii Verification. If a consumer requesting the alert has specified a

telephone number to be used for identity verification purposes before

authorizing any new credit plan or extension described in clause i in

the name of such consumer a user of such consumer report shall

contact the consumer using that telephone number or take reasonable

steps to verify the consumerapos;s identity and confirm that the application

for a new credit plan is not the result of identity theft.
Lastly on 28 March 2008 a class action suit was filed in Arizona against Lifelock alleging similar claims as the Experian suit:
The lawsuit alleges that the threeyearold company defrauds customers by offering services it cannot legally perform and by touting a 1 million guarantee that the suit alleges is wildly misleading. press release

The class action suit based upon Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act and the Arizona Insurance Code alleges that Lifelock misleads the consumer by overstating the protection it affords and reiterates the Experian claim that Lifelock cannot legally order the consumers credit report. The class action suit also calls into question the highly advertised 1000000 guarantee. The press release reports that the guarantees actual language is:

LifeLock will not pay any losses directly to the consumer and does not cover consequential or incidental damages to identity theft. The guarantee is limited to fixing failures or defects in the LifeLock services and paying other professionals to attempt to restore losses.
So a consumer who does become a victim of identity theft at the very least can claim remuneration from Lifelock for professional identity restoration services something that could have been purchased on a monthly basis for not too much more than Lifelocks 10 fee from competitors of Lifelock.

Will Lifelock survive this legal onslaught? Are more suits or investigations coming? Only time will tell. What is for certain is that Lifelocks attorneys are going to be very busy in 2008. Lifelock continues to secure funding from prominent industry financial leaders such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc most recently 25 million in January 2008.

How much of this last funding round will be spent in legal fees or payouts remains to be seen.

About the writer:  APRPEH is a seasoned identity theft investigator having helped numerous consumers with identity theft matters.

Lack Of Business Planning

Beware the temptation to jump into business before youve done the proper planning. And dont underestimate that temptation. Once you have made up your mind to start a business it is difficult to wait to get going. You want to start moving making money living the life youve dreamed of. But if you want your business to succeed you must take the time to understand it yourself the industry and the market.

It helps to consider how you would approach buying a house. Would you sign a check and move on in? Or would you research everything first to make sure you arent getting a lemon? Treat starting your own business the same way. Don’t invest your time money energy and dreams in a business you don’t understand inside and out. More businesses fail for want of proper planning than do for want of money.

Business plans are perfect for taking you from ignorance to understanding. In order to produce a good business plan you must learn all the ins and outs of your proposed business. And the process of preparing the plan will teach you much of what you need to know in order to run that business.

The main reasons people skip business plans are often the same as the reasons people avoid accounting: 1 many people dont like to write and 2 the time it takes to prepare the plan takes away from the time to run the business. But those reasons those excuses really are just as inapplicable here.

Just because you dont like doing something doesnt mean you dont have to do it. Running your own business will mean sacrifices. Luxuries like vacation time sick days salaries these are the first things to go out the window at least in the beginning. Taxes must be paid shipments must go out decisions must be made invoices must be sent and bills must be paid whether you like it or not. Same with accounting. Same with planning. And as with accounting you can always hire someone to prepare your business plan for you.

The second reason people often skip the business plan stage is because they want to spend the time it would take to plan their business to be in business instead. They see the planning stage as taking time with no reward. But not only is that not true it is also supremely shortsighted. It may be true that taking time upfront to plan your business will increase the time until you can start making money. But it will also likely increase the amount of money you can make. Writing a business plan allows you to explore your business before you start. It allows you to make your mistakes on paper rather than in the real world.

Write a business plan. Youll be better for it. It will save you hassles and make you money in the long term. A good resource is my book The ABCs of Writing Winning Business Plans. This book can be purchased here: The ABCs of Writing Winning Business Plans

What are some of the hassles you might be saved if you take the time to prepare a business plan? How about quitting your day job only to find your great idea won’t pay the mortgage? Or resorting to credit cards to finance the business? Many businesses fail within the first five years. Of those that fail a staggering amount do not have business plans. An old carpentry adage says “Measure twice; cut once.” Let your business plan be your measurement.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Garrett Sutton has over twentyfive years experience assisting and advising entrepreneurs families and business in selecting the appropriate corporate structures to limit their liability protect their assets and advance their personal and financial goals through real estate investments and other means of wealth creation.To get a FREE copy of Garrett’s book “What to Know Before you Incorporate” log onto http://www.corporatedirect.comAn author speaker and a member of an elite group of “Rich Dad’s Advisors” hand selected by author Robert Kiyosaki Garrett speaks to investors and entrepreneurs on a variety of topics including asset protection liability limitation wealth creation as well as various business and real estate issues. Garrett has authored Own Your Own Corporation The ABC’s of Writing Winning Business Plans The ABC’s of Getting Out of Debt How to Buy and/or Sell a Business and coauthored Real Estate Loopholes. These titles are included in the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” wealth building book series. Additionally under the SuccessDNA Publishing label Garrett has authored and coauthored numerous books including How to Use Limited Liability Companies and Limited Partnerships and his latest title INSIDER Secrets of Business Personal Credit. Garrett’s books provide an accessible source of information for building your own success.

Kinds Of Company Thefts And How To Avoid Them

Even before the financial overturn happened in Wall Street this year there had already been several losses that American companies have been reporting about. These losses are no joke and pose greater risks because of the figures that are not just on the level of thousands but of billions and a timeframe of a year. If todays financial problem has been rooted to a more complicated issues on economic policies and other international investment disparagements the older problem is rooted on the premise of internal embezzlement of none other than the companies employees. Yes. Sad to accept but American businesses have been ailing for quite some 40 billion dollars of losses caused by company theft and other embezzlements. Though this problem might seem to be a parody of the employers or a complete exaggeration to front the government of tax evasion this has never erased the fact that the problem in employment theft is a reality and is really destructive.

In a survey posted at Inquests website 30 of failures in the businesses in the land is said to be the end product of large and small scale company theft and dishonesty. Almost all types of businesses in America experience the same fate. Most of the time companies with most losses are those which has something to do with merchandising and direct selling. Critically the country is loosing honest employees or is just being tolerated by ignorance of the employers.

Almost all establishments in the US these days are already equipped with high end surveillance systems. Almost every corner of the office store or even outside premise of a company is installed with cameras that monitors every move of employees and clients alike. These systems are said to have been installed in order to avoid any theft that can happen both internally and externally. However surveillance systems are not the only way to solve this classic problem. Same website suggested that if all companies take it by heart to conduct background checks on all their employees and applicants the number of incidents can be lowered.

However how can an employee rob a company? What are the kinds or thefts that an employee can do to a particularly company? Basically there are so many ways in which an employee can take advantage of the company illegally.

1. Falsifying Receipts Most of the time receipts are not computer generated. These are often hand printed. Dishonest clerks can forge receipts and charge a client of a higher price and have the difference kept in the employees pocket.

2. Stealing Merchandise this is the most common theft that can happen in a store. Often stolen products are those small and easy to keep ones. There are so many ways on how an employee may steal merchandise out of the store.

3. Cash Theft this happens mostly to cashiers or those employees that receives payments. Especially to those that has no specific recording system services or products can be sold without undergoing on a process.

4. Bookkeeping Fraud receipts are very important in auditing. So there are times that in order for employees to get something from the company illegally they would hide in receipts and declare a forged amount on the record.

5. Fake Purchases employees may intentionally buy things and had it reflected on the record but the purchase did not actually happened. Or they can create imaginary suppliers which are actually just them.

Background check reports basically lay off a limit to these types of employees before they can be accepted to the company. The past records of a particular employee will tell you whether he/she is worthy of trust or not. Preemployment checks are an effective way to save a companys future. This is a solution that literally said as saving billions with 30 bucks.

About the writer:  Lissane Villadsen is a property manager in Orlando where she currently manages two motels and two mobile home parks. She resides with her husband and three children. Lissane is a Fact Editor specializing background check Columnist and Boid Expert for Reptile Care Magazine. She is also the founder and managing editor of Literary Mind Journal a print magazine of fine literature and art. Lissane is an accomplished writer with many publishing credits and awards.