Andy Hough

My Identity Theft Experience

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This week is “National Protect Your Identity Week” so I thought I would share my experience with having my identity stolen.

My identity was stolen back in 2001.  I was alerted to this when my credit card company called and asked if I had applied for another card with a Las Vegas address.  I hadn’t and they advised me that someone had applied for credit using my information and that I should contact the credit bureaus.  Say what you will about Capital One’s customer service in this case they were on the ball.

I’m not sure how the id thief got my information.  I lived in Las Vegas until early 2000 and I had just visited there in the summer of 2001 a month or two before my identity was stolen.  I know I didn’t bring my social security card when I visited Las Vegas and I don’t remember giving it out for any reason.  Even then I was very cautious about revealing my social security number.  It is possible that someone got my information when I was living in Vegas and just waited to use it.  Homeless people often went through the trash at my apartment complex and one of my jobs put everyone’s SSN right on the sign-in sheet.  The timing of the thief applying for credit right after I had visited makes me think it had something to do with my visit though.

Contacting the credit bureaus and getting a copy of my credit report and putting a fraud alert on my credit file was not that difficult.  I remember having to wait on hold a long time but I did always get through to an actual person who was able to help me eventually.  I think I had a special number to dial because I tried to contact a credit bureau recently and it was impossible to get hold of a live person.

The consequences of having my identity stolen wasn’t that bad.  I just had to spend a couple hours on the phone with the credit bureaus and review my credit reports.  The biggest hassle was the fraud alert was only supposed to last ninety days but at least one of the bureaus never cancelled it.  This results in me occasionally having to provide extra verification of who I am.  Usually this is only a small hassle although sometimes companies don’t bother telling me they need extra verification and just deny me credit.  This is resolved with a phone call but it is an additional PITA.  I was lucky, my experience would have likely been much worse if it weren’t for the fact that it was caught quickly and my credit at that time was rather poor resulting in the thieves’ credit applications being denied.

I’m even more careful with my information today.

Book Review: The Frugal Duchess of South Beach

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Any book about frugality is bound to be interesting to me. That being said this book is more than just a collection of tips on frugality. “The Frugal Duchess” manages to combine a frugal tips book and a memoir into one book. Reading about the ordeals her parents went through will remind you how much more difficult life was just a generation or two ago. Many things considered necessities now were luxuries then or in some cases they didn’t even exist. She also includes little vignettes of her own family, I think seeing how someone personally implements frugal measures helps you implement the same measures yourself.

In short I recommend this book. Even if you already know all the frugal tips- and there is probably at least a couple you don’t – this book is worth the read for the personal story and to reinforce your own frugality. You can enter to win a copy of this book by leaving a comment on the giveaway post.

The Frugal Duchess of South Beach Book Giveaway

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Fellow Frugal Blog Network member Sharon Harvey Rosenberg a.k.a. The Frugal Duchess has written a book titled The Frugal Duchess of South Beach: How to Live Well and Save Money…Anywhere!. She is having an online book tour to promote the book and I’m hosting the tour this week.  As part of the promotion I’ll be giving away a copy of her book.  Just leave a comment on this post to enter and I will choose a winner at random on Friday.

I don’t want to list a bunch of rules but please enter just once.  Also since I have to pay shipping costs I’m limiting the contest to those with a US address unless you’re willing to pay the mailing costs.  Any other rules will be at my discretion.  Thanks.

Do It Yourself Car Repair

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One way to keep your automotive costs down is by doing maintenance and simple repairs yourself. I’m not mechanically inclined but I’ve found that with the help of a repair manual I’m able to do simple repairs that save me a lot of money compared to what they would cost to have done at a repair shop. The most popular paper manuals are Chilton and Haynes. If you’re lucky you might be able to find the necessary manual at your local library. I haven’t tried the Alldata online manual but it is recommended by many. The drawback is you have to subscribe to it yearly.

Recently I changed my spark plugs and installed new front brake pads. Changing the spark plugs was very easy yet it would have cost me at least $60 to have them done at a garage. Replacing the brake pads was more difficult but since I saved about $100 doing it myself it was well worth the effort. I spent about $80 doing the two repairs. The cost would have been much less but I had to buy the manual plus some tools. My future repairs will be even cheaper. Using a repair manual and doing your own car repairs can save you some significant money.

Could I Retire Now?

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Last month my alternative income was larger than my expenses.  This is the first time that has happened.  If I could continue to do that I could potentially “retire” now.  It would be more accurate to call it semi-retirement.  I’d still do things to make money I just wouldn’t have a job and I could set my own schedule.

There are several factors that keep me from being able to retire now though.  The first is that last month my income was unusually high and my expenses were unusually low.  In a normal month my expenses will still be higher than my alternative income.  Also, once I’m finished with school I’ll have to start repaying my student loans.  I’ll be on an income-sensitive repayment plan so my payments might not be more than I’m paying towards debt now but there is a chance they will go up.  One more thing is even if I do get to where my alternative income is usually higher than my expenses I need to have a safety net for emergencies and unexpected expenses.  Right now I only have about $3,000 in savings outside retirement accounts.  I don’t consider that anywhere near enough.

For me to be able to retire I need to increase my income so it is consistently more than my expenses.  My expenses are already pretty low so I can’t cut much more there although I do believe I could still lower them more.  I need to focus on increasing my income and saving money outside of retirement accounts and I still have a long way to go on those.  The fact that my income was higher than my expenses last month though makes me feel good about my chances of retiring at 50.