I’m closing on a property and the title company sent my loan documents to the wrong email address. The documents contain my social security number, birthdate, salary, pretty much every piece of personal financial information on me. This was sent to someone with essentially the same name as me. Do I have any legal recourse against the company for mishandling my information? Short of changing all my personal info, I think I may need to enroll in an identity protection service. Can I sue them for the cost of this? If I use this service for the rest of my life are they responsible for the entire cost?
The loan documents were scanned as pdfs and sent in an email as attachments

As far as negligence, the representative has my correct email since I’ve copied her on other correspondences. Its not a case where I wrote down the wrong email adresss and gave it to her.

While I know there are no monetary damages yet, I will have to take preventive measures now that my personal information has been compromised. My thought is that the company should be responsible for paying for any costs I have to incur such as the fee for an identity theft protection service. These are generally annual fees so would it be reasonable to sue for amount that would cover the fees for a period of time?

Thanks for the responses

A successful lawsuit requires you to prove both negligence and damages.

Negligence is something that rises above a simple mistake, so I can not have an opinion without more information. At this point, there are no damages unless the other party uses the information unlawfully.

You can try requestion compensation for a credit check, but don’t count on it. You can do a free check on yourself once a year anyway. I have the website, I’ll update the link when I find it.

credit, or do they send them out to anyone and everyone who qualifies? If you get a loan offer from them, does that mean something is probably wrong w/ your credit?

I don’t know, but I know that I got a lot more credit offers either when my credit was having problems or soon after I’d gotten credit, so my guess would be that any activity, good or bad, may trigger these offers (I got a card in the mail today…shredder bound).

There are literally thousands of home based internet businesses that have been started over the past few years, with many being hugely successful, while others failing miserably. The question that many people are trying to figure out is how do you know when a business like this operated over the Internet will be successful. This is a brand new ball game, which many of the existing guidelines of business behavior do not apply. We will examine a few of these concepts in this article and hopefully you will find them helpful and interesting as you consider any new Internet businesses.

As we mentioned there are literally thousands of home based Internet businesses, so we cannot review specific possibilities, however this article will discuss some of the areas that entrepreneurs are focusing on.

New Internet businesses can be divided into the following broad categories. Businesses with real products that need to be shipped and use the internet as part of their sales and advertising tools; businesses that are selling services that can be delivered over the internet such as software code, etc.; businesses that are providing tools to support online business which can consist of both hardware as well as applications for security, marketing, analysis and evaluations. Then of course there is all of the immoral areas, spam and other areas that many people are into, but most would frown on. This latter type of business will not be discussed in this article.

Every business, whether it is a Internet business or what we will call a brick and mortar business should be evaluated before you invest time and resources. The traditional elements such as a business plan, skill set requirements, strategic fit etc should be reviewed and if you are satisfied, business owners may still want to proceed with the new business opportunity.

In addition to the above traditional areas that should be considered, anyone beginning a new Internet business should evaluate the potential of their idea from another aspect. Since the Internet is relatively new, there are few established business guidelines and rules to follow. Investors are still learning what this means and how the Internet can be exploited for business opportunities.

Starting home based Internet businesses is risky and calls for a different approach. Many investors will test the waters so to speak, with trials and will complete their research on the Internet to determine how much competition there is, what services or products are being offered and evaluate whether they can be successful in their chosen area. Advertising is another key element that must be considered in any business, but specifically an Internet business. Traditional advertising media usually does not work, instead owners of new home based Internet businesses must consider advertising using the internet as their means of finding customers and communication with their customers.

Evaluate the skills you need to begin your home based Internet business and seek the training you need or hire the appropriate people with the right skill sets. Once you have completed the research into these home based Internet businesses, you can make a decision regarding investment using some of the traditional economic and strategic business evaluation tools.

Elias
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/evaluating-home-based-internet-businesses-for-investment-41192.html

We all are looking for the fastest way to get the things we want. People charge up their credit cards because it is quick and seems painless at first. Those with debt and credit problems want to fix it and move on as fast as possible. This is a good goal, but if you rush things too much, you could find yourself a victim of a fraud.

Credit-related frauds and scams target the inexperienced, the elderly and the desperate. They are specifically looking for someone who will jump on an idea without thinking it through. You pay up front, but they never deliver what they promised. These scams can cost you as little as your up-front payment or cost you as much as your home.

The Federal Trade Commission specifically warns consumers to be wary of all “companies that want you to pay for credit repair services before they provide any services.” Credit repair services that charge up-front fees are specifically breaking the law. It is illegal to charge you before the services are rendered under the Credit Repair Organizations act. However, there are many companies who regularly collect up-front payments.

Let’s get one thing straight to begin with — you don’t need anyone to help you clean up your credit report or score. What can be done has to be done by you. Do a little homework on raising your credit score and improving your credit history and you will find that it is really quite simple.

Some credit repair companies will tell you to dispute all of the derogatory information in your credit report, even if it is true. They are hoping that the credit bureau will not be able to verify all of the items before the 30-day time frame is up. However, this strategy doesn’t work. If something is taken off that is accurate, it will be put back on. You also risk the chance of having the agencies decide that all of your future disputes are “frivolous” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This means that they won’t even be considered.

There are many companies out there that tell you to apply for an Employer Identification Number from the IRS and use this instead of your Social Security Number to apply for credit. This is illegal. You could go to prison for doing this and face heavy fines.

Credit repair is a simple process. It is absolutely free. There is nothing that they can do that you can’t do for yourself. If you are having serious financial difficulties, turn to a financial advisor or credit counselor, not credit repair services. You will find that a solid financial plan has the added benefit of helping you to repair your credit. You can repair your negative credit without having to pay a penny to anyone. Take the time to research your options before you jump into anything that promises to be a quick fix. These promises usually cost you money.

Martin Lukac
http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/credit-repair-isnt-magic-83331.html