http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/creditcard/application.shtml

That's not something that would make me happy. 

Whoa!  That's scary!!  :o

As long as the credit card company wasn't stupid enough to put DOB or SSN on it I don't think it will matter...

This is why I have a confetti shredder.  Piece THAT together!

As long as the credit card company wasn't stupid enough to put DOB or SSN on it I don't think it will matter...

This is why I have a confetti shredder.  Piece THAT together!


The only problem with shredders is they shred fingers too.. especially small ones.

One of the guys from the maintance crew in my office space was telling me how his daughter couldn't even get her electricity hooked up in her first ever apartment.  Someone who worked with his wife stole his daughter's identity to sign up for electricity.  The electric company doesn't care, they want her to hire a lawyer to fight the $800 (because they know a lawyer costs more than $800 and the person will be more willing to just pay them instead of the lawyer). 

Identity fraud is a very serious issue now, and the companies appear to be the biggest benefactors from the loose regulations.  It should be the burden of the electric company to verify the identity of the person who signed up for their service, but instead they shirk the responsability, and just throw up their hands as if it's not their fault they didnt' do due diligance.

You need to get a shredder with a safety catch.  It locks the shredder in the off position unless you take it off...the trick, of course, is to remember to use the safety :D

Certain financial institutions will help their customers with identity theft issues...Citibank comes to mind.

We have a shredder and my dad can't believe we didn't use one before.  Ours has a saftey catch on it and a lid....the whole nine.

If you call the CC company and cancel the card, it shouldn't be usable whole or torn...right?  If you get a printed receipt from CC company documenting the cancellation, they can't make you pay for anything.  

Identity theft is a scarier issue.  It like Lenny was saying, you can protest your identity was hacked, but the creditor won't give a ratsazz!  

When you order stuff over the 'net, how can you be sure your info is really secure?  That's what bugs me more than some bum digging through my trash!
>:(

When you order stuff over the 'net, how can you be sure your info is really secure? 




Any reputable site will have VeriSign or some other program that encrypts your information so that it can't be stolen. 

Any reputable site will have VeriSign or some other program that encrypts your information so that it can't be stolen. 

The encryption programs make me feel a little safer...but there are a million black hat hackers out there who take "can't" as a challenge.  There's some evil geek out there...
:o

Why would you still use it after it's been torn? ???

Why would you still use it after it's been torn? ???



That's not what he's asking.  He's asking if you throw it away and someone takes it of your garbage can and tapes it back together, can they still use it.

wow, that's really messed up.

I know it's slightly paranoid of me, but I try to BURN those applications sans any plastic pieces or the celophane windows on the envelopes in the fireplace. 

I think I will be ore careful now about how I throw away credit card applications :o

I know it's slightly paranoid of me, but I try to BURN those applications sans any plastic pieces or the celophane windows on the envelopes in the fireplace. 


"Only the paranoid survive."
- Andy Grove, Intel

Does anyone have a good attribution for the quote I originally wanted to use:

"It's not whether you're paranoid or not, it's whether you're paranoid enough."
- unknown quotation

A collegue at work had his identity stolen 2 years ago and it is still causing problems now!! I shred everything like that now no question.

    I HATE credit card applications. I never send them back, I have no need for any more credit than I already have (I mean really, who in their right mind wants a $10,000 credit limit unless they're making at least $100,000 a year) and I wish they'd just leave me the hell alone already. Instead I have to take time out and feed them through my shredder.
  To me, it's more irritating than telemarketers (although I at least never get calls from them anymore since I don't have a land line), because all you have to do is just hang up on them, or you can mess with them if you want to.
    My brother gave me a rather novel way to get back at them (and I need to start doing this myself). He told me that what you do is you take out the application and shred it, but send back the empty business reply envelope, that way they still have to pay the postage and get nothing in return, thus wasting more of their money. It may not be much, but if a lot of people started doing that it might cut into their bottom line a little bit.

That's not what he's asking.  He's asking if you throw it away and someone takes it of your garbage can and tapes it back together, can they still use it.


Wouldn't that be identity theft? ???

Wouldn't that be identity theft? ???



...............Ummm, yeah.

...............Ummm, yeah.


But if someone gets caught,then it's on their ass. ::)

But if someone gets caught,then it's on their ass. ::)



Well, the people who do stuff like this aren't that bright, so naturally they don't think of that.

Well, the people who do stuff like this aren't that bright, so naturally they don't think of that.


I find credit cards but some of the times there on the ground either chopped up or somewhere else.

I find credit cards but some of the times there on the ground either chopped up or somewhere else.



We're not talking about the card itself.  Chucky was talking about the application you'd fill out to get the card.

    I HATE credit card applications. I never send them back, I have no need for any more credit than I already have (I mean really, who in their right mind wants a $10,000 credit limit unless they're making at least $100,000 a year) and I wish they'd just leave me the hell alone already. Instead I have to take time out and feed them through my shredder.
   To me, it's more irritating than telemarketers (although I at least never get calls from them anymore since I don't have a land line), because all you have to do is just hang up on them, or you can mess with them if you want to.
    My brother gave me a rather novel way to get back at them (and I need to start doing this myself). He told me that what you do is you take out the application and shred it, but send back the empty business reply envelope, that way they still have to pay the postage and get nothing in return, thus wasting more of their money. It may not be much, but if a lot of people started doing that it might cut into their bottom line a little bit.


That's a great idea. 

Have you ever seen the George Carlin bit where he says to gather a bunch of other junk mail and send that to the credit card companies in the pre-paid envelope?  I think I'll throw some of that in too.

That's a great idea. 

Have you ever seen the George Carlin bit where he says to gather a bunch of other junk mail and send that to the credit card companies in the pre-paid envelope?  I think I'll throw some of that in too.


I don't quite go that far but I often post all of the paperwork and the envelope it came in back to the company in their pre-paid envelope.  It cut down on our junk mail a lot!

I don't quite go that far but I often post all of the paperwork and the envelope it came in back to the company in their pre-paid envelope.  It cut down on our junk mail a lot!


I totally do that with any pre-paid envelope I get from a junk mailer.  I get a lot of very shady "bills" that are really domain registry companies trying to fake me into switching to their crappy service. 

You can't attach a brick or anything, there is a set weight limit that they accept back.

I'm definatly going to have to start doing that.