Fight Identity Theft - FREE Shredding April 19th

I just thought I would share this with my Sacramento area readers.

The Golden 1 Credit Union and Iron Mountain are holding a FREE Confidential Information Shredding Event in Sacramento on April 19th. Iron Mountain will be on site to safely destroy your personal papers, CDs, DVDs, and floppy discs in your presence.

There is a 5 box (banker's size) limit per box.

Saturday, April 19th
9am - 2pm
The Golden 1 Operations Center
8945 Cal Center Drive, Sacramento, Ca 95826


What should you be shredding to help protect your identity?

Credit Card Offers
Taxes
Receipts
Anything with your social security number
Bank Statements
Financial Records Statements

Larger Loan Limits (Atleast This Year)

The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 authorized HUD to release the new FHA loan limits for California today -- and median home price data that allows you to calculate the new conforming loan limit for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (it's 125 percent of the median home price, or $417,000, whichever is more, up to a maximum of $729,750).

All told, 14 California counties saw their loan limits for FHA, Fannie and Freddie bumped all the way up to the $729,750 cap. Most were in the San Francisco Bay Area or northern California (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara) with five more in the L.A. area (Los Angeles, Orange, San Benito, Santa Barbara, and Ventura).

FHA Mortgage Limits in California by County

County Name	Median Home Price	FHA Limit
Alameda County	$995,000	$729,750
Alpine County	438,000	547,500
Amador County	355,000	443,750
Butte County	320,000	400,000
Calaveras County	370,000	462,500
Colusa County	318,000	397,500
Contra Costa County	995,000	729,750
Del Norte County	249,000	311,250
El Dorado County	464,000	580,000
Fresno County	305,000	381,250
Glenn County	230,000	287,500
Humboldt County	315,000	393,750
Imperial County	260,000	325,000
Inyo County	350,000	437,500
Kern County	295,000	368,750
Kings County	260,000	325,000
Lake County	321,000	401,250
Lassen County	200,000	271,050
Los Angeles County	710,000	729,750
Madera County	340,000	425,000
Marin County	995,000	729,750
Mariposa County	330,000	412,500
Mendocino County	410,000	512,500
Merced County	378,000	472,500
Modoc County	125,000	271,050
Mono County	370,000	462,500
Monterey County	599,000	729,750
Napa County	615,000	729,750
Nevada County	450,000	562,500
Orange County	710,000	729,750
Placer County	464,000	580,000
Plumas County	328,000	410,000
Riverside County	400,000	500,000
Sacramento County	464,000	580,000
San Benito County	790,000	729,750
San Bernardino County	400,000	500,000
San Diego County	558,000	697,500
San Francisco County	995,000	729,750
San Joaquin County	391,000	488,750
San Luis Obispo County	550,000	687,500
San Mateo County	995,000	729,750
Santa Barbara County	615,000	729,750
Santa Clara County	790,000	72,9750
Santa Cruz County	719,000	729,750
Shasta County	339,000	423,750
Sierra County	228,000	285,000
Siskiyou County	235,000	293,750
Solano County	446,000	557,500
Sonoma County	530,000	662,500
Stanislaus County	339,000	423,750
Sutter County	340,000	425,000
Tehama County	250,000	312,500
Trinity County	200,000	271,050
Tulare County	260,000	325,000
Tuolumne County	350,000	437,500
Ventura County	599,000	729,750
Yolo County	464,000	580,000
Yuba County	340,000	425,000

Credit 101 - Identity Theft Prevention

When it comes to home loans, or loans in general, your credit score plays an integral role. I often have clients ask how they can get their credit score up or fix errors on their reports. I have even had people contact me that have been victims of identity theft.

So to address this growing fraud issue, I wanted to start by giving some tips on preventative measures to protect your credit. Here are some things to consider-

1) Use Unique or Unpredictable Passwords

2) Secure Personal Information:

In your home

• Lock personal information in a filing cabinet or safe.
  


• If you're planning to be away from home and can't pick up your mail, call the U.S. Postal Service at 1-800-275-8777 to request a hold.


• Tear or shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, or anything else that may contain personal information.
  


• When ordering new checks, pick them up from the bank instead of having them mailed to your home mailbox.

On the phone/mail/Internet

• Identity thieves are clever, and have posed as representatives of banks, Internet service providers (ISPs), and even government agencies to get people to reveal their SSN, mother's maiden name, account numbers, and other personal information. Before you share any such information, confirm that you are dealing with a legitimate organization.
  

On your computer

• Update virus protection software and patches for your operating system and other software programs regularly. There are many good antivirus and spyware detection programs on the market right now.
  


• Do not open files sent to you by strangers, or click on hyperlinks or download programs from people you don't know. Be careful about using file-sharing programs. Opening a file could expose your system to a computer virus or a program known as "spyware," which could capture your passwords or any other information as you type it into your keyboard.
  

3.) Check Your Credit Report:
One of the most important ways to protect yourself against Identity Theft is to check your credit report status often. If you haven't checked your credit report lately you can do so with Equifax. Also, there are companies such as LifeLock, that specialize in the prevention of identity theft rather than the reporting of it and offer a $1 million guarantee.

In my next blog I will discuss further prevention techniques such as removing yourself from marketing lists, email lists and telemarketing lists.

After The Storm

The storms that hit the Sacramento area and much of California this winter caused many home owners damage to their homes. For some it was downed fences and for others it was downed trees.
I wanted to discuss these types of accidents and the affects on your home owners insurance policy. For some insight into this matter I turned to one of my trusted advisors in the insurance industry, Shaun Felber.

Question: Will my rates go up if my home suffers damage from natural disasters?

• Claims like wind damage, a tree falling on a home, etc. do not affect your insurance rates with Farmers because they're "natural" or caused by nature. Anything that is a wear and tear issue like pipes breaking or a leaky roof would have an impact on your rates. A rough estimate of what your policy would increase would be about 1/3. That increase stays for 3 years. For my clients, I estimate how much it will cost to fix the damage and what the increase would be over the next 3 years and then (taking their deductible into account) decide if it's cheaper to pay out of pocket or turn in a claim." - S. Felber

Question: What happens if my neighbor's tree causes damage to my home?

• "As far as a neighbor's tree hitting your property, the neighbor would be liable and their insurance should fix your damage. As long as the tree is on their property, they're liable. I've seen an issue where a person's tree roots went across the property line (under fence) and damaged the neighbors pipes underground. Their insurance paid for the neighbor's pipe damage." - S. Felber

Question: What heppens when weather damages a fence shared with a neighbor?

• In this case, it's almost always cheaper to pay out of pocket because it's generally split between 2 neighbors and the total paid by each person is usually less than the deductible. It almost always comes down to "wear and tear" on an old fence also.

Question: What heppens when I make a claim on my homeowner's insurance?

• A claim on a home follows the homeowner (generally for three years), not the home. So you could sell a home that had damage from a tree the previous year and it wouldn't affect the new homeowner's insurance rates.

Shaun Felber also noted that any damage suffered to your property should always be well documented with photos, especially in the example where a neighbor's property, such as a tree, has damaged your home. Last, I know we were only able to cover a few examples here so if you have any other home, flood, life, or auto insurance questions or needs, Shaun has made his services available to Alex Amaro's subscribers.

Shaun Felber, Farmers Insurance, (209) 862-1166 or by email at sfelber@farmersagent.com

Photo by Alex Amaro, 1/5/08: I took this photo of my neighbor's home in the midtown area of Sacramento. During major storms the downtown/midtown area sees much damage to cars and homes by these large trees that line the streets.