Amazing sloppiness at Mastercard

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Cockeyed.com (http://www.cockeyed.com), the site that brought you How Much is Inside Mustard (http://www.cockeyed.com/inside/mustard/mustard.php) among other wonderful projects has done it again, albeit in a more serious vein.

Incredible story. (http://www.cockeyed.com/citizen/creditcard/application.shtml)

I got so mad I emailed Mastercard.com. I can't believe that some human being employed by them looked at a scotch-taped application with a new address on it and said "sure".

:mad:

[BarTopDancer]

GRRR! :mad:

Thanks for sharing this.

[Snowflake]

Sputter, phfffffttttttt, that's astonishing.:eek:

[Alex]

Having had some insight into how credit card applications are processed when I was at Wells I am somewhat surprised by this and must give some small credence to the possibility that the story isn't true.

But only small credence, particularly since it is Chase and their persuit of new accounts is particularly cutthroat.

This is why no piece of paper with personal information on it goes into our regular trash. Not even shredded. We have a separate box for all such paper and periodically we take it into the office and put it in the official secure "to be shredded" bins at work.

[innerSpaceman]

Wow. I'm gonna start burning stuff.

[Snowflake]

This is why no piece of paper with personal information on it goes into our regular trash. Not even shredded. We have a separate box for all such paper and periodically we take it into the office and put it in the official secure "to be shredded" bins at work.

Ditto, I pulled a banker's box, overflowing of paper, statements, pay stubs and such from my closet of hell last weekend, I'm bringing it here to go in the secure shredder. Never mind that anyone hijacking my identity would get not more than 5 miles courtesy of me.

[scaeagles]

I have a crosscut shredder that makes pieces 2 inches long by 1/16th inch wide. If some thief is gonna go through my trash and take that and reassemble it, then I guess I have to live with it.

[Not Afraid]

I swear the City-provided trashcans should come with a shreader attachment. A powerful one and not the slow, loud one we already own.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

I'm thinking maybe shredding THEN burning may be in order....

[tracilicious]

I don't shred anything. I don't even rip it up. I often toss credit card applications in the mail without even opening them. Truthfully, my credit is already crappy enough that there isn't much anyone could do with my info.

I worked in the fraud department for Sears credit cards about four years ago. What I learned there is that there is very very little you can do to protect yourself. Most identity theft happens because someone took something out of a mailbox or even straight from the post office. Once it's taken, it's a pain getting it back too. I dealt with people who had even called each credit bureau and added an identity theft alert to their reports that listed their contact info should anyone try to apply for a card. Those people still had cards opened in their name.

This is beyond inexcusable though. I may get a confetti type shredder.

[Ghoulish Delight]

A relatively simple solution for something like a credit card application. Rip it in half, throw one half into one trashcan, the other half into another. Take the trashcans out on alternate weeks. While the story CP linked to is at least plausible (if outrageous), I'm guessing there's zero chance someone using only half of an application to any great effectiveness. Obviously this doesn't work with anything that might have more sensetive personal info than a credit card solicitation, but it does take care of this case.

[katiesue]

I just throw them out unopened most of the time. Sometimes I rip them in half. I've had a friend who's checks that he'd written to pay bills taken from the mail box, the person crossed out the name and upped the amounts and the bank still cashed them.

Another friend had his cousin check his mail while on vacation. The cousin's girlfriend took the liberty of sending in the credit card applicaitons of course adding her name as a user - that took him quite a while to get straightened out.

I'm with Traci - there are so many ways for them to get your info I don't worry about it too much. Plus half the ones I get are in my ex-husbands name so who cares ;) (kidding of course)

[Cadaverous Pallor]

BUMP.

According to cockeyed.com, the torn-up credit card application story is going to shown on ABC's 20/20 on Friday night, June 16th. They interviewed Rob Cockerham and everything. Should be interesting.