Fred Harteis News Articles

Fred Harteis News Articles - New ways to save on drugs

Fred Harteis News Articles - We've reached a dubious health milestone: More than half of us insured are now taking at least one "maintenance" drug for a chronic condition, according to a recent health industry report.

Meanwhile, the price of brand-name medications rose 2½ times faster than the rate of inflation last year. Here's the news you need to know to avoid the worst of the pain.

Discounters have become the best inflation hedge

Wal-Mart, which in 2006 began selling 30-day supplies of generics for $4 a pop, just rolled out another plan perfect for people who take meds daily and have a high co-pay: a 90-day supply of any of about 350 generics for just $10 (or your co-pay, whichever is less).

Competitors like Target and Kroger quickly matched the price cuts. Some discounters might offer drugs that others don't, so visit their websites to see if your medicine is on their lists.

More employers are insisting you use mail order

Some employers now require workers who fill the same scrip more than three months in a row (basically anyone on a daily regimen) to order 90-day supplies from an approved mail-order company - or receive a lower reimbursement than the pharmacy rate they're used to. At Time Inc., for example, your pharmacy co-pay rises by 25% after three months. So before you head to Wal-Mart, do the math.

Insurers are raising co-pays on brand-name drugs

Generics have always been cheaper than brand names, but it's gotten even costlier to insist on, say, Prozac rather than fluoxetine. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average co-pay for a 30-day "nonpreferred" brand is now $43, up from $28 in 2001. The average generic co-pay is just $11, so ask your doctor to prescribe the generic equivalent if one exists (it does more than 75% of the time). 

Source; Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International.  Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles - TransUnion settlement offers free credit monitoring

Fred Harteis News Articles - Unless you've avoided all forms of credit for the last 20 years, you're eligible to receive free credit monitoring from TransUnion. Thanks to a proposed class-action lawsuit settlement with the credit-reporting agency, you can sign up for six or nine months of free credit monitoring. But you had better hurry if you want to enjoy the benefits. The registration window closes on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

Nearly a decade ago, consumers brought a class-action lawsuit against Acxiom Corp. and TransUnion, alleging that the two companies violated state laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act by selling private consumer information to marketers, credit grantors and insurers.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows consumer reporting agencies to disclose credit reports to third parties that have a permissible purpose, which includes the underwriting of insurance, the granting of credit and employment purposes, says Chris Micheletti, a lawyer with Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel, Mason & Gette LLP, and plaintiff attorney in the case. "Target marketing is not a permissible purpose. So when TransUnion sold lists of consumers who had certain credit characteristics and did so for target marketing purposes, it allegedly violated the FCRA as well as state law," he says.

The preliminary settlement, announced May 29, is worth more than $75 million.

Both companies have denied any wrongdoing.

"We always believed the practices in question were lawful, but we also understand that in today's environment consumers' concerns over privacy are growing. We hope this settlement demonstrates our commitment to empowering consumers to better understand, manage and protect their credit information," says Colleen Ryan, vice president of corporate and community affairs for TransUnion.

The lawsuit did not target Experian and Equifax, the other two largest credit bureaus. "Experian and Equifax did not sell/disclose the same types of information as did TransUnion. Also, Experian entered into a consent decree with the FTC in 1993, which limited the information Experian could disclose," Micheletti explains.

Who qualifies

According to the preliminary approval order for the settlement, consumers who qualify for benefits include "all natural persons who had an open credit account or an open line of credit from a U.S.-based credit grantor at any time during the period Jan. 1, 1987 to May 28, 2008."

So, if you had a department store card from 1989 to 1991 but have since lived debt free, you'd still qualify.

Micheletti says as many as 160 million to 190 million consumers could be eligible for benefits.

Consumers have until Aug. 22 to object to the settlement and until Sept. 24 to register for benefits. A final hearing on Sept. 10 will decide whether to approve the proposed settlement. No one will receive benefits until final approval, and cash benefits won't go out until at least two years afterward, if there is any money leftover after expenses.

To receive benefits, you must register at www.ListClassAction.com or call (866) 416-3470. Those who prefer to register via mail must print out the form on Page 10 of a notice from ListClassAction.com, or write a letter including the same information, and mail the paperwork to the address indicated on the form.

Source: Bankrate.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International.  Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles - How safe is your ATM?

Fred Harteis News Articles - When hackers infiltrated Citibank ATMs at 7-Eleven stores, they revived the fear of everyone looking to get out a few bucks for a Slurpee - is using this machine safe?

Experts say the answer is that an ATM's safety depends on where it is. If it's at a bank, an ATM is somewhat safer than it is in a public place, such as a ballpark, a train station or a convenience store.

"You should never use ATM machines at convenience stores if you can help it because those are much more susceptible to tampering," added Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the Gartner research firm.

While consumers can't do much when hackers break into back-end computers that approve cash withdrawals in order to steal PIN codes - such as happened during last year's Citi ATM breach - the odds are slim that it will happen to you.

"It is possible to install malicious software on a banking server to capture an encrypted pin as it passes through, but it is extremely rare," according to Margot Mohsberg, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association.

There are other methods of getting scammed at the ATM, however, that are both popular and preventable.

Most often, thieves use a method called skimming, which means they insert a device into the card slot on an ATM that steals your data right off your card's magnetic strip.

When it comes to skimming, non-bank ATMs are far more susceptible, putting you at greater risk. There's less of a chance of skimming at your bank's local branch, because the bank is videotaping and maintaining that ATM, than at the ones in a convenience store that are maintained by a third party, said Ellen Cannon, managing editor at bankrate.com.

"There are thefts constantly," said Cannon.

To further decrease your odds of getting victimized, Cannon also suggests changing your PIN number regularly and using different PINs for different accounts.

Also, when shopping, opt for credit over debit. Chances are your credit card has 100% fraud liability, whereas your debit card may not.

"Basically, avoid using your PIN as much as possible," Litan recommends. Despite industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption, that doesn't always happen, so to stay on the safe side, keep transactions that require you to enter your PIN to a minimum.

And when it comes to online activity, never use your PIN under any circumstances. "There's no online use of PINs," Litan said, and any prompt to do so is just a scam.

Ultimately, the best thing you can do is check your account frequently and report any suspicious activity immediately.

Beyond that, there's really not much else consumers can do, according to Thomas Fox, community outreach director of Cambridge Credit Corp., a nonprofit credit counseling agency based in Agawam, Mass. "It falls to the bank to employ new ways to deter hackers."

But if you are a victim of theft, keep in mind that while it is a hassle, it is not necessarily a hardship.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International.  Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles - Divorced from you, still married to your money

Fred Harteis News Articles - As you may already know, June is the most popular month in this country for weddings. So now that the marrying month is almost over, I thought it might be a good idea to turn the focus to - what else? - divorce!

I don't mean to be a downer about it, but the reality is, the divorce rate has hovered pretty close to the 50% mark for years now. And while there are lots of financial (not to mention emotional) complexities related to divorce, financial planners say one of the most common mistakes people make after getting un-hitched is simply failing to update the beneficiary forms on their retirement accounts.

And that can lead to all kinds of unintended financial consequences years, or even decades, down the road.

Here's why: if you get divorced, you'll probably make a point of updating your will to exclude your ex-spouse. But what you may not realize is that your will has no bearing whatsoever on who inherits any money sitting in your qualified retirement accounts - including an IRA, 401(k), 403(b) or traditional company pension plan - at the time of your death.

And that means you might unwittingly be enriching your ex-spouse - while simultaneously cutting off the people you really want to leave your money to. "It happens all the time," says Howard Hook, a CPA and financial planner with Roseland, NJ-based Access Wealth Planning.

Nor does your will dictate who stands to collect on any of your life insurance policies. For those items - which can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more - the person who gets the cash is usually the one you named on the beneficiary forms all those years ago. "The beneficiary designation supersedes the will," says Hook.

And it doesn't matter how long ago you named the beneficiary - a spouse you divorced 30 years ago will, in most cases, get every penny if his or her name is on the form.

The bottom line: Once you're finished updating your will, go back and check all the paperwork for your retirement and insurance accounts. Removing your ex-spouse as the beneficiary is usually as straightforward as getting your hands on a new form and filling it out.

And no, you don't need to inform your ex that you've made the switch, says Hook.

Just don't try that maneuver if you're still married. You can't remove your spouse as beneficiary on a company-sponsored retirement account like a 401(k) or traditional pension without his or her signed consent. (Although in some states, you can make such a move with your IRA.)

Finally, notes Hook, it's a good idea to periodically review your beneficiary designation forms even if you're not getting divorced. You may have other reasons to update your beneficiary forms - to add a new child or grandchild to an insurance policy, for instance. Periodically requesting a copy of the form on file can save your heirs time and legal fees - and most importantly, make sure your money ends up in the right hands.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International.  Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles- Bad credit hurts in many ways

Fred Harteis News Articles  - Most people understand that low credit scores will translate into higher mortgage and credit card interest rates. But few realize there are plenty of other insidious ways that low scores can add to a person's costs.

Car insurance

The fact that some companies base auto insurance premiums on credit scores comes as a surprise to most of the clients working with Trish Lynch, a financial specialist with ClearPoint Financial Solutions.

In fact, some national and large regional players apply your scores on the initial application for insurance, others pull your score every three years, said Bruce Hale, a research analyst.

Car loans

In 2004, the Consumer Federation announced that its investigation into Honda Finance Corp. revealed dealers in this car manufacturer's network charged different markups to customers from different credit tiers. Those in the least creditworthy tier could face prices that were 3.5 percentage points higher than their better credit brothers. Although they have capped their markups at 2.5 percent, General Motors Acceptance Corp. and Ford Motor Credit Corp. take the same approach.

People with poor credit usually pay an interest rate between 19 percent and 26 percent on a new car purchase, compared with the six percent to seven percent average, says Lynch.

Job

The second shock; Employers care about those credit ratings. Just ask Sanyika Calloway Boyce, a "financial fitness coach" who graduated a semester early with honor society membership, several internships and $15,000 in unsecured debt. She says the latter canceled out all of her positives with potential employers. And that was in 1994.

Today, 70 percent of companies will check credit before they decide to hire a candidate, says Doug Borkowski, a financial counselor. Larger companies are more likely than small ones to check.

Housing

Rental property owners may reject tenant applications with poor credit scores, something only 48 percent of consumers know, according to a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) survey.

Utilities

Only 30 percent of the CFA surveyed know that utilities, too, care about credit scores. Even slow credit indications are enough to slap you with a $500 deposit before the telephone company connects your line or the electric company turns on the juice, Lynch says.

Source: Bankrate.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International.  Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.