“It Takes a Village” is a historical proverb that reminds us that we are stronger when we combine our strengths than when we attempt to do everything ourselves. My strength is organizing things! I started BRPS to help others organize their financial and legal lives.
Starting BRPS Consulting and successfully running it has also taken a village. As such, I want to thank everyone who has provided feedback throughout this process. I hope you continue to give me constructive feedback to continue to improve my business.
One piece of feedback I continually receive is that my potential clients do not understand how BRPS’ services apply to them, and they cannot visualize the relevance. I hope to resolve this issue using actual case studies.
For the next several weeks, I will highlight a BRPS service with a case study. This week, we will focus on the BRPS service offerings.
Monitoring Financial Accounts.
Monitoring Sarah’s Financial Accounts
Sarah is a 70-year-old retired nurse who is in the process of divorcing her husband. She wishes to move closer to her children and purchase a house to accommodate her personal belongings. Sarah’s credit is not stellar, as she has difficulty paying her bills on time and uses several credit cards.
This is the 3rd post in the “It Takes A Village” series. Two weeks ago, we discussed Jane and Joe’s financial document location and organization engagement, and last week, we discussed Sarah’s spending plan and how BRPS helped her develop and implement it. After developing the spending plan and assisting with implementation, Sarah hired BRPS to monitor her financial accounts for suspicious activity.
Fraudsters are becoming exceptionally good at separating people from their money. Therefore, everyone must be diligent about monitoring their financial accounts to reduce the risk of fraud/unintended purchases. Sometimes people need help monitoring those accounts, which is where BRPS Consulting comes in. BRPS’ will assist each client with combating attempts by fraudsters to steal their identities and/or assets.
First some statistics / news articles:
- According to the FTC – “Consumers lost $10.0 billion to fraud last year…”
- According to Security.org:
- 60% of U.S. Credit Card Holders have been victims
- 52 million Americans had fraudulent charges
- Minimum fraudulent charge up 26% from $79 to $100.
- According to AARP – “Identity Fraud Hit 42 Million People in 2021.”
- According to ConsumerAffairs – “… older Americans are often more vulnerable than their younger counterparts, and the amount of money that a defrauded senior will likely lose increases as they age.”
What are financial accounts?
Financial Accounts include:
- Bank accounts, such as checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, etc.
- Other payment services, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Wallet, etc.
- Personal investment accounts, such as mutual funds, annuities, brokered accounts, etc.
- Retirement accounts, such as 401(K), 457(b), Roth IRA, IRA, etc.
- Mortgage account
- Lines of credit could be unsecured or home equity lines
- Credit card accounts, including all store credit cards
How does BRPS Consulting monitor these accounts?
BRPS will review contact information every time BRPS accesses the account. This is because the first thing an identity thief will do once they gain access to your account is change your contact information so that important documents are sent to them, rather than to you. Contact information includes address, email, and phone number.
BRPS will not monitor your emails. As the true story noted to the right indicates, one of the best ways to combat fraud is to monitor your emails and accounts regularly. Had Henry acted on the verification email from Facebook, his account may have been saved.
Henry had his Facebook account hacked. As Henry did not frequently check his email, the fraudsters were able to change his password and email before Henry even had a chance to respond to Facebook’s email requesting verification that the change was him. His account was lost!
Biweekly / Monthly Review:
- Bank accounts
- Other payment services
- Lines of credit
- Credit card accounts
Credit Card Accounts:
BRPS has online access to Sarah’s accounts. On a biweekly basis, BRPS begins with Sarah’s credit card activity. BRPS signs into Sarah’s credit card account and looks for large purchases, subscriptions, and unusual activity. It takes a few months to become familiar with a client’s “normal” activity. Therefore, communication is frequent during these reviews for the first few months.
Large Purchases:
BRPS will verify all large purchases (>$100 for Sarah) and subscriptions with its client. This is to discover a fraudulent/unintended purchase early. Sarah uses her credit card, rather than a debit card. BRPS recommends always using a credit card, rather than a debit card, as credit card companies are required by law to protect their customers against fraudulent purchases after the first $50. Identifying fraudulent/unintended purchases early makes it easier for the credit card company to stop payment and research the issue.
Subscriptions
BRPS questions subscriptions because of the tenaciousness of online promotions and device applications (apps) offered on a phone or tablet. All of us accidentally sign up for a subscription now and then. Therefore, just to make sure Sarah meant to sign up for the subscription, BRPS inquires about all subscriptions. Subscriptions are not always easy to identify, and it can take BRPS two to three months to identify a subscription. After the first inquiry, BRPS will inquire annually as to Sarah’s continued utilization of the service offered by the subscription.
Unusual activity
BRPS will also inquire about any unusual activity that is unique to the person. Sarah does not travel; therefore, a restaurant receipt more than a 25-miles from her home would be unusual. She does not frequent certain retail stores; therefore, a charge from one of those stores would be unusual. Sarah does like PayPal; therefore, there are always several charges from PayPal. As such, the next account BRPS monitor is Sarah’s PayPal account.
Other Payment Services:
Monitoring Sarah’s PayPal account and her Apple purchases is a little more difficult than monitoring her credit card. Charges for these accounts are typically small dollar amounts, new retailers, and located across the country. Sarah and BRPS agreed that BRPS would inquire about large purchases (>$50) and subscriptions. As with the credit card, it could take two to three months to identify a subscription. For a vendor to charge a person for a subscription, the person actively accepts payment responsibility. As such, any money spent on a subscription during the time it takes to identify the subscription cannot be retrieved.
Bank Accounts:
After reviewing the credit card account, PayPal account, and Apple purchases, BRPS reviews the bank accounts. Sarah typically has no activity in her savings account; therefore, if the balance has changed, BRPS will inquire. Sarah uses her checking account to pay her bills with no retail purchases included. After a few months of reviewing the monthly bills, BRPS will inform Sarah about any large changes in a bill. For instance, last month Sarah’s Verizon bill decreased significantly; upon inquiry, it was because she had made her final payment for her phone and was now only paying for the service.
Want to monitor your accounts? BRPS recommends utilizing your bank/credit card companies’ notification services. I have turned mine on to tell me when someone logs onto my account, when a large purchase is made, and when a charge is made outside of the U.S. Explore your alert choices and turn on the ones most important to you!
Quarterly:
- Personal investment accounts, including mutual funds, annuities, and/or brokered account
- Retirement accounts, including 401(K), 457(b), Roth IRA, IRA, etc.
Every quarter, BRPS reviews its clients’ investment accounts. BRPS will look for unusual trading activity, expenses, or unusual withdrawals. In addition, BRPS will scan the securities invested to ensure they are consistent with the client’s age. If they are not consistent and the client did not request to be in the security, BRPS will recommend that the client speak with his/her investment advisor. BRPS can be present during that conversation, but BRPS cannot give investment selection advice.
For the retirement accounts, in addition to reviewing trading activity, expenses, and withdrawals, BRPS will review the annual value of the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from the account. This is to ensure that the amount withdrawn will be sufficient for that account, for that tax year, as the amount changes annually based on the IRS tables. See last week’s post on RMDs for more information.
Annually:
- Mortgage account
- Credit reports
Mortgage Account:
In NY, typically the mortgage bank will pay the home’s taxes and homeowner’s insurance. The bank does this by requiring the homeowner to pay 1/12th of the expected annual payment for taxes and insurance as part of the monthly payment. Annually, the mortgage bank will send a reconciliation of the monthly payments. This reconciliation shows payments made by the mortgagee compared to the amounts paid by the bank on the mortgagee’s behalf. The result of this reconciliation is typically a change in the monthly mortgage payment. BRPS will review this disclosure and assist its clients with understanding this reconciliation and the options proposed by the bank.
Credit Reports:
There are three credit bureaus in the United State that keep track of your credit. These are Equifax, Transunion, and Experian. Everyone is entitled to a free credit report annually from each bureau. You can visit each respective website to request your free credit report. Alternatively, you can visit https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action to obtain all three of them from one site.
CAUTION: The information in your credit report is sensitive information that cybercriminals want. Be very careful to ensure you are on the correct site, requesting the right information before entering any validation information. The validation questions are very specific to you and are a goldmine to a cybercriminal.
BRPS recommends checking one credit report every four months. By reviewing only one report every four months, you can identify unusual activity early, but still only receive one credit report from each bureau a year. BRPS will review each credit report, verifying that the financial accounts listed are consistent with BRPS’ knowledge, that the employers, addresses, alternative names, etc., are consistent, and that any damaging reports to the credit report are valid.
DISCLAIMER:
BRPS will not audit or otherwise verify all purchases. However, BRPS may ask for clarification as necessary if it notices that an amount appears unusual or out of the ordinary, but BRPS’ engagement cannot be relied upon to disclose errors, fraud, or misappropriation. BRPS relies on the purchasing pattern of its clients to identify unusual activity, which may not identify an error, fraud, or misappropriation. Therefore, the client must continue to review his/her accounts.
These services are not designed, and should not be relied upon, as a substitute for your own personal judgment. These services are not designed, and should not be relied upon, to identify every fraudulent or unintended purchase.
BRPS cannot render any investment advisory or legal services as part of its services. Services rendered by BRPS are merely designed to supplement a client’s monitoring of their accounts. BRPS cannot be responsible for the acts, omissions, or solvency of any vendor, including broker, agent, independent contractor, or other advisor or professional selected by its client.
Coming Soon:
- Joe’s Bill Paying Services
- BRPS’ online access security measures
- How BRPS can assist with suspicious texts, phone calls, emails, etc., all attempting to steal your money.
- Social media hygiene
Every client’s circumstance will be different, but BRPS is confident that it can help all clients get their financial and legal lives in order. Not the service you are looking for, check out all services offered by BRPS Consulting here.
Let’s find out how BRPS can help you!