A computer error at student lender Sallie Mae resulted in about a million of its customers being erroneously reported for several days as delinquent on their loans, causing their credit scores to plunge before the problem was corrected, the company said Wednesday.

Reston, Va.-based Sallie Mae, the country's largest student lender, mistakenly reported some types of payment plans as arrangements for partial payment, causing credit reporting firm Equifax to falsely code the borrowers' accounts as delinquent.

The situation was reported Wednesday by Bankrate.com, a financial information service.

Some borrowers' credit scores dropped 100 points or more as a result of the error, Bankrate.com said. MORE

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Student loan turmoil stresses families

Lenders drop out of federal college loan program, but money is still available.
Congress wants to ensure financing doesn't shut down over long term.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Paying for college is rarely easy, but this year parents and students could have a tougher time securing the necessary financing.

Lenders are dropping out of the federal student loan program because of the continuing credit crunch on Wall Street. Congress has entered the fray as fears mount that conditions will worsen this summer when a flood of students apply for funding.

"The ongoing turmoil in U.S. credit markets ... could leave millions of students in a last-minute dash to secure the financial assistance they need to attend college this academic year," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D.-Conn, head of the Senate Banking Committee, said at a hearing Tuesday.

More than 55 lenders who originate 13% of college loans have stopped making loans in recent months. Financial firms say they are leaving the program because subsidy cuts enacted by Congress last year, combined with the credit crunch that has made it costlier for them to sell the loans to investors, have slashed the market's profitability.

The departures come at a time when lenders are also tightening their standards for private student loans, a smaller but growing segment of the industry.

This doesn't mean funding has dried up, however. The U.S. Department of Education has surveyed schools that could be affected by the exodus and all have found alternative options for their students. There are more than 2,000 lenders in the program, though the 10 largest provide the vast majority of funding.
MORE

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How to shop for student loans
The credit crunch has squeezed the education market, so you have to start looking for the best deal now.

(Fortune) --As college acceptance letters arrive this month, families will be celebrating the good news (we hope!), then bracing for the grueling process of figuring out how to pay for four years' tuition.

There is relief for some. While costs continue to soar, a dozen colleges, from Amherst to Williams, have eliminated student loans from financial-aid packages - replacing them with outright grants - and others are waiving tuition for low-income families. Harvard recently said it's capping family contributions at 10% of annual income for parents earning up to $180,000 a year.

It's a promising trend, but many families will still need to borrow. Meanwhile, the student-lending market has taken two dramatic blows in the past year. First, amid the subprime mortgage crisis, funding for all kinds of loans has dried up. At the same time the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 cut government subsidies to issuers of federal student loans, further squeezing the market.

As a result several major education lenders - including a few state agencies -have stopped making loans. "It was the perfect storm," says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org. "These are challenging times to be an education lender."

What does that mean for borrowers? A few simple rules can help families navigate this tougher market.

Read more and learn about your best options and what to avoid here: CNN Money.com

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Identity Theft Bust Could Involve Thousands Of Victims "...this is the largest one I've ever seen"

An officer-involved shooting at a downtown Omaha hotel last week led to the uncovering of a potential major ID theft ring. Another major ring was discovered as the result of a traffic stop Sunday morning that could involve thousands.

Over the next few weeks, Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz will be busy making phone calls to unsuspecting people all over the region.

"We virtually have thousands in here that we have yet to contact." Thousands who don't yet know they are victims of identity theft. “I've been in law enforcement for over 30 years and this is the largest one I've ever seen."

Saunders County deputies knew there was nothing ordinary about the traffic stop just after 2 a.m. "Our officers were aware of the gravity of the situation early on."

Inside the suspect’s car were thousands of documents from different people containing everything from bank statements to credit card receipts. Deputies also found hundreds of victims' bills with stamps that were never even canceled.

The sheriff believes the thief would go through people's mail and pull any unpaid bills with checks inside. His favorite was large bills like credit card receipts.

The sheriff says the thief would wash the ink off the check. Then he would make the check payable to one of his fake identities for the same amount as originally written and cash it at a local bank, making it nearly impossible for a victim to detect on a bank statement.

"I think probably some of the criminal element are becoming a little more professional and they're seasoned,” says Sheriff Stukenholtz.

The thief had scanners and other equipment to help him easily assume any identity he wanted. His most bold identity was that of a sheriff from another county with a badge as phony as the bank account he opened in the sheriff's name. "We certainly think that identity theft is on the rise.”

Sheriff Stukenholtz says so is awareness, which is why he's putting the word out. Channel 6 News cannot disclose the suspect's name because the sheriff believes he is part of something much larger and they don't want to tip their hand as the investigation continues.

The sheriff suggests we go through our wallet, lay out everything and ask if a thief got hold of this or that, what information would they have? Another tip is to photocopy all of it. That way if your wallet turns up missing, you know exactly what is gone.

See Video Here at WOWT News Nebraska

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Another Laptop Stolen from Pfizer, Employee Information Compromised

About 13,000 employees at Pfizer Inc., including about 5,000 from Connecticut, had their personal information compromised when a company laptop and flash drive were stolen, the pharmaceutical giant confirmed today.

The data breach, which occurred about a month ago, was the second this year affecting Pfizer Inc. employees and the sixth made public in a one-year span dating back to May 2007. More than 65,000 data-breach notifications have been sent out by Pfizer over the past year, including more than 10,000 to employees from Connecticut. MORE

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For tips on how to prevent identity theft see a few earlier blogs:

The Top 5 Tips for Protecting your Credit Identity...

Take the time to protect your credit -and your home!

Students may find more than a degree in their future –if not mindful of identity theft!

Posted by Denise Richardson at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A recent email received from a small business owner:

"I received an order for parts from our online website. The order was quite large so I decided to check it out further. I'm glad I did because the credit card number provided was stolen."

It's important to scrutinize orders when at all possible. Here's another look at what happened to a Canadian business owner who followed her gut and took the time to investigate if the order and payment information she received was valid...

Online orders may be scams, retailers warned

Rose Kriedemann came in to her toy shop one Wednesday morning and found a nice, fat order from her website.

It came from a customer in New Zealand, an order totalling about $1,000 for four specialty collectible items that Bayshore Hobbies is known for.

Kriedemann was happy with the early morning sale, but something, some instinct borne of 27 years in retail, told her to double check.

The Visa number was approved by Paymentech, meaning the number was valid. But she hesitated when it came to ringing it through.

Kriedemann tried to determine if the credit card number was correct. She wanted the sale, but not the loss. A thousand dollars is a thousand dollars.

She started to Google.

RCMP Corporal Louis Robertson of the Canadian anti-fraud centre PhoneBusters, applauded Kriedemann for following her gut.

In the end, it's the only real protection most business owners might have.

"If you hear bells and whistles going off, step back, Google it ... take your time."

Once Kriedemann started to Google the address, it turned out to be in Indonesia, not New Zealand. Her hunch was paying off.

Then she had a number of credit card fraud warnings show up in her Googles of the address and the name given by the customer.

She tried to e-mail the customer with some questions to figure out. MORE

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