ZoneAlarm discount, no coupon code necessary!
July 29th, 2011 - Posted by Sarah
If you're taking your PC to school with you, you'll need security software to keep your investment from viruses, malware, and spam. Just in time for back-to-school, one of the Internet security software suites we review, ZoneAlarm, is currently offering an incredible promotion exclusively to NextAdvisor readers: 70% off Internet Security Suite 2012! You don't need a coupon code to take advantage of this deal. Simply follow any link from our site to ZoneAlarm!
I don't normally receive faxes. What online fax company would be the safest and least expensive for me?
July 28th, 2011 - Posted by Sarah
The following is an actual user-submitted question:
Q. My fax needs are simple: I have to fax my time sheets for work every two weeks, and I don't normally receive faxes. What online fax company would be the safest and least expensive for me?
A. You need just a little bit of Internet fax, but you need it on a regular basis. In your case, we'd simply recommend the cheapest option. Nextiva offers a combined send-and-receive 500 pages per month, so assuming your time sheets don't take up more than 250 pages (!), you've got nothing to worry about. The plan costs $4.95 a month and provides a 30-day free trial. In the unlikely event you need extra pages, Nextiva also offers the lowest per-page price.
Which Internet faxing services are truly confidential?
July 27th, 2011 - Posted by Sarah
The following is an actual user-submitted question:
Q. Which Internet faxing services are truly confidential?
A. Almost every Internet fax service keeps your documents confidential, provided you use the company's web interface. If you fax by email, you're essentially agreeing that your documents might be seen in transmission from your email to the service to the intended recipient. MyFax, RingCentral, and RapidFax are among those fax services with secure online forms. We prefer MyFax because of its price, interface, and free 800 number.
I need my credit scores and detailed information of who I owe and how much I owe them.
July 26th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: I need my credit scores and detailed information of who I owe and how much I owe them.
A: Your credit reports contain information on whom you owe and the amount of money you owe them. This information is reported to each of the 3 credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—by creditors, creditors, employers, insurers, and other businesses with which you may have a financial relationship. It's a good place to start if you're wondering whom you might owe money to.
You can get your credit reports for free every 12 months at annualcreditreport.com. Unfortunately, you cannot get your credit scores for free, and getting all 3 can cost up to $50. A no-cost option is to sign up for one of the credit report monitoring services we review on our site. Several of them, like Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION®, feature free trials where you can get your 3-bureau credit scores and reports free of charge.
With Internet fax, can you receive a fax if sent by a fax machine?
July 25th, 2011 - Posted by Sarah
The following is an actual user-submitted question:
Q. With Internet fax, can you receive a fax if sent by a fax machine?
A. You bet! Internet fax services function just like a fax machine, but without the bulky equipment and wasted paper. When someone sends you a fax, whether from a machine or through another Internet fax service, the data will be converted to email attachments and emailed to you. Try MetroFax, which costs $6.63 a month and gives you 500 combined send-and-receive pages, or MyFax, which costs a little more ($8.33 a month) but offers a toll-free number at no charge.
I have an incorrect entry in my credit report. How do I get rid of it and where did it come from in the first place?
July 22nd, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Q: I have an incorrect entry in my credit report. I have two addresses and one isn't mine. How do I get rid of this address and where did it come from in the first place? I reside at 418 Woodgate Road not 418 Westgate Road. Has my identity been compromised and I didn't know it?
A: First, you've done a smart thing by carefully going through your credit report for potential errors or discrepancies. Make sure you've gone through all of your 3-bureaus reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and not just one of two, because the information on them can differ. The information on your credit reports is provided to the credit bureaus by creditors, lenders, insurers, employers and other companies with which you may have a financial relationship. If you find an error, you need to contact the specific credit bureau with the error. Although this sounds onerous, you can submit a dispute request online. The links for each of the bureaus are below.
Regarding whether your identity has been compromised, it's possible. However, it's also possible that it's an honest mistake as street names are often misspelled. If this is the only error on all 3 of your credit reports and there is no indication anyone has tried to open a credit line under your name, you're probably safe. But the possibility of identity theft still exists. Nowadays thieves can use your name and identity to gain access to everything from your medical insurance to a mortgage.
To be safe, it's smart to sign up for an identity theft protection service like Identity Guard TOTAL PROTECTION®. Identity Guard will monitor your 3-bureau credit reports and alert you if change occurs. They will also monitor public records for any changes in your name, scan databases for application or Social Security fraud, and monitor the Internet's black market for any use of your personal information or credit cards. In addition they provide members with free anti-keylogging software, mobile security software and lost wallet protection. As an added bonus when you sign up for their free 30-day trial you'll get all 3 of your credit scores.
What The New Free Credit Score Rule Means For You
July 20th, 2011 - Posted by Erik
We get asked all the time by our readers whether they have the right to get a free credit score. Until now, the answer has always been "No". But thanks to a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, starting tomorrow the answer will be "Sometimes". The new rule requires that whenever lenders use a credit score to either turn consumers down for a loan, give them an interest rate higher than the best available, or raise their interest rate, the lender must send the consumer the score they used to make that decision. In addition, the lender must give the consumer a little more information about the score. Here's what the lenders specifically must disclose:
- Credit score
- Source of credit score
- Date of credit score
- The possible range of scores for the type of score given
- Up to four key factors that adversely affected the score (five if number of credit inquiries affected the score)
- Contact information for source of credit score
We're in favor of any rule requiring more disclosure to consumers about their credit. After all, if it's your credit and it can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in interest payments or more over the course of a loan, shouldn't you know what it is? So we think this new rule is a good step. However, the world of credit reports and credit scores is an extremely convoluted and confusing one and we think this rule may only add to that confusion. We've reviewed the requirements of the new law and found several areas that we think will be cause consternation for consumers getting their scores. Here are the three that concern us the most:
1. While the rule mandates that consumers receive their credit score and the range of possible scores under the credit score brand used, it does not require the consumer to receive a qualitative explanation of whether their score is good or bad. We think this is analogous to taking a test and being given your numerical result, let's say a 70, but not being told what the curve is. So you have no idea whether that 70 is an A or an F. With credit scores, if you're told your score is a 600, you don't know whether that is good, bad or ugly. Sure, you're given the range of scores, but you can't use that to put your score in context. In fact, if you try to, which would be a reasonable thing to do, you'll usually come up with a result that is wrong. For example, the range of FICO scores, the most popular and well known brand of credit score, is from 300 to 850. One might assume that the mid-point of that range, 575, would be an average credit score. While this seems like a reasonable assumption, it is completely wrong. In fact, a 575 is well below average, is classified as 'Not Good' by FICO, is well below the cutoff for sub-prime and would make it difficult for anyone with that score to get any credit whatsoever! Of course, FICO is just one brand of credit score and the different brands all have different ranges and scales for what is good and bad, which brings us to the next problem with the new rule…
2. Consumers are not told that there are many different types of credit scores and that the score they are receiving will almost certainly be different than another score they find elsewhere. The Federal Reserve and FTC cited 'information overload' when explaining why they didn't feel it necessary to disclose this information. While I certainly agree that it's easy to get overwhelmed with the vagaries of credit scores, in this case it seems like a more apt description might be 'a little information is dangerous'. The reality is that different credit score brands use different scales and have different numbers that constitute a good or bad score. For example, the Vantage Score, a popular brand created by the three credit bureaus, uses a scale of 501-990. Let's say you receive a Vantage Score of 750 and go online to try to understand what that means. If you do a search such as "what is a good credit score", you'll find lots of information telling you that 750 is a very good to excellent score and will in most cases qualify you for the best rates on any loan. While you won't be sure quite why you didn't get the best rate from the lender that sent you the score, you're still thinking, Hooray! I have great credit! The only problem is that all those search results are talking about a FICO score of 750, not a Vantage Score. In fact, a 750 Vantage Score is simply average, will almost never qualify you for the best rates and will in many cases make you ineligible for a loan at all.
3. Consumers are only given one credit score and are not told that for any score brand, they have three different credit scores, one for each credit bureau. Everyone has three different credit reports, one at each of the three credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Your credit score is based on those credit reports, so you have a different credit score from each bureau as well. Most people think those scores will be exactly the same, but they are usually different. Sometimes they are very different. This is because many lenders and collection agencies only report to one bureau so each bureau has different information in your credit report. Since one piece of negative information can have an enormous impact on your score, your score from one bureau could be widely divergent from another. I know this from personal experience when a cable company erroneously sent a very old, closed account of mine to collections and my Equifax FICO score dropped 114 points while my scores from the other bureaus didn't change! (Fortunately, I was subscribed to a credit monitoring service so I was alerted to this change to my credit report and score and was able to get it fixed within a few days.) Unfortunately, the new regulations only require lenders to give consumers one credit score, even if they used all three scores in making the credit decision. If they exclusively used the high or low score, lenders must provide that specific score, but if they used the average score (a very common practice among lenders), then the lender can send the consumer any of the three scores they choose. Using myself as an example, if a lender had sent me the TransUnion FICO score, I wouldn't have been able to understand why I got such a bad loan rate, because I'd have no way of knowing that it was my Equifax score that was bringing my average down.
Don't get us wrong. We think consumers will be better off when this rule goes into effect tomorrow than they are today without it. But we also think it's very important for consumers to understand the limitations of the information they're receiving and that if they don't, they may end up being victim to the old adage that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
So how can you arm yourself with more knowledge? Here's what we'd recommend:
Check your credit scores and credit reports a few months before you plan to apply for a loan. Why wait until you've been denied credit or given a higher interest rate to know where your credit stands? By knowing your scores ahead of time, you can fix any errors on your report, start working on improving your score if necessary and have a better understanding of whether you might get approved for a loan or not. Just applying for credit will likely lower your scores so you would only make a bad situation worse by applying for a loan or credit card that you have no chance of being approved for.
Know the qualitative descriptions of your score such as "Great", "Fair", "A" or "C" as well as how your score relates to the general population's. Unlike the free credit scores you'll receive under the new rule, good sources for credit scores will give you a description of your scores such as "Great", "Fair", or "Bad" or a letter grade (A-F). They also often give a percentile (such as "your credit score is better than 60% of consumers"). Unfortunately, credit scores are not available entirely free with no strings attached. You can get them essentially for free with a free trial of a credit monitoring service. We highly recommend both Identity Guard Total Protection and PrivacyGuard, which offer scores and reports from all three bureaus, detailed explanations of your scores, advice on how to improve your scores, ongoing score and report updates, lots of additional identity theft protection features, and a no-obligation, 30-day trial for free or $1. If you don't cancel before the trial period ends, you'll start being charged a monthly fee ($14.99 or $16.99 per month). 30 days should be plenty of time to figure out if you think it's worth the price. You can also purchase your credit scores for a fee from somewhere like myfico.com, which sells your actual Equifax and TransUnion FICO scores for $19.95 each (so $39.90 for both). The main issues we have with purchasing from myfico are the high price and the fact that you cannot purchase your Experian FICO score. We recommend you know all three scores.
Never rely on the free credit score that lenders are required to provide you when turning you down for a loan or giving you a sub-optimal rate to be the full picture of your credit. That free score is one piece of a much larger puzzle. We highly recommend you get all three scores and explanations from a reputable provider.
Do look at the negative factors affecting your score that lenders who turned you down or gave you a sub-optimal rate are required to provide you. In our opinion, this is probably the most valuable information you'll receive in this new notice. These factors will offer a great starting point for how you can improve your credit.
Online Backup vs. Cloud Storage
July 19th, 2011 - Posted by Sarah
Several large companies have rolled out cloud storage products recently: Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Apps for Business (of which cloud storage is only a part), Windows Live SkyDrive, and Apple iCloud, which isn't available until fall. On NextAdvisor, we review online backup services, some of which can also be classified as cloud storage. Let's use SugarSync, the most cloud-like of the online backup services we review, as an example. What's the difference? Which is best? Let's find out.
Starting Monthly Price
- Amazon: Free with account
- Google: $5
- Windows: Free with account
- Apple: Free with iOS on iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch
- SugarSync: $4.99
GB of Storage Included
- Amazon: 5GB
- Google: 1GB
- Windows: 25GB, individual files limited to 100MB
- Apple: 5GB
- SugarSync: 30GB
Data Security
- Amazon: SSL encryption; only eight devices allowed to access your music via Cloud Player
- Google: advanced capabilities and expanded limits for other Google products, such as Gmail and Google Calendar; SSL enforcement for secure HTTPS access
- Windows: configured by permissions set by the user; all content is marked as "public" by default
- Apple: might not allow previous data to be uploaded if not purchased with or created using an Apple product; only allows sharing of calendars;
- SugarSync: triple-encrypted; optional passwords for shared storage
Additional Features
- Amazon: Amazon Cloud Player for listening to music files, especially MP3s downloaded from Amazon
- Google: part of Google Apps for Business, so cloud storage limited to Google Docs
- Windows: Word Doc collaboration even if you don't have Microsoft Office; simple sharing to social networks
- Apple: keeps email, contacts, apps, and calendars up-to-date across all your Apple devices; pushes files to all of your Apple devices; no data encryption
- SugarSync: backs up external drives; mobile apps allow you to stream remotely stored music, view documents, and upload photos to SugarSync account
Bottom Line
While each cloud storage service has unique features, none of them backs up your computer automatically; you must manually add new files to store in the cloud. This is the main advantage to SugarSync: You can schedule automatic backups of your computer after you tell SugarSync which folders to back up. Windows and Google allow you to work on your documents in the cloud without saving to your computer first, but because you keep your data not only in the cloud but also on your computer when you use online backup, you'll be able to work on it even when you're not connected to the Internet.
SugarSync starts at $4.99 a month for 30GB of storage space, which works out to $0.17/GB. Only Google has a pricier option, but Google's cloud storage is not the focus of its business apps package. However, the price is worth the other features as well as the ability to have a lot of space; SugarSync starts at 30GB, but the highest anyone else (Windows) goes is 25GB. You can use SugarSync across multiple platforms, unlike iCloud, which only works on Apple devices. SugarSync has better file security, so you know no one can see your data unless you want them to. The mobile app is unique—you must be on your computer connected to the Internet to acces most cloud storage services.
Other online backup options with similar features include SpiderOak and Mozy. If you only need to worry about one computer's data, we suggest looking into Carbonite.
Cloud storage can be helpful for data you can replace if necessary, but if you really need to keep your hard drive's files safe, secure, and accessible, SugarSync is the way to go.
United MileagePlus® Explorer and Continental Airlines OnePass® Plus launch
July 19th, 2011 - Posted by Tasha
Today marks the launch date of 2 new travel credit cards from Chase; the United MileagePlus® Explorer and the Continental Airlines OnePass® Plus. Since United and Continental have recently merged companies, both cards offer a myriad a great benefits that apply to both United and Continental flights.
Both cards offer the same reward payouts—earn 2 miles per $1 spent on United and Continental flights and 1 mile per $1 spent on everything else. You'll also receive perks ranging from 2 annual complimentary passes to the United Club to checking your first bag free on Continental and United flights. To learn more about these cards and the other travel credit cards we review take a look at our travel card comparison page.
I want to purchase Carbonite. What is the coupon code for the 10% discount?
July 18th, 2011 - Posted by Sarah
The following is an actual user-submitted question:
Q. I want to purchase Carbonite. What is the coupon code for the 10% discount?
A. You don't need one! All you have to do is follow any link from NextAdvisor to Carbonite, and the 10% discount will be applied automatically.
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