Thanksgiving is behind us now and I hope everybody enjoyed the day with friends and family. Christmas and the New Year will be here before we know it. I just sent in my orders for 2008 calendars and hopefully I’ll get them out prior to the New Year.

One sad note to end the year on, Carl Powell, our newsletter distributor, lost his beloved sister, Sheralyn, to Cancer recently. I have expressed my condolences to Carl and his family and I thought others, in case they haven’t heard, might like to do the same. Carl’s sister was somewhat younger than he and they were extremely close. I told him he could delay delivering the November newsletter, but he said he felt better when working and I know I’d feel the same.

I saw an article in last week’s newspaper, I found extremely interesting and very timely, and I had planned to include it in this month’s issue, but unfortunately I lost it. The article addressed the potential purchases of properties going on the auction block as a result of mortgage foreclosure. We have all read the legal announcements in the paper stating that a specific property will be sold at auction on a certain date in the future if the loans are not satisfied by the mortgagee. Many times the outstanding loan looks so low that it seems like it would be a steal to obtain the property, at anywhere near the outstanding level. Well, that’s exactly right, in almost all cases, the borrower finds a way to clear the debt or the Lender takes ownership of the property in settlement of the debt and the property never goes to auction. I went to many auctions, usually finding myself to be the only one there, before I figured out what was happening.

These days more and more home owners are putting their properties up for sale before they get to the foreclosure situation and often these properties are better buys. The homes are usually in far better condition than the ones being foreclosed on and they may be priced at or below the existing mortgage level, “Short Sale”. Our Multiple Listing Service, MLS, gives Realtors the ability to search out such homes and provide potential Buyer’s with up to date information on homes in specific cities and neighborhoods. This is a great time to buy and there are some real bargains available. Waiting until prices start to rise will be too late, so if you have been thinking about investing in real estate, please give me a call and I can start a search for you.

This in from Lisa Massacani, Volunteer Coordinator with the Long Beach Police Department

TEN TIPS FOR SAFE AND PRIVATE HOLIDAY SHOPPING

As the holidays approach, consumers are more likely to be visiting crowded stores and malls. Scam artists and fraudsters know this, so they are likely to be lurking there too. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is pleased to offer these helpful tips to protect yourself during this often hectic holiday season:

1. Clean out your wallet, purse, or pocketbook. Remove unnecessary credit cards, debit cards, your Social Security card, and other unneeded documents that could compromise your identity if lost or stolen while shopping. Keep them locked up in a safe place. Pickpockets will be out in force during the holiday season. The more documents you carry with you, the more difficult and time-consuming it will be to report and recover from your loss. If the worst should happen, and your wallet, purse, or pocketbook is stolen, see our “Identity Theft Victims Guide” at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm

2. Make sure that the credit card receipts that you receive from merchants do not contain your full account number. Under federal law, all electronically printed credit and debit card receipts must shorten (truncate) the account information to no more than the last five digits of the card number. The receipt must also not include the card’s expiration date. This only applies to electronically printed receipts, not to handwritten or imprinted ones. It does not apply to transaction records retained by the merchant.

3. Some states have laws that dictate what kind of information merchants cannot ask for or write down when a consumer pays with a check or credit card. For example, in California, when a consumer pays with a credit card, the merchant cannot record any personal information other than what is on the front of the credit card. When a consumer pays by check, the merchant cannot record the credit card number. For more information and exceptions to the law, see “Paying by Credit Card or Check: What Can Merchants Ask?” http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs15-mt.htm

4. Be aware of a store’s return policy. Some retailers require a state issued ID or license when you return or exchange merchandise. Typically, stores swipe the shopper's driver's license when a return is being made, and if the store's “return limit” is exceeded, the customer's return is denied Retailers do this to keep better track of possible return fraud. Some retailers maintain their own database while others use shared databases. A number of national merchants outsource the collection of return and exchange data to a company called The Return Exchange. If you make repeated returns or exchanges, you may not be able to do so again at a later date.

5. If you decide to purchase a gift card, be aware of expiration dates, fees, and what will happen if the card is lost. Many states have passed laws regulating gift cards. Often these laws set the same standards for gift certificates, the paper equivalent of gift cards. However, these laws generally do not give you a right to recover from a lost or stolen card. Rather, most state laws cover such things as service fees, expiration dates, and exempt the cards from unclaimed property laws. For a list of state laws governing gift cards, visit the National Conference of State Legislators’ Web site, www.ncsl.org/programs/banking/ giftCardsandCerts.htm .

In California, most gift cards cannot have expiration dates or service fees. However, the California gift card law is complex and does not apply to all gift cards. For additional information, please see our online information on Gift Cards, Prepaid Cards, and Stored Value Cards at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs32-paperplastic.htm#5

6. Don’t use a debit or check card to pay for your purchases. These cards typically put consumers at much greater risk than credit cards because they offer fewer consumer protections in the event of a loss. And because these cards access funds directly from your bank account, your money will remain missing while you and your bank sort out any theft, which could mean bounced checks, late fees, and numerous other problems. Some crooks have learned to use “skimming” devices to steal card information off merchant card-swipe machines. Debit or check cards pose a substantially greater risk to consumers in the event that a card swiping device is “skimmed.” We discuss the shortcomings of debit cards in great detail in our guide “Paper or Plastic: What's the Best Way to Pay?” at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs32-paperplastic.htm

7. Don’t forget to take simple precautions to protect your personal safety. Men can carry their wallets in a front pocket, which is less susceptible to pick pocketing. Women can place their purse strap over their head and across their chest. When shopping at night, park in a well-lit area. Be careful getting into and out of your car at the shopping mall -- people are sometimes targeted by muggers when doing so.

8. When shopping online, make sure that the Web site uses encryption technology before you provide your personal information. Encryption scrambles the information you send, such as your credit card number, in order to prevent computer hackers from obtaining it en route. You can tell when you are on a secure web page several ways. If you look at the top of your screen in the address bar where the Web site address is displayed, you should see Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. The "s" that is displayed after "http" indicates that web site is secure. You may not see the "s" until you are actually on the order page on the Web site. Another way to determine if a Web page is secure is to look for a closed padlock displayed at the bottom of your screen. If that lock is open, you should assume it is not a secure site. Finally, if you use the Firefox browser, the entire address bar will turn yellow if you are on an encrypted page. In Internet Explorer 7, the address bar will turn green if the page is encrypted.

9. The safest way to shop on the Internet is with a credit card. In the event something goes wrong, you are protected under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act. You have the right to dispute charges on your credit card, and you can withhold payments during a creditor investigation. When it has been determined that your credit was used without authorization, you are only responsible for the first $50 in charges. You are rarely asked to pay this charge. We recommend that you obtain one credit card that you use only for online payments to make it easier to detect wrongful credit charges. Make sure your credit card is a true credit card and not a debit card, a check card. A debit or check card exposes your bank account to thieves. Your checking account could be wiped out in minutes. Further, debit and check cards are not protected by federal law to the extent that credit cards are. For additional information, please see our online guide “Paper or Plastic: What's the Best Way to Pay?” at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs32-paperplastic.htm**.

10. Finally, be sure to check out a Web site’s privacy policy before providing any personal information online. You can also learn what type of information is gathered by the Web site, and how it is — or is not — shared with others by reading its privacy policy. A link to the privacy policy is often found at the bottom of the site’s home page. You can also look for online merchants who are members of a seal-of-approval program that sets voluntary guidelines for privacy- related practices, such as TRUSTe (www.truste.org), Verisign (www.verisign.com), or BBBonline (www.bbbonline.org).

For additional information, please see our Fact Sheet “Online Shopping Tips: E-Commerce and You” at http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs23-shopping.htm**.

** I went to the websites mentioned and have copies of the lists suggested, please call me if you would like a copy.

HOLIDAY GIFTS with Purpose at El Dorado Nature Center

Have the holidays become days of endless shopping in crowded stores trying to buy gifts for those who have everything? If so, the El Dorado Nature Center invites you to Discover Alternative Giving. This innovative gift fair runs from November 23rd through December 31st on Tuesdays through Fridays from 10:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

It’s a great opportunity to learn how you can honor friends and family this holiday season, while supporting ecological projects in our local and global communities dedicated to improving the earth and human life. Visitors will also be able to purchase unique items that support local artists, as well as various ecological and philanthropic projects.