County National Bank

Nico Leyva writes for Nerdwallet, a consumer finance blog that promotes financial literacy and looks for the best ways to save you money.

Kids are fickle creatures. They change their minds without a moment’s notice, and oftentimes it can seem like they are making life difficult on purpose. Fortunately, this is just a part of the learning process—children are testing and playing with the world around them, trying to understand how it works. But they are also impatient, and constantly in need of immediate attention. Which is why many children have trouble understanding the concept of saving. When they want something, they want it right now!

A big step in teaching your children about saving is helping them develop patience. Patience is key to the adult banking life, and the lack thereof is a major reason for personal financial failure. People can be impulsive, and spend their money recklessly. Which is why it is very important to start learning personal responsibility at a young age.

More money means more options. An easy way to make saving interesting is with an incentive. Your child could spend their money on candy, but if they save up they could buy that skateboard, or that basketball, or that videogame they want. Their options grow with each dollar they save. Point out that if they save enough, they could buy something really big—and with their own money! Sure, you tend to be the source of the money, but you’re teaching basic saving skills to your kids that will inform the rest of their lives.

Here are a few tips and tricks to get your kids excited about saving.

• Allowance saving program – Give your child a monthly or bi-weekly allowance and reward them with a fun prize or bonus dollar if they manage to save any of it by the time the next allowance rolls around. Remind them often that there is something special waiting for them if they save. You’ll know that it’s working when they end each month with more than they started.
• A good, old-fashioned piggy bank – A piggy bank is a powerful motivator. Nobody is happy when theirs is empty. Before you know it, your child will be lunging for loose change to add to their collection. They’ll also be less inclined to use the money in their piggy bank, at least until it’s too full to add any more. Then, you can give them the option of finding a bigger piggy bank or spending some of their savings. Always encourage them to save at least a little bit.
• Savings account – If you’re worried about the security of your child’s money, you can deposit the amount in your savings account. Your child can keep track of their savings on a worksheet, so they know how much they have and where it is. Tracking their savings reminds kids the money belongs to them and also gives them an early start to learning how to balance a checkbook. Put the worksheet on the fridge and offer prizes each time your child reaches a particular saving level ($5, $10, $20, etc.).
• Online games – Another way to make saving fun is through computer games. Online money games challenge children to make decisions and think on their feet. Your kids won’t be upset, because these games put fun first. They won’t even realize they are learning about saving and money management. Plus, they’ll gain valuable math and reasoning skills just by playing.

FDIC Deposit Insurance Coverage

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency of the United States government that protects the funds depositors place in banks and savings associations. FDIC insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. It is funded entirely by the banking industry, as banks pay quarterly insurance premiums into the fund. Since the FDIC was established in 1933, no depositor has ever lost a penny of FDIC-insured funds.

FDIC insurance covers all deposit accounts, including checking and savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit. FDIC insurance does not cover other financial products and services that banks may offer, such as stocks, bonds, mutual fund shares, life insurance policies, annuities, or securities.

The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.

The FDIC provides separate coverage for deposits held in different account ownership categories. Depositors may qualify for more coverage if they have funds in different ownership categories and all FDIC requirements are met.

FDIC insurance coverage limits by account ownership category include $250,000 per owner for single accounts (owned by one person) and certain retirement accounts, including IRAs. For joint accounts owned by two or more persons, the coverage limit is $250,000 per co-owner. For revocable trust accounts, the limit is $250,000 per owner per beneficiary up to 5 beneficiaries (more coverage available with 6 or more beneficiaries subject to specific conditions and requirements). For irrevocable trust accounts, it’s $250,000 for the non-contingent, ascertainable interest of each beneficiary.

The coverage limit for corporation, partnership, and unincorporated association accounts is $250,000 for the non-contingent, ascertainable interest of each beneficiary. For employee benefit plan accounts, the coverage is $250,000 for the non-contingent, ascertainable interest of each plan participant. Government accounts are covered for $250,000 per official custodian (more coverage available subject to specific conditions).

If you’d like to calculate your deposit insurance coverage, the FDIC has a calculator/estimator on their website that’s easy to use. It’s called EDIE (Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator) and can be accessed at

• www.fdic.gov/edie

  . If you have any questions about coverage limits and requirements, you can visit www.fdic.gov, call toll-free at 1-877-ASK-FDIC, or you can always contact your financial institution.

By now, you are most likely aware of the term “ID Theft”, or “Identification Theft” that refers to fraudsters obtaining your personal and financial information for illegal purposes – mainly to steal your money.  Are you aware of Medical Identity Theft?  Medical ID Theft can be just as damaging.

Medical identity theft occurs when a thief uses your name or health insurance numbers to see a doctor, get prescription drugs, file claims with your health insurance provider, or get other care.  If the thief’s health information is mixed with yours, your treatment, insurance and payment records, and credit report may be affected.

If you see signs of medical identity theft, order copies of your medical records and check for mistakes.  You have the right to see your records and have any mistakes corrected.  Be sure to read your medical and insurance statements regularly and completely.  They can show warning signs of identity theft.  Read the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statement or Medicare Summary Notice that your health plan sends after treatment.  Check the name of the provider, the date of service, and the service provided.  Do the claims match the care you received?  If you see a mistake, contact your health care plan provider and report the problem.

Other signs of medical identity theft include a bill for medical services you didn’t receive, a call from a debt collector about a medical debt you don’t owe, medical collection notices on your credit report that you don’t recognize, a notice from your health care plan provider saying you reached your benefit limit, and a denial of insurance because your medical records show a condition you don’t have.

If you know a thief has used your medical information, get copies of your records.  Federal law gives you the right to know what’s in your medical files.  Check them for errors.  Contact each doctor, clinic, hospital, pharmacy, laboratory, health plan, and location where a thief may have used your information.  You may need to pay for copies of your records.  If you know when the thief used your information, ask for records from just that time.  Keep copies of your postal and email correspondence and a record of your phone calls, conversations, and activities with your health care plan provider and medical providers.

To ask for corrections to your medical records, write to your health care plan provider and medical providers and explain which information is not accurate.  Send copies of the documents that support your position.  You can include a copy of your medical record and circle the disputed items.  Ask the provider to correct or delete each error.  Keep the original documents.  Send your letter by certified mail and ask for a return receipt.

Some ways to protect your medical records include being wary if someone offers you free health services or products, but requires you to provide your health plan ID number.  Medical identity thieves may pretend to work for an insurance company, doctors’ offices, clinic, or pharmacy to try to trick you into revealing sensitive information.  Don’t share medical or insurance information by phone or email unless you initiated the contact and know who you’re dealing with.  Keep paper and electronic copies of your medical and insurance records in a safe place.  Shred outdated health insurance forms, prescription and physician statements, and the labels from prescription bottles before you throw them out.  And finally, before you provide sensitive personal information to a website that asks for your Social Security number, insurance account numbers, or details about your health, find out why it’s needed, how it will be kept safe, whether it will be shared, and with whom.

If you are one of the hundreds of millions of people using social networks, there’s a good chance you’re linked to your long lost childhood best friend, your college roommate, your boss, and your significant other through an online relationship.  The information you share with your online contacts allows you to keep in touch without much effort.  But who else is looking at that information?  And what are they doing with it?

Online social networks are websites that allow users to build connections and relationships to other Internet users.  Social networks store information remotely, rather than on a user’s personal computer.  Social networking can be used to keep in touch with friends, make new contacts, and find people with similar interests and ideas.  Research shows that the number of adult Internet users who have a social networking profile more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2008.  By October 2012, the social network Facebook had exceeded a billion active accounts worldwide.

There are others, besides friends and acquaintances, interested in the information people post on social networks.  Identity thieves, scam artists, debt collectors, stalkers, and corporations looking for a market advantage are using social networks to gather information about consumers.  Companies that operate social networks are themselves collecting a variety of data about their users, both to personalize the services for the users and to sell to advertisers.

There are two kinds of information that can be gathered about a user from a social network:  information that is shared and information gathered through electronic tracking.  Information a user shares may include photos, age, gender, education, employment, status updates, contacts, interests, and geographical location.  Social networks don’t necessarily guarantee the security of the information uploaded to a profile, even when the posts are set to be private.

Information can be gathered through electronic tracking using “cookies”, which are short strings of text stored on the user’s hard drive.  Some of the purposes of cookies may include tracking the websites a user has viewed, storing information associated with specific websites (such as items in a shopping cart), tracking movement from one website to another, and building a profile around a user.  In fact, a study found that the unique identifying code assigned to users by social networks can be matched with behavior tracked by cookies.  This means that advertisers and others are able to use information gleaned from social networks to build a profile of a user’s life.

When posting information to a social network, a user probably expects authorized contacts to be able to view it.  But who else can see it, and what exactly is visible?  Entities that collect personal information for legal purposes include advertisers interested in personal information so they can better target their ads to those most likely to be interested in the product, and third-party software developers who incorporate information to personalize applications, such as online games that interact with the social network.

Those collecting personal information for illegal purposes are identity thieves who obtain personal information either based on information a user posts or that others post about the user, and other online criminals, such as people planning to scam or harass individuals, or infect computers with malware (malicious software placed ona computer without the knowledge of the owner).

Social networks that provide their services without user fees make a profit by selling advertising.  This is often done through behavioral advertising, also known as targeting.  This is the practice of tailoring advertisements to an individual’s personal interests.  This practice is appealing to marketers because targeted advertisements get better results.  They are also valuable to social networks as they can be sold at a higher price than regular ads. 

Some of the concerns regarding the largely unregulated behavioral advertising include:  consumers may not be aware that data is associated with their profiles, consumers may not be able to view the data (and so inaccuracies are not corrected), there are no maximum retention periods on data and no security requirements for the retention of data, and information about minors may be collected and used.

Jobseekers have increasingly turned to social networks to market themselves to potential employers.  However, an unprofessional social networking profile may turn off some potential employers.  As a general rule, before posting something on a social networking profile, imagine it displayed on a billboard on the side of a highway.  If you’re not comfortable with that, you may not want to post it at all.  On the flip side, social networks can increase networking opportunities, which may be helpful with the job hunt.

Criminals may use social networks to connect with potential victims.  Identity thieves use an individual’s personal information to pretend to be them – often for financial gain.  The information users post about themselves on social networks may make it possible for an identity thief to gather enough information to steal an identity.  In 2009, researchers published a study showing that it is possible to predict most and sometimes all of an individual’s 9-digit Social Security number using information gleaned from social networks and online databases.

There are some practical tips to help users minimize the privacy risks when using social networks.  Keep in mind that these tips are not 100% effective – any time you choose to engage in social networking sites, you are taking certain risks. 

When registering an account, use a strong password different from the passwords you use to access other sites.  If you’re asked to provide security questions, use information that others would not know about you.  Never provide a work-associated email to a social network, especially when signing up.  Review the privacy policy and terms of service before signing up for an account.  Become familiar with the privacy settings – make sure your default privacy setting is “friends only” on Facebook.  Don’t share your birthday, age, or place of birth, as this information could be useful to identity thieves and to data mining companies.  Don’t post your address, phone number, or email address either.

Be cautious of pop-up windows and delete cookies, including flash cookies, every time you leave a social networking site.  Don’t publicize vacation plans, especially the dates you’ll be traveling.  In the event that your social networking account is compromised, be sure to report it to the site immediately and alert your contacts.  Be sure to log off from social networking sites when you no longer need to be connected.  Common sense, caution, and skepticism are some of the strongest tools you have to protect yourself.

Your credit score is a three-digit number that is used to predict how you will pay your bills. The score ranges from 300-850 and is calculated using your credit history information from your credit report.

When you make an application for credit, the creditor or lender uses your credit score to quickly make a credit/no-credit decision. This same decision can very well be made by simply viewing your credit report, but the credit score makes decision-making easier and less subjective.

While there are several different versions of the credit score, the most commonly used version is the FICO score. Developed by the Fair Isaac Company, the FICO score is used by many creditors and lenders to decide whether or not to extend credit to you.

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