Liability Agreements

How often do you sign up for new services, credit cards, loans or accounts? Now tell me how many times you actually read through the entire liability agreement that accompanies that card or service. That’s what I thought, like most of us you may not take the time to read through those seemingly endless agreements that are filled with so much technical and legal mumbo jumbo that it just makes your head hurt.

And what about those online agreements? Do you generally scroll down to the bottom of them without reading a word, click the “I agree” button and then hit “continue”? Many of us do and unfortunately this is where we run into trouble later on once we have become an identity thief victim. I understand that at the time it may seem tedious and unnecessary to read through those agreements but perhaps in the future you might give it a second thought. Additionally, how familiar are you with your liability responsibilities in regards to your current bank accounts, credit cards, debit cards, telephone and cellular service providers, utility providers and online PayPal, eBay and other similar accounts? Not too sure, are you? This might be the perfect opportunity to go back and look at those agreements once again. You may decide that having some of those particular accounts are not worth the price you may have to pay should you one day find yourself in unfortunate circumstances such as those that our three case studies did. Hopefully though as a result of your research you are able to determine that the financial institutions and various companies that you deal with place you as their customer, on the top of their priority list ensuring that you are well protected against identity theft incidences.