 10
things the VA should do today about ID theft
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"To care for him who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow and his orphan."
This is the stated mission of the Department of Veterans
Affairs. So far I am not impressed with the department's response
to the recent theft of data containing information that jeopardizes
the identities of the some 26.5 million people who rely on the VA.
I am not a veteran. However, I have had the pleasure
and honor of counseling a number of them during my 15 years as head
of a nonprofit organization that provided financial counseling at
the Naval Education and Training Center at Newport, R.I., as well
as at the submarine base in Groton, Conn. I have never met such
a group of idealistic, patriotic -- and financially naive -- young
men and women. They give their all and get very little in return.
The VA needs to do more to help fix a mess that they might not have
caused, but for which they are certainly responsible. Here, in my
expert opinion, is my list of 10 things that should be done immediately:
1. Go before Congress and
demand that its members implement a national data-freeze option
for service personnel. Many states offer this protection to anyone
living within their borders. The VA should demand this level of
protection for our veterans.
2. Stop discounting the problem.
Explain in detail the dangers of identity theft beyond simple credit
issues. Outline all the steps of action a concerned veteran should
take.
3. Raise the reward for
the return of the stolen information from an incredibly low $50,000
to at least $1 million or the market value of the stolen identities.
4. Arrange for a free credit
report monitoring service that scans all three major credit
bureaus and public record monitoring for up to seven years. In addition,
allow individual veterans, who wish to monitor their own credit,
the option of personally ordering credit reports monthly with compensation
for the expense.
5. Create an identity theft passport
that identifies the person as a victim of identity theft
and send it to all veterans. The passport will be used to help establish
innocence of any crime related to the theft of identity with law
enforcement, creditors and credit bureaus.
6. Provide independent identity
theft insurance coverage as part of the veterans' package
of benefits.
7. Make available free credit
counseling and education services to those who want it.
8. Team up with local nonprofit
organizations and sponsor identity theft information workshops
in community locations across the nation. Include specific action
plans for those who are victims of identity theft.
9. Set aside funds in
a trust to cover the expenses of veterans whose identities are compromised
and need to spend time and money to correct the problem.
10. Communicate to each
veteran individually in written form, and in as many languages as
may be needed, explaining in detail what happened, how they are
affected and specifically what information of theirs was compromised
by the data breach.
If Veterans Affairs would do the above 10 things,
it would go a long way toward alleviating the real and potential
problems veterans face as a result of the data breach. I plan to
write in more detail regarding these 10 items in future columns.
The Debt Adviser, Steve Bucci, is the president
of Money Management International Financial Education Foundation
and the author of Credit
Repair Kit for Dummies. Visit MMI
for additional debt advice or to ask a question of the Debt Adviser
go to the "Ask the
Experts" page and select "debt" as your topic.
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