Thousands Of Pennsylvania Teachers Getting Letters About Personal Identity Breach

More than 300,000 Pennsylvania school teachers are getting letters telling them they are eligible for free credit monitoring due to a security incident that occurred last month involving personal identity information on a state Education Department database. 1 million insurance reimbursement policy, and identify theft recovery services. The letters are a follow-up response to a warning the state issued last month.

On Feb. 23, the Department of Administration, which handles technology for the executive branch, issued a news release about the problem. It said that between 12 p.m. 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, a Department of Administration employee had accidentally set up the database to allow anyone who logged into the information system to see other registered users’ personal information.

There was no evidence the error was caused by hacking, the news release said. “We are acting swiftly to notify stakeholders about what happened and contact individuals whose information may be affected,” Secretary of Administration Sharon Minnich said in a statement. On Wednesday, Nicole Reigelman, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said ID Experts got the contract under a pre-existing agreement with the department. It took awhile for the state and company to determine whose records may have been posted by mistake. The follow-up warning letters now are going out to about 360,000 educators per the state’s Breach of Personal Information Act, she said.

And that's what I want to share with you today. Here are ten things every first-time buyer should know about the credit, mortgage loans, and the relationship between them. 1. Your credit score does not come out of thin air. It is based on your financial behavior. Good financial behavior will help you earn a good score.

So don't blame the credit-reporting bureaus for your score. It comes from your own actions. 1 above, "good financial behavior" can be defined as paying your bills on time, managing your debt, and using credit sparingly. 3. There are several types of credit scores. Your FICO score is the one used by most lenders, so it's the one you should care about the most. This score will range from 300 to 850. Just like in high school, a higher score is better. 4. Mortgage lenders will look at several aspects of your financial condition when considering you for a loan.

Your credit score is one of the top-three factors. Your current debt and income levels also rank high on the list. 5. A higher score will help you (A) get approved for a mortgage loan and (B) secure a good / low interest rate on that loan. A low score will make it harder to do these things.

6. You actually have three different credit scores -- one produced by each of the three credit-reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. They do not always match. 7. At the time of this article publication, there is no way to get your credit score without paying a small fee for it. You will often see "free" scores offered on websites, but it will require you to sign up for some kind of credit-monitoring service.

Save your money and just get the scores. 8. You can get all three of your credit reports (different from your scores) for free, once per year. The government actually mandates this by law. 9. If your score is low, you can improve it by reducing your credit card balance, by paying all of your bills on time, and by fixing any errors on your credit reports.

There's a reason you hear this bit of advice all the time. 10. There's a lot of misinformation and confusion surrounding this topic. But it's not as complicated as some people make it out to be. Good financial activity leads to a good score. And the reverse is true for bad financial activity.

You are in complete control of your credit score -- nobody can improve it but you. I hope you found this lesson helpful, and I wish you well in your home buying efforts. If you'd like more information on this or any other home buying topic, please see the website listed below.