A Borrower Story 

AARP has recently released a super helpful booklet, the AARP HomeFit Guide. This guide includes all kinds of information to "help people stay in the home they love by turning where they live into a 'lifelong home,' suitable for themselves and anyone in their household." This easy to read booklet is packed full of design element ideas and safety features, do-it-yourself how-to's, and other resources. Suggestions are presented in a room-by-room format (what might you need in the kitchen that could be helpful?) and a needs-based format (need modifications to help you see more clearly?) and also include information about who to consult for help and how to save money on house-related expenses.

Download your copy of the AARP HomeFit Guide here.

Contacting your legislator can seem like a daunting task, but remember, legislators are citizens just like you and they are here to support and advocate for you. While lawmaking is a big part of their job and hearing from you helps them understand what issues are important to the people they represent, legislators can also support you in other ways. Legislators and their staff can help you with everything from navigating the process of getting SSI to acting as an advocate to help you get benefits from the Veteran's Administration.

You can contact your legislator via phone, letter, fax, email, or in-person. Find out who your local legislator is and get their contact information here.

Here are some tips about contacting your legislator and their staff:

• Know and understand the issue and/or bills you will be addressing.
• Be specific, concise and polite in your communications.
• Keep it simple.
• Identify your most important point(s) about the issue and stay on topic.
• Personalize your point with a story to put a face to the issue. Keep the story brief.
• Identify yourself by name, address, and district. Include a phone number; your legislator may want clarification or further information on the issue you've addressed and/or regarding your family story.
• Thank your legislator, or their staff person for their time and attention.

To keep up-to-date on issues in the disability community, check out the Policy Information Exchange (PIE) newsletter. 

4 Identity Theft Prevention Tips

At PATF we review individual credit reports every day. Occasionally, we come across someone who has experienced identity theft. This form of theft is quite serious and can negatively affect one's credit standing for years. Below are a few useful tips to help deter identity theft.

1. Become familiar with your credit
   • Monitor your credit reports and make sure they are accurate. You can do this with credit monitoring services such as www.creditkarma.com, which can alert you by email to changes in your credit report.
   • Access your free credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com.
2. Passwords and PINs
   • Choose words and numbers that no one would be able to guess.
   • Don't use the same password for all of your accounts. Passwords should vary from account to account.
   • Avoid easily identifiable PINs like a birth date, phone number, or the last four digits of your social security number.
   • Never store passwords on your computer; computers are hackable. If you need to keep this information digitally you can store it on a USB Drive or CD.
3. Your trash is vulnerable
   • Before throwing anything away, make sure to shred credit card offers, bank statements, returned checks and any sensitive information.
4. Beware of phishing scams
   • Phishing scams may show up as seemingly harmless emails or phone calls asking you to "verify" certain things such as passwords, account numbers, credit, or Social Security details. Emails seeking this sort of information should be an immediate red flag for you.
   • Do not respond to these. Responding to these unsolicited emails/phone calls verifies your existence to the scammer and can make them more persistent.