Since May is Older Americans Month, I decided to write about a topic that’s become a real issue in America. It makes me sad to say this, but unfortunately, we live in a world where senior citizens are often the target of financial fraud — elder abuse is a serious problem to watch out for.

This is addressed to the children and relatives of senior citizens, but it isn’t meant to exclude senior citizens from the discussion. However, whether you take some of these steps on your own depends on the mental and physical state of your relative. You’ll have to make the call, but if at all possible, it’s important to have your relative participate in the policing of his or her finances. If that’s not possible, then it’s even more important that you take the initiative to protect your loved one.

According to the FBI, seniors are targeted because they often have nest eggs, they come from a generation that was more trusting, and they’re often too proud to report the fraud. Another reason the elderly sometime hesitate to report they’ve been ripped off? They’re concerned their relatives might see this as a sign of declining mental capacity and they don’t want to lose their independence. Smart and unscrupulous thieves know all this, and try to exploit it.

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There’s so much advice on the Internet about what you need to do to protect your elderly relative against fraud. When you discover fraud, it can all be scary and quite confusing, so the FBI has come to the rescue with a comprehensive, yet easy-to-read, list detailing the different types of fraud and how to prevent them.

The scams range from funeral and cemetery fraud to fraudulent anti-aging products. I suggest checking out this site so you can be more aware of the scams your loved one could be exposed to. The FBI has another page describing all kinds of Internet fraud that you should check out. These scams range from investment fraud to the Nigerian Letter or “419″ fraud.

One of the most common types of fraud against the elderly is stealing credit card information. The thief then goes on a spending spree and hopes no one, including the senior citizen, is looking out for this activity.

Here are a few simple steps you can take to make sure your loved one isn’t the victim of credit card fraud:

Talk to your relative about email scams: You can’t be around your relative constantly, so take the time to explain why you should never give out your credit card number to buy a product that’s sold via email. These scams often promise a great product — anti-aging, perhaps? — but they need your credit card information. This type of scam also happens via phone.  Seniors get a call and they’re offered a new product that promises youthful energy. Once they have your loved one interested, they ask for a credit card number to seal the deal.

[Related Article: Act Fast: A Hotline for Elderly Financial Fraud Victims]

Keep an eye on caregivers: Maybe your mom is still at home and has home healthcare a few days a week. Or maybe she’s in a nursing facility and there are nurses and various medical assistants everywhere. Hopefully, your parent is exposed to professionals who are trustworthy. Just keep in mind that there are way too many reports of caregivers using the credit card of the people they’ve sworn to take care of. It’s horrible that someone would stoop so low. But it happens all the time.

If you can, it’s best to visit frequently and shred any mail that has personal information on it. If your mom has credit card accounts, you can view account activity online with her. You can even opt out of paper statements altogether. That way, you won’t have credit card account numbers within easy reach of whomever is in the room. Credit card fraud could still occur, of course, but by checking accounts online several times a week, you’ll notice if something fishy pops up on her statement.

Even if you can’t visit often, you can still check her credit card accounts online every week from your own home. But ask for her permission to make sure she doesn’t feel like you’re invading her privacy.

Keep an eye on other family members: I hate to say this, but often it’s family members who rob their own parents or grandparents. If you have a family member with issues, such as drug addiction or gambling debt, then that’s a red flag and warrants keeping an eye on things. When someone is desperate for money, they can justify taking it from anyone. They’re counting on the fact that no one will notice. You can prove them wrong by keeping on top of credit card account activity.

Look at the mail. You can learn a lot from the mail. Is your loved one getting letters from “charities” asking for a donation via her credit card? If she’s getting letters from organizations, she may have sent money to them previously. As suggested earlier, looking at credit card accounts online is a good way to make sure she isn’t authorizing payments to fraudulent entities.

Pay attention to new friends: The National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse recommends keeping track of any new “best friends.” It may all be very innocent, but if it’s sudden and there’s an age difference, this may be a red flag that someone is planning to commit fraud.

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Image: Alex E. Proimos, via Flickr

This week the experts from Credit.com contributed to a wide range of publications on subjects including identity theft, credit scores, credit cards and debt. Check out some of the highlights…

Adam Levin on Identity Theft

Credit.com co-founder and chairman Adam Levin spoke to WABC’s Stacy Sager about what people can do to protect themselves if their credit card numbers have been stolen. Sager reported on hundreds of card numbers, along with names and addresses published to a public website. “The website was stumbled upon by Sean Herskovitz, who never expected to find what he did when he Googled his girlfriend’s name,” Sager reported. “He was shocked to find her credit card information for sale, along with her Social Security number and address.” She spoke to Adam in Times Square, downstairs from Credit.com’s New York office. “The information could be just sitting out there for over a year,” he said, “for people to grab and use.”  @staceysager7 @Adam_K_Levin @eyewitnessabc7

Gerri Detweiler on Family Debt
Credit.com’s Director of Consumer Education Gerri Detweiler spoke to USA Today’s Christine Dugas about a University of Michigan study which reveals that families have more unsecured debt than savings. Unemployment and a tight economy have forced many to drain savings, run up their credit cards, or both. “They still have debt to deal with before they can take care of things like saving more money or paying for their kids’ college education,” Gerri told USA Today. @christinedugas @USATODAY @Gerridetweiler

Beverly Harzog on Credit Cards for College Grads
Credit.com’s credit card expert Beverly Harzog spoke with CBS Philly’s Jim Donovan about the pitfalls that face recent college graduates when it comes to credit card debt. ”When it comes to credit, the most important thing when you’re starting out is, yes it’s fine to get a credit card because it is important to build a good credit history, but pay that balance off every month. You really have to do that,” Beverly said in the report. @jimdonovancbs3 @CBSPhilly

Gerri Detweiler on Credit Scores
Gerri contributed to a couple of stories on PBS’s newish site for boomers, NextAvenue.org. Here’s an excerpt from “4 Lessons to Improve Your Credit Score,” by Caroline Mayer:

Make sure all your medical bills have been paid, either by you or your health insurer (or both of you). ”It’s very easy for a payment to fall through the cracks and end up in collections,” says Detweiler. A 2003 Federal Reserve study found that more than half of all collection accounts noted on credit reports involve unpaid medical bills. “This is a huge problem,” Detweiler says.

She’s also in a NextAvenue piece by Richard Eisenberg titled “It’s Time to Make Credit Scores Truly Free.“ @NextAvenue @richeis315

To err is human and to forgive is divine, but some consumers find it harder to be godly when it comes to their money.

The Temkin Group, a business that consults on and researches customer experiences, has done a new survey of 10,000 consumers to determine which businesses customers are most and least likely to forgive. The 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings shows a mixed bag for banks and credit unions.

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While USAA, a bank that works with military members and their families, took the top spot as the business that participants would be most likely to forgive, other financial services companies didn’t fare as well. In fact, when looking at industry averages across the study, credit card companies had the lowest forgiveness rating out of 18 industries while grocery chains and retailers had the highest.

However, consumers as a whole are more forgiving than they were last year, when Temkin conducted the Forgiveness Ratings for the first time. Banks, investment firms and credit card issuers all saw a double-digit jump in their industry forgiveness rating from 2011 to 2012.

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So what has caused this increase in consumer kindness? The Temkin Group didn’t offer much in the way of analysis of these numbers, but it could be that time heals all wounds and the more distance consumers get from the Great Recession, the more forgiving they will become of the financial institutions that were blamed for the meltdown.

Image: Swanksalot, via Flickr

Millions of Americans are still struggling financially, but likely do not want to pass the kind of money problems and related stresses they feel onto their kids. One of the best ways to help youngsters avoid these problems in the future is by taking the time to instill good, basic advice about money while they’re young.

Even if consumers have had trouble sticking to what they know to be good credit practices in the past, it can still be extremely helpful to kids to learn the basics of smart account management at a relatively young age, according to a report from Tulsa, Oklahoma, television station KJRH. Taking the time to sit down with kids, whether it’s regularly or just once or twice, and explain the best ways to handle a credit card account when they’re grown up so that they don’t wind up with large amounts of high-interest debt can have a significant positive impact on their financial lives.

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One of the most important things for kids to learn about credit card use is the importance of keeping their balance low, the report said. As a consequence, it might be a good idea for parents to teach them that it’s vital to keep spending so low that the balance on their card can be paid off in full every month. This is important because it won’t lead to interest charges that end up costing them more money, but will still grant them significant financial flexibility.

Further, parents should educate their kids on the importance of making sure all bills are paid on time and in full, the report said. While credit card users should always try to make more than the minimum payment on their account as a means of more quickly reducing their balance, sometimes it’s not always possible. However, this should never be the reason that cardholders miss a due date or don’t meet the minimum payment required, because this will likely lead to costly penalty fees and interest rates being applied to their balance.

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Finally, it might be a good idea for parents to talk to their kids about the importance of shopping around for credit cards instead of taking the first one offered to them. This will help them identify the best possible accounts available to them and put them in a good position to borrow responsibly.

A new report on economic mobility, the ability of those in certain income ranges to either increase or decrease their earnings, shows that moving out of your home state could give you more economic advantages.

Increased economic mobility is seen most often in states along the Atlantic Seaboard and New England, and lags significantly in many southern states, according to a report from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project. The research judged economic mobility three ways: the ability of state residents to increase their earnings over time and upward or downward relative mobility.

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States that ranked above the national average in two or more of these categories were considered to have “better” mobility, the report said. Those which were below average in two or more were considered to have “worse” mobility.

Maryland, New Jersey and New York were ahead of the curve on all three measures, while Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, along with Michigan and Utah, came in above average on two measures, the report said. Meanwhile, Louisiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina were subpar for all three measures, and Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas were considered below average for two of those factors.

The study found that the ability of consumers to move geographically does not affect the differences in state-to-state economic mobility, the report said. However, when it comes to individuals, the ability to move to a different state than the one in which they were born has a positive impact on their ability to increase their personal income, at least relative to those who stayed in their home state.

“When it comes to achieving the American Dream, it matters where you live,” said Erin Currier, project manager of Pew’s Economic Mobility Project. “Understanding that mobility rates differ by state is the first step towards helping policy makers pinpoint what enhances their residents’ mobility.”

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Economic mobility may also have a positive impact on consumers’ ability to handle various lines of credit. The more they take home, the better position they will likely be in to make sure all their bills are paid on time and in full. This will help them to avoid costly late payment fees, high credit card balances and the large amount of damage their credit scores can suffer as a result of these financial missteps.

Image: Robert Couse-Baker, via Flickr