Well, of course. I have such friends too, but that's not what Jim's contemplating. He's contemplating using some homeless indigent he met on a street corner, who I wouldn't trust to hold my beer, much less my money.

The nominee plan has its merits, but it also has some downsides that people ought to at least be aware of so they can make a reasoned decision.

My use of a nominee would be somewhat different. I'd have a trusted nominee set up a bank account in the name of a NM LLC, and have her sign the signature card and the checks and give them to me. Then I'd have her sign a notarized certificate of completed participation that would stand as legal notice that she is no longer authorized to access the account that can be produced as evidence should she decide to abscond with the money for some reason, not that I'd expect to need it. The signed blank checks can be used as per Jack's instructions, and if the account is set up with a bank that permits on-line banking and wire transfers, the LLC account can be used as a cut-out to transfer money to another personal or LLC account as necessary without having to use the checks. I would also have her obtaining a debit card in my pseudonym from the bank, telling them that I'm an employee authorized to use the card, and that she'll sign the signature card in my stead because I'm located out of town and she needs to FedEx the card to me so I can pay for business expenses on the road. She explains the sub-account as an accounting matter that allows her to track my expenses easily, and also allows her to only deposit the authorized amount that I can have access to, so I can't access the main account.

This debit card will be in its own sub-account, to which money can be deposited only at need, and the card is used only for internet and phone transactions where there is no chance an ID will be asked for. It can be used for other purchases, in cases where just the PIN is required, not an ID.

This keeps my real name off of the net and out of store records while still allowing for the convenience of on-line shopping, and because only the amount of money required for a specific purchase is transferred to the sub-account just before the purchase, even if the card is compromised, the loss will be minimal. The card can also be dumped and abandoned at need, should there be a potential for questions from the police.

This also works if you wish to set up automatic payment for some recurring bill without having your name attached to it. You set the billing up either under the name of the LLC, if the fact that it's a business doesn't cause problems, or under the pseudonym if it needs to be personal, then you set up the automatic billing to be deducted from the pseudonym sub account, not from the main LLC account.

That's what I'm doing with my DSL and ISP service. I tried to get private residential service, but Qwest absolutely would NOT give me residential service without an SSN. When I told them I'd be setting it up under an LLC, they transferred me to the business side, which set me up with the account, under the NM LLC I got from Kitty without a single hitch. They did ask for an EIN, but I told them I didn't have one because it was a new holding company and I didn't have one yet, and they didn't say a word. I used my pseudonym as the point of contact, with the bill going to my P.O. box addressed to the LLC. I'll be able to set up automatic billing once the first bill arrives using my debit card account I set up previously. All I have to do then is transfer money into that account as required. I'll probably do it quarterly for simplicity's sake. I pay only slightly more for the business DSL account than I would for a residential account, but I also didn't have to buy a phone line along with the DSL service. It's also quite fast, 7mbps down and 864 up, for $61/month. The original ISP I selected, which I'd used for years and trust, can't provide service in my new area code, so Qwest set me up with an ISP located in Wyoming, that doesn't even serve Colorado according to their website. I had no idea they did this, but I think it may add a level of security because they use dynamic IP addressing so even if someone tracks my IP, the traceroute ends at an IP address more than 300 miles away from my actual location. Next on the agenda is a VPN cut-out...

2) Seth's concerns are valid when approaching an anonymous nominee off the street, but a friend or relative might be more or less trustworthy than an impaired or desperate stranger, depending on the character of the friend or relative.

3) Given that Jim, by his own report, has no friends or relatives capable of trustworthiness as a nominee, perhaps the street-urchin idea is still quite workable.

4) Personal note to Jim: Yes, I think you do have a bit to learn about street people. As a "side assignment" you might consider volunteering in a shelter or soup kitchen for a few days in order to get a handle on the issues that your targets may be dealing with. It will also give you other ideas than cash for payment, (phone cards, McDonald's gift cards, errand-running, etc.) in order to avoid facilitating their addictions and actually be of benefit to them in their own struggles. I think you have the ability to be genuinely helpful to people and at the same time obtain anonymity for yourself in your banking dealings! Good luck!

My understanding of Jack's plan is to create a nominee account WITHOUT there being any paper trail that leads to you as a distinct individual. In the book, he describes having the nominee actually open the account herself (elderly lady), sign a large supply of blank checks in return for a fixed fee, and then disappear from the equation entirely, leaving you with a stack of negotiable instruments (blank checks) attached to an account that the nominee "owns" but has no access to. But this "lack of access" is not very secure in reality.

That's how you get anonymity, by never having your name attached in any way to the account. Your plan attaches your name to the account through the power of attorney, which will be recorded, and it may also put you in the position of being a technical "trustee" of the account. You're certainly implying by your statements to the banker that you are taking on a trustee relationship with the "savant" involved, and this MAY result in your having specific legal obligations both for operation of the trustee account as well as legal reporting requirements to the government, which is required in some states for all trustees, precisely to prevent someone from abusing an incompetent person.

I'd suggest you need to look into the trustee aspect much more carefully before proceeding.

Also, Jack and I had a private correspondence about the whole nominee idea in which I outlined some potential legal pitfalls. I hope he'll address these concerns. I'll only illuminate one potential pitfall that needs consideration. The first principle of law is that a power of attorney is ALWAYS revokable at will. The problem is that if your nominee knows about the account, even to the extent of knowing which bank it's located at, I believe it is perfectly legal for her to wait till you dump some money into the account, then go to the bank and give the banker a written revocation of power of attorney, and demand that the account be closed and she be given the cash.

It is, after all, according to your own claims to the banker, "her" money, and you are just managing it for her, with her consent. But she can withdraw that consent at ANY TIME and fire you as her money manager, and claim the proceeds, which legally speaking, belong to her.

The only way that you can gain irrevocable control over another person's money is by court order, and to do so you have to prove that the person is permanently incompetent, and you will have to file reports with the court on a regular basis to prove that you are properly fulfilling your fiduciary duties to the beneficiary of trust.

The law is set up precisely to PREVENT exactly what you're trying to accomplish when done by, for example, relatives with greedy intent who wish to take control of an elderly person's finances for their own benefit. The government takes a VERY dim view of such arrangements because of their propensity for abuse, and the laws regulating such things are very strict.

I cannot agree that this is a wise plan. I see a serious potential for you to lose all your money AND potentially end up in jail.

... Note to Jim:
Seth makes a few valid points but I am not as concerned as he is about nominees. Perhaps this is because I have used nominees with great success and over a long lifetime. Or perhaps it is just because I have an unusual tendency to trust people. (My test is, do they first trust me? If so, I then trust them. I have some great stories to tell about that, but not in this forum. Suffice it to say that I could come up with 10 names in five minutes of people I trust with my life. Maybe even 20.)

As for losing the money in the account, if this worries you, then don't put more in the account than you can afford to lose.

My problem is that I have no relatives with a different last name than mine and I don't want to get friends that closely involved in my business. They'll have a lot of questions that I shouldn't need to answer.

Besides, any otherwise "normal" person will either not be judgment proof or will want much more monetary compensation than would a homeless person. So . . . the Homeless Project seems like a perfect answer.

I expected to have to cut some new paths, at least for me, to solve this problem of finding a nominee so I'm not surprised at a few bumps in the road nor am I discouraged to press on.

Jim

... Jim -- You'd be surprised how many readers are following your saga!

Jack: I think your suggestion was brilliant! I would never have thought of it.

There are literally thousands of homeless people everywhere and almost all of them have I.D. they have to, to keep from being hassled by the police. A $100 is a lot of money to them. It's a seller's market. I probably could have made a deal at $50 or less but my sense of equity got in the road. The biggest problem is that they may all be lining up to make the deal with you, urinating while standing in line. Bring a large cup if you intend to help out.

There's an unlimited supply of them and they want the money. I will perfect my approach and winnowing out methods in contacting and processing them as nominees for myself and perhaps others who are having trouble coming up with a suitable nominee in my area.

Part two:

I drove out of that parking lot and headed across the street. Rose was standing next to the Taco Bell restaurant in the back. I pulled up close to her, unlocked my doors and she got in.

Rose and I talked about Mike. He was a good guy but started drinking, when he had the beer, the moment he woke up. He never had enough money for drugs so beer was his de facto poison of choice.

Rose is 51 years old, clear headed and quick. I asked her what her story was. She said she was living at a Catholic Charity Women's Shelter and was rehabbing from a convection of possessing amphetamines, a felony. I gulped. I hadn't thought about that. We live in different worlds.

She had one month to go on a four month program. I encouraged her. Can you really kick amphetamines in a four month program? She said she'd been clean for about a year. But isn't everybody in rehab "clean for about a year"? Maybe I'm just being cynical.

It then occurred to me that many homeless people are homeless because of a drug or alcohol problem. Guess I'm a little slow.

"What is the phone number at the shelter so I can get a hold of you?"

"They won't let us give that number out."

I was becoming suspicious.

"There are sixty women living there and if they all gave out the phone it would be a madhouse."

Ok, makes sense. My suspicions began to subside.

"I have a cell phone."

This I was very surprised to hear. How could a homeless person have a cell phone? She promptly produced it from her purse. It was a bright blue T-Mobile phone.

"I don't have any minutes left on it though."

I explained to her what I needed; to have her sign notarized papers granting me a limited power of attorney to open a bank account and conduct business using her name and that she would not be able to use the bank account. And that it was all on the up and up. My attorney would handle the paperwork and there would be nothing illegal involved. That didn't seem to make much difference to her one way or the other. I said I would pay her $100 and help her expunge her criminal record, about $120, when she completed the drug rehab program.

Rose seemed capable of going the distance of actually doing some tasks for me in the future so I had no qualms in painting some carrots on the windows.

I had been sorting through all the banks and credit unions in Orange County to find the ones with only one branch. There were five. I had already "burned" one with Mike when I went first to the bank before I had any papers signed with him. I had told the bank that I was trying to help out a friend who was a savant and didn't interface with the real world like us. Well, I had to tell them something and that seemed saleable.

It was a big mistake in going to the bank before I had the papers signed. When Mike washed out what could I do with that bank? Tell them I have another friend who is a savant? I must have tapped into the mother load of savants.

Now there were only 4 single office banks left. I decided I could not risk screwing up another as I expected the attrition of the remaining 4 might be high and I didn't want to have to drive into Los Angeles to prospect more banks.

I decided to take a different approach so as not to burn another bank. I would try a larger bank with many branches just for practice. They would probably turn us down but I would learn something in the process. Then I thought. "Why not try my bank?" They know me and my banking relationship has been good. If they turn us down I will have learned something more and I would not have wasted another single office bank.

I approached my bank, which has many local branches, and spoke to the V.P. who has known me as a client for a few years. I told him I was helping a friend get on her feet and, basically, I would be running the account. There would be two signatures, mine and hers. I would not sign my own name. I would sign hers under a limited power of attorney.

He told me that corporate had a rock hard rule - no double signature accounts. They had had too many problems with such accounts in the past. I asked how we could get past this. He became pensive and didn't say anything so I offered, "Well, we could have just one signature, me signing her name only."

I was surprised he quickly agreed that was a workable solution. But thinking about this after I left the bank, there must be many, many situations where incapacitated, (in mind or body), relatives or friends need bank accounts and someone more reliable than themselves to operate the account for them. I've got to believe this is not uncommon at all. He said he would have to send the Power of Attorney to the head office for approval by their legal department which would only take one day and he would have to run Rose through Check Systems to make sure there wasn't any "abuse" of banks on record like unpaid bank fees or bad checks.

Again I gulped. I'd forgotten all about Check Systems even though I had been well acquainted with them during my days as a Credit Clearing Counselor years ago. Clearing peoples' credit is a nasty job. No tricks here, if it's done correctly, just a lot of hard negotiating. I've got to get up to speed. I'm stumbling along and making too many mistakes.

Most banks want two forms of identification; a driver's license and another ID with a photo. If that is not available they prefer a bank card or credit card from another bank. That seems perfectly unreasonable to me. But I don't think like a bank. Oddly, two banks offered to accept a Costco card as the second I.D.! Do you know how easy it is to get a Costco card? But that's what they wanted and I was not going to argue.

Lesson: call ahead when you prospect the banks and ask all the questions as to what they require to open a personal account and don't be bashful to press the limits a little - but do be pleasant.

Rose had only her State I.D. but she did have a copy of her birth certificate in her purse. How many people have that? It was clean and crisp too. My Banker, however was willing to waive the two I.D. rule because I was signing on the account. That saved me the $50 in getting a Costco card for her. How are you going to know if you don't ask?

"OK, Rose. Here's what we'll do. Give me your cell phone number and I'll write down your information and have my attorney, (I'm my own attorney), draw up all the papers. I'll call you tomorrow and we'll set a time to get together to go to the Notary. OK?"

"Sure, that's OK"

"How can you get your phone working?"

"I have to buy a $10 card to get more minutes."

"OK, where can you do that?"

"Just about anywhere."

"OK, you tell me where and I'll put $10 on your cell."

"Lets find a drug store like CVS. I know there's one up on 17th."

We went to the CVS store on 17th and I paid $10 for more minutes for her cell phone. I asked her to put the minutes on the phone and see if I could call her from my cell. She did and I could call her. That is so cool! Those card suppliers are really making a bundle with pre-paid cards at 10 cents a minute.

"OK, now, Rose, I'll call you tomorrow when the papers are ready to go to the Notary. Probably sometime around 11 o'clock or so. Will that work?"

"Yeah, sure."

"OK, then."

"Where do you want me to drop you?"

"I have to go for my drug test before 6:00 so if you could drop me there that would be great."

"Sure." I said.

When I dropped her off she asked me for $5 for a bus pass and I gave it to her. So now I have $15 invested in Rose.

I'll continue in a couple days when I get together again with Rose to go to the Notary to sign the papers..

Jim

What VPN's do is allow you to "tunnel" through their servers onto the internet and their servers' IP address shows as yours (if configured properly; I make sure my TRUE ISP/wireless connection is set to "local only" and the VPN to "local and internet" with my firewall set to "public network" for the VPN so no file sharing can be done and no one else can see me online (actually, for security, those should be disabled in your network settings, anyway). I used hacker tools to test if anyone could find my computer or the original network and the settings work.)

However, all that said, I prefer NOT to reveal the service provider I use to maintain my privacy (and for legal reasons since I don't know what readers intend to do with a VPN). However, I'll tell you that for home/individual use, a virtual or software VPN is cheapest (under $10/mo for UNLIMITED bandwith/use) and easiest (download and install software, open software, run). The best ones protect email, VoiP phones and IM/chatting. BUT, make sure you're actually on the VPN by checking the IP of the VPN against what your browser shows with a site like "whatismyip.com.

Just search "VPN software" and, whatever you do, DO NOT use a free provider or site. A lot of those folks are hackers and malware/crimeware providers. Go to respected tech mag sites or blogs and research fee for service providers. Softpedia.com is a good site to download software from because, like CNET's download.com, it's spyware free or it says it's not. Keep in mind some limit surfing to a particular number of gigabytes per month and may prevent you from getting on certain sites that recognize you're using a VPN (though I've had few problems). Also, you need to determine if you want a VPN with US servers or not. (Servers located in US or EU make it possible for records to be subpoenaed since your VPN service provider assigns you an IP address each time you log on. Some providers don't keep log records. Check their privacy and subpoena policy and DON'T do anything even REMOTELY illegal.) Also, unless you use a good anonymizer VPN service, your ISP can see the IP address of the VPN servers, so keep that in mind.

Finally, yes, you can disconnect from the VPN and return to the typical way of surfing the net anytime you want. But, I wouldn't go "wireless" anyplace without a VPN, no matter how secure you think the connection is or who you use as a provider. Those connections are routinely spoofed and hacked and most home networks are not at all properly set up.

FYI: I found out that the three credit bureaus have updated their freeze procedures since I last checked. Now you can freeze your credit history online by going to each of the three bureaus' websites. All you need to provide is name, current address, ssn, and dob -- which they already have, anyway. One agency did ask for previous address and another asked some security questions. However, since it is online now, there is no requirement for utility bills and copies of photo ID, etc. You only need that if you opt to freeze your credit history by mail. Oh, you'll also need a credit card to pay $10 for the freeze at two of the bureaus.

The bad news is that freezing your credit history doesn't mean that no one has access to it. They still give it out to various companies for various reasons. And I was appalled to realize how many people could have accessed it just by pretending to be me since the security is not great.

It seems to me that the credit bureaus have co-opted the public's fear of identity theft and used the opportunity to create all sorts of "identity and credit protection" products (of dubious value) that they can sell. Still, I think freezing credit history and opting out of offers does provide some protection against identity theft and a little more privacy.

Thanks especially for the reality check about not trusting the credit bureaus and card issuers. I will definitely try to keep my new name and address out of the credit bureaus' records. Thanks for the advice regarding a second credit card. I will think carefully about the consequences before making any decisions!

Having said that, and in the interests of not being an "enabler..." I would love to see what would happen if Jim were to offer food, food stamps, McDonald's gift certificates, or some form of "currency" that could not be converted into alcohol or another drug-of-choice by the recipient/nominee. Honestly, this sounds like a fantastic response to the "WILL WORK FOR FOOD" signs that I see people holding at interstate highway exit ramps! And I love Jim's plan for making the prospective nominee show up at some point in the future to test their reliability and ability to keep the days of the week straight! AWESOME!

... Well, Dorothy, I'm pretty interested in the outcome myself!