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President Bush Signs New Bankruptcy Bill; DSW Announces Theft of Almost 1.5 Million Customers' Credit Information.

Aired April 20, 2005 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We would like to thank all of our reporters all around the world. More coverage of the pope throughout the day.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to be back with more "LIVE FROM" right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Welcome back to LIVE FROM. Quick check of the markets right now. Dow Industrials down 72 points. We're going to keep an eye on it, but first, here's what else is happening in the news.

O'BRIEN: Moments from now, President Bush will sign the bankruptcy bill passed last week by Congress. The new law targets debtors who abuse the system, making it harder for them to wipe their financial slates clean. Critics say it will remove a safety net for those who suffer true financial catastrophes.

Senator Jim Jeffords will not seek re-election next year. The Vermont independent announced his decision less than an hour ago. The former Republican left the GOP to become an independent four years ago. He has sided largely with Democrats since then.

Accused 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is expected to plead guilty Friday in federal court, making good on a new offer to do so. Moussaoui is the only person charged in the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 attacks. He could still receive the death penalty.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani announces a grim discovery. He says the bodies of more than 50 people have been recovered south of Baghdad. Talabani says they were pulled from the Tigris River, believed to be people who had been held hostage. He says they have identified the bodies and they have some suspects.

PHILLIPS: We are waiting for President Bush to sign a sweeping bankruptcy bill into law. As we mentioned, critics say the new law will come down hard on people who suffer real unexpected financial hardship. CNN's Chris Huntington has the story of one such family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Greg and Brandy Denno were doing everything they could to get by, until a series of uninsured medical bills drove them over the financial edge.

BRANDY DENNO, FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY: Can't even afford to take them to get a Happy Meal.

HUNTINGTON: They celebrated Valentine's Day by filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Protection, which erased their debt of $37,000. But they would not have that option under the proposed changes to the bankruptcy law, which would impose a means test on debtors and deny Chapter 7 protection to anyone like the Dennos with pretax income above the median level for their state.

The Dennos' lawyers say the new rules would put debtors like the Dennos in even worse shape.

GARY FISHOFF, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: We're not talking about tax cheats here, we're just talking about people trying to survive.

HEATH BERGER, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: They would have to do what's called Chapter 13 a reorganization and pay money back over a period of five years, which obviously they don't have.

HUNTINGTON: Those in favor of the new rules point out that the majority of bankruptcy filers make less than the median and would not be affected.

MALLORY DUNCAN, NATL. FEDERATION OF RETAILERS: A lot of people who are filing for bankruptcy genuinely need it. And one of the things that's good about this legislation is it preserves bankruptcy in Chapter 7 for those people.

HUNTINGTON: Still the Dennos are not unusual, because their bankruptcy stemmed from a devastatingly common cause, uninsured family illness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go slow.

HUNTINGTON: In the summer of 2003, Greg, a trained auto mechanic, had just started a new job, but his health benefits would not kick in for six months. So, when son Christopher had to be hospitalized for dehydration, the Dennos were stuck with a $9,000 bill.

Brandy got a night shift job only to take a bad fall on a wet floor. Sleep deprived and in constant pain, she kept working because Greg was getting sick.

GREG DENNO, FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY: I couldn't breathe. I kept getting really dizzy, no energy. I knew something was wrong.

B. DENNO: We were actually two weeks away from getting insurance when he ended up having no choice but to go to the hospital.

HUNTINGTON: Greg had pneumonia. His left lung was down to just 2 percent capacity. But after four days on a breathing machine, he checked himself out of the hospital against doctor's orders to go back to work. The bill this time, nearly $14,000.

The final blow, ironically came when their health insurance finally kicked in. An MRI revealed that Brandy's fall had torn a knee ligament and she had to stop working.

B. DENNO: Trust me, people don't ask for bad luck, it just happens.

HUNTINGTON: It will still be a challenge to make ends meet, but bankruptcy gives the Dennos a fresh start, and they are thankful they didn't wait any longer.

Chris Huntington, CNN, Islep Terrace, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: President Bush is signing that bankruptcy bill this afternoon. We'll bring it to you just as soon as we get it.

PHILLIPS: Also ahead, protecting your good name. A recent leak of credit card numbers at a shoe company shows how easy it is to get your privacy kicked around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live to Washington, D.C. Right now in the Eisenhower Executive Office building, the president of the United States getting ready to sit down and sign his bankruptcy law. Let's listen in.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome. Thank you very much for coming today.

Today we take an important action to continue strengthening our nation's economy. The bipartisan bill I'm about to sign makes common sense reforms to our bankruptcy laws. By restoring integrity to the bankruptcy process, this law will make our financial system stronger and better.

By making the system fairer for creditors and debtors, we will ensure that more Americans can get access to affordable credit.

I'm pleased to be joined today by the attorney general, Al Gonzales.

I want to thank the bill's sponsors in the House and the Senate, Senator Chuck Grassley of the Senate -- I think you told me you've been working on this bill for nine years. That's a long time.

(LAUGHTER)

I appreciate Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner from of the House for being the sponsor in the House. Thank you.

I want to thank the speaker. Yesterday, the speaker and I, by the way, had the honor of opening the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois. I know he'd be pleased to hear me say, if you're looking for something to do this summer...

(LAUGHTER)

I thank Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Jeff Sessions and Senator Tom Carper.

I appreciate the members of the House who are here, Mike Oxley, Rick Boucher, Bob Goodlatte, Steve Chabot.

Thank you all for coming. Thanks for working on this piece of legislation. Our bankruptcy laws are an important part of the safety net of America. They give those who cannot pay their debts a fresh start. Yet bankruptcy should always be a last resort in our legal system. If someone does not pay his or her debts, the rest of society ends up paying them.

In recent years, too many people have abused the bankruptcy laws. They've walked away from debts even when they had the ability to repay them. This has made credit less affordable and less accessible, especially for low-income workers who already face financial obstacles.

The bill I signed today helps address this problem. Under the new law, Americans who have the ability to pay will be required to pay back at least a portion of their debts. Those who fall behind their state's median income will not be required to pay back their debts.

This practical reform will help ensure that debtors make a good faith effort to repay as much as they can afford. This new law will help make credit more affordable, because when bankruptcy is less common, credit can be extended to more people at better rates.

The new law will also require credit card companies to let cardholders know up front what they are expected to pay and what penalties are they will face if they are late on a payment.

When people get a credit card, they should not be trapped by a provision in the fine print. To make the system more fair, the new law will also make it more difficult for serial filers to abuse the most generous bankruptcy protections. Debtors seeking to erase all debts will now have to wait eight years from their last bankruptcy before they can file again.

The law will also allow us to clamp down on bankruptcy mills that make their money by advising abusers on how to game the system. America is a nation of personal responsibility where people are expected to meet their obligations. We're also a nation of fairness and compassion, where those who need it most are afforded a fresh start.

The act of Congress I signed today will protect those who legitimately need help, stop those who try to commit fraud and bring greater stability and fairness to our financial system.

I'm honored to join the members of Congress to sign the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.

PHILLIPS: The president of the United States, getting ready to sign that bankruptcy bill into law. You heard him. Americans weighed down by credit card bills and other financial obligations will have a harder time wiping out debt now under this bankruptcy law. However, the measure would require people with incomes above a certain level to pay some or all of their credit card charges, medical bills, other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan.

Now the people who fought this bill's pass say that this will change -- the change will fall especially hard on low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly and would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face crushing medical bills. You saw that piece Chris Huntington did just a few minutes ago.

But President Bush saying that these are common sense reforms that will make the system stronger and better so that more Americans, especially lower-income Americans, will have greater access to credit. Once again, president of the United States signing that bill into law.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this, but also a quick reminder at 3:00 p.m. We're going talk more about this law. We're going to introduce to you two Americans, one that will be helped by this law and one American that will be hurt by the law. Don't want to forget to plug that, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Another week, another word of a major identity theft. DSW Shoe Warehouse stores say thieves accessed the company's database and made off with -- not the -- what are the called, manilo?

PHILLIPS: Mano -- Mana -- Manolo Blahniks.

O'BRIEN: This is like "Sex in the City" shoes, right,

PHILLIPS: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: All right, "Sex and the City" shoes, but the credit card numbers of almost 1.5 million customers. CNN's Christine Romans looks at how this keeps happening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As DSW customers have learned, your personal information is available for the picking by identity thieves.

BETSY BRODER, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: We know that there are criminals out there and that this information is a honey pot for them. With your Social Security number, date of birth, and name they can open up new accounts in your name, they can drain your existing accounts.

ROMANS: Your data is available from insecure databases of information brokers, and from retailers like DSW. In fact, it is probably held in thousands of databases all over the world.

LINDA FOLEY, IDENTITY THEFT RESOURCE CENTER: The reality is that most of our information is in the hands of the business world. That's the main repository of our information.

ROMANS: And the business world is having a hard time holding onto it. Ameritrade says it may have lost account information for 200,000 people when a tape full of backup data disappeared. From Lexis-Nexis, thieves stole names, addresses, Social Security and driver's license numbers of 310,000 Americans. In February, at Choicepoint, thieves used fake businesses to buy personal information of 145,000 people.

The Federal Trade Commission says almost 10 million Americans are the victims of such theft every year, spending almost 300 million hours sorting it out at a cost to the victims and to business of almost $50 billion. It is staggering, and as more businesses rely on digital information and send it overseas, security experts expect more breeches ahead.

JEFF MOSS, BLACK HAT, INC.: If it's cheaper and faster to outsource the information to data centers in India or China, that's what they do. If the people who are in charge of the outsourcing don't know enough to ask or review security procedures, then that means all of us are at a greater risk.

ROMANS: You can protect your self by making sure you don't carry your Social Security card with you, and you lock your mailbox, but beyond that most of your personal sensitive data is already out of your hands.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, a new gender study plays a huge part in how people invest their money, so who are better investors? Men or women?

O'BRIEN: Well, it's one of those, men-are-from-Mars, women-are- from-Venus, things, isn't it? Susan Lisovicz, you know, everybody kind of views things a little differently. Men are bigger risk- takers. None of this seems like a really huge surprise.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it really isn't. Actually, it is one of my favorite quotes from this new study is that...

O'BRIEN: We're not foolhardy -- that's different.

LISOVICZ: ...is that women know what they don't know and are more likely to get professional help, which brings you back to who is more likely to ask for directions. That's a whole other argument.

But, yes, there is a new study out. It says men are interested and more knowledgeable when it comes to investing, but women definitely tend to make fewer mistakes and repeat them less often than men.

Merril-Lynch interviewed 1,000 men and women for its study. The survey also shows that male investors are also much more likely to buy so-called "hot investments" without researching them first, and hold onto losing investments for too long. Speaking of losing, let's look at the markets right now.

(STOCK REPORT)

O'BRIEN: It's almost the top of the hour, which means we're very close to checking the big stories, next.

PHILLIPS: And, what's that on the wall in Illinois, you ask? An image of the Virgin Mary? Here we go again. It's not the grilled cheese, it's not the -- what else was the other thing?

O'BRIEN: Well, the one thing is, you can't put an overpass on eBay.

PHILLIPS: The chicken breast! Thank you.

O'BRIEN: You're not going to put this thing on eBay.

PHILLIPS: Who knows? Someone might chip it out. Who knows?

O'BRIEN: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Checking stories "Now in the News."

A new law will make it harder to erase at that red ink. About 15 minutes ago, President Bush signed the biggest overhaul to the bankruptcy code in 25 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: ...responsibility, where people are expected to meet their obligations. We're also a nation of fairness and compassion, where those who need it most are afforded a fresh start. The act of Congress I sign today will protect those who legitimately need help, and stop those who try to commit fraud and bring greater stability and fairness to our financial system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: If you are swimming in debt, we'll have bottom line this half-hour for you.

Guilty plea expected in the long tortured legal case against the 9/11 terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. A judge met with Moussaoui today and a plea could come at a hearing set for Friday. Moussaoui is a (INAUDIBLE) citizen; he's been in U.S. custody for more than three years now.

Under mounting political pressure, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns. He's promising to try and form a new coalition government. Berlusconi faced growing discontent over the economy and his support of the war in Iraq. On his first full day as pope, Benedict XVI celebrates mass and begins to lay out his plans for the papacy. We'll go to Rome this hour to see what Romans think of the new pontiff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired April 20, 2005 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We would like to thank all of our reporters all around the world. More coverage of the pope throughout the day.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to be back with more "LIVE FROM" right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Welcome back to LIVE FROM. Quick check of the markets right now. Dow Industrials down 72 points. We're going to keep an eye on it, but first, here's what else is happening in the news.

O'BRIEN: Moments from now, President Bush will sign the bankruptcy bill passed last week by Congress. The new law targets debtors who abuse the system, making it harder for them to wipe their financial slates clean. Critics say it will remove a safety net for those who suffer true financial catastrophes.

Senator Jim Jeffords will not seek re-election next year. The Vermont independent announced his decision less than an hour ago. The former Republican left the GOP to become an independent four years ago. He has sided largely with Democrats since then.

Accused 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui is expected to plead guilty Friday in federal court, making good on a new offer to do so. Moussaoui is the only person charged in the U.S. in connection with the 9/11 attacks. He could still receive the death penalty.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani announces a grim discovery. He says the bodies of more than 50 people have been recovered south of Baghdad. Talabani says they were pulled from the Tigris River, believed to be people who had been held hostage. He says they have identified the bodies and they have some suspects.

PHILLIPS: We are waiting for President Bush to sign a sweeping bankruptcy bill into law. As we mentioned, critics say the new law will come down hard on people who suffer real unexpected financial hardship. CNN's Chris Huntington has the story of one such family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Greg and Brandy Denno were doing everything they could to get by, until a series of uninsured medical bills drove them over the financial edge.

BRANDY DENNO, FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY: Can't even afford to take them to get a Happy Meal.

HUNTINGTON: They celebrated Valentine's Day by filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Protection, which erased their debt of $37,000. But they would not have that option under the proposed changes to the bankruptcy law, which would impose a means test on debtors and deny Chapter 7 protection to anyone like the Dennos with pretax income above the median level for their state.

The Dennos' lawyers say the new rules would put debtors like the Dennos in even worse shape.

GARY FISHOFF, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: We're not talking about tax cheats here, we're just talking about people trying to survive.

HEATH BERGER, BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY: They would have to do what's called Chapter 13 a reorganization and pay money back over a period of five years, which obviously they don't have.

HUNTINGTON: Those in favor of the new rules point out that the majority of bankruptcy filers make less than the median and would not be affected.

MALLORY DUNCAN, NATL. FEDERATION OF RETAILERS: A lot of people who are filing for bankruptcy genuinely need it. And one of the things that's good about this legislation is it preserves bankruptcy in Chapter 7 for those people.

HUNTINGTON: Still the Dennos are not unusual, because their bankruptcy stemmed from a devastatingly common cause, uninsured family illness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go slow.

HUNTINGTON: In the summer of 2003, Greg, a trained auto mechanic, had just started a new job, but his health benefits would not kick in for six months. So, when son Christopher had to be hospitalized for dehydration, the Dennos were stuck with a $9,000 bill.

Brandy got a night shift job only to take a bad fall on a wet floor. Sleep deprived and in constant pain, she kept working because Greg was getting sick.

GREG DENNO, FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY: I couldn't breathe. I kept getting really dizzy, no energy. I knew something was wrong.

B. DENNO: We were actually two weeks away from getting insurance when he ended up having no choice but to go to the hospital.

HUNTINGTON: Greg had pneumonia. His left lung was down to just 2 percent capacity. But after four days on a breathing machine, he checked himself out of the hospital against doctor's orders to go back to work. The bill this time, nearly $14,000.

The final blow, ironically came when their health insurance finally kicked in. An MRI revealed that Brandy's fall had torn a knee ligament and she had to stop working.

B. DENNO: Trust me, people don't ask for bad luck, it just happens.

HUNTINGTON: It will still be a challenge to make ends meet, but bankruptcy gives the Dennos a fresh start, and they are thankful they didn't wait any longer.

Chris Huntington, CNN, Islep Terrace, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: President Bush is signing that bankruptcy bill this afternoon. We'll bring it to you just as soon as we get it.

PHILLIPS: Also ahead, protecting your good name. A recent leak of credit card numbers at a shoe company shows how easy it is to get your privacy kicked around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live to Washington, D.C. Right now in the Eisenhower Executive Office building, the president of the United States getting ready to sit down and sign his bankruptcy law. Let's listen in.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Welcome. Thank you very much for coming today.

Today we take an important action to continue strengthening our nation's economy. The bipartisan bill I'm about to sign makes common sense reforms to our bankruptcy laws. By restoring integrity to the bankruptcy process, this law will make our financial system stronger and better.

By making the system fairer for creditors and debtors, we will ensure that more Americans can get access to affordable credit.

I'm pleased to be joined today by the attorney general, Al Gonzales.

I want to thank the bill's sponsors in the House and the Senate, Senator Chuck Grassley of the Senate -- I think you told me you've been working on this bill for nine years. That's a long time.

(LAUGHTER)

I appreciate Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner from of the House for being the sponsor in the House. Thank you.

I want to thank the speaker. Yesterday, the speaker and I, by the way, had the honor of opening the Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois. I know he'd be pleased to hear me say, if you're looking for something to do this summer...

(LAUGHTER)

I thank Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Jeff Sessions and Senator Tom Carper.

I appreciate the members of the House who are here, Mike Oxley, Rick Boucher, Bob Goodlatte, Steve Chabot.

Thank you all for coming. Thanks for working on this piece of legislation. Our bankruptcy laws are an important part of the safety net of America. They give those who cannot pay their debts a fresh start. Yet bankruptcy should always be a last resort in our legal system. If someone does not pay his or her debts, the rest of society ends up paying them.

In recent years, too many people have abused the bankruptcy laws. They've walked away from debts even when they had the ability to repay them. This has made credit less affordable and less accessible, especially for low-income workers who already face financial obstacles.

The bill I signed today helps address this problem. Under the new law, Americans who have the ability to pay will be required to pay back at least a portion of their debts. Those who fall behind their state's median income will not be required to pay back their debts.

This practical reform will help ensure that debtors make a good faith effort to repay as much as they can afford. This new law will help make credit more affordable, because when bankruptcy is less common, credit can be extended to more people at better rates.

The new law will also require credit card companies to let cardholders know up front what they are expected to pay and what penalties are they will face if they are late on a payment.

When people get a credit card, they should not be trapped by a provision in the fine print. To make the system more fair, the new law will also make it more difficult for serial filers to abuse the most generous bankruptcy protections. Debtors seeking to erase all debts will now have to wait eight years from their last bankruptcy before they can file again.

The law will also allow us to clamp down on bankruptcy mills that make their money by advising abusers on how to game the system. America is a nation of personal responsibility where people are expected to meet their obligations. We're also a nation of fairness and compassion, where those who need it most are afforded a fresh start.

The act of Congress I signed today will protect those who legitimately need help, stop those who try to commit fraud and bring greater stability and fairness to our financial system.

I'm honored to join the members of Congress to sign the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.

PHILLIPS: The president of the United States, getting ready to sign that bankruptcy bill into law. You heard him. Americans weighed down by credit card bills and other financial obligations will have a harder time wiping out debt now under this bankruptcy law. However, the measure would require people with incomes above a certain level to pay some or all of their credit card charges, medical bills, other obligations under a court-ordered bankruptcy plan.

Now the people who fought this bill's pass say that this will change -- the change will fall especially hard on low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly and would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face crushing medical bills. You saw that piece Chris Huntington did just a few minutes ago.

But President Bush saying that these are common sense reforms that will make the system stronger and better so that more Americans, especially lower-income Americans, will have greater access to credit. Once again, president of the United States signing that bill into law.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this, but also a quick reminder at 3:00 p.m. We're going talk more about this law. We're going to introduce to you two Americans, one that will be helped by this law and one American that will be hurt by the law. Don't want to forget to plug that, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Another week, another word of a major identity theft. DSW Shoe Warehouse stores say thieves accessed the company's database and made off with -- not the -- what are the called, manilo?

PHILLIPS: Mano -- Mana -- Manolo Blahniks.

O'BRIEN: This is like "Sex in the City" shoes, right,

PHILLIPS: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: All right, "Sex and the City" shoes, but the credit card numbers of almost 1.5 million customers. CNN's Christine Romans looks at how this keeps happening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As DSW customers have learned, your personal information is available for the picking by identity thieves.

BETSY BRODER, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: We know that there are criminals out there and that this information is a honey pot for them. With your Social Security number, date of birth, and name they can open up new accounts in your name, they can drain your existing accounts.

ROMANS: Your data is available from insecure databases of information brokers, and from retailers like DSW. In fact, it is probably held in thousands of databases all over the world.

LINDA FOLEY, IDENTITY THEFT RESOURCE CENTER: The reality is that most of our information is in the hands of the business world. That's the main repository of our information.

ROMANS: And the business world is having a hard time holding onto it. Ameritrade says it may have lost account information for 200,000 people when a tape full of backup data disappeared. From Lexis-Nexis, thieves stole names, addresses, Social Security and driver's license numbers of 310,000 Americans. In February, at Choicepoint, thieves used fake businesses to buy personal information of 145,000 people.

The Federal Trade Commission says almost 10 million Americans are the victims of such theft every year, spending almost 300 million hours sorting it out at a cost to the victims and to business of almost $50 billion. It is staggering, and as more businesses rely on digital information and send it overseas, security experts expect more breeches ahead.

JEFF MOSS, BLACK HAT, INC.: If it's cheaper and faster to outsource the information to data centers in India or China, that's what they do. If the people who are in charge of the outsourcing don't know enough to ask or review security procedures, then that means all of us are at a greater risk.

ROMANS: You can protect your self by making sure you don't carry your Social Security card with you, and you lock your mailbox, but beyond that most of your personal sensitive data is already out of your hands.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, a new gender study plays a huge part in how people invest their money, so who are better investors? Men or women?

O'BRIEN: Well, it's one of those, men-are-from-Mars, women-are- from-Venus, things, isn't it? Susan Lisovicz, you know, everybody kind of views things a little differently. Men are bigger risk- takers. None of this seems like a really huge surprise.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it really isn't. Actually, it is one of my favorite quotes from this new study is that...

O'BRIEN: We're not foolhardy -- that's different.

LISOVICZ: ...is that women know what they don't know and are more likely to get professional help, which brings you back to who is more likely to ask for directions. That's a whole other argument.

But, yes, there is a new study out. It says men are interested and more knowledgeable when it comes to investing, but women definitely tend to make fewer mistakes and repeat them less often than men.

Merril-Lynch interviewed 1,000 men and women for its study. The survey also shows that male investors are also much more likely to buy so-called "hot investments" without researching them first, and hold onto losing investments for too long. Speaking of losing, let's look at the markets right now.

(STOCK REPORT)

O'BRIEN: It's almost the top of the hour, which means we're very close to checking the big stories, next.

PHILLIPS: And, what's that on the wall in Illinois, you ask? An image of the Virgin Mary? Here we go again. It's not the grilled cheese, it's not the -- what else was the other thing?

O'BRIEN: Well, the one thing is, you can't put an overpass on eBay.

PHILLIPS: The chicken breast! Thank you.

O'BRIEN: You're not going to put this thing on eBay.

PHILLIPS: Who knows? Someone might chip it out. Who knows?

O'BRIEN: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Checking stories "Now in the News."

A new law will make it harder to erase at that red ink. About 15 minutes ago, President Bush signed the biggest overhaul to the bankruptcy code in 25 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: ...responsibility, where people are expected to meet their obligations. We're also a nation of fairness and compassion, where those who need it most are afforded a fresh start. The act of Congress I sign today will protect those who legitimately need help, and stop those who try to commit fraud and bring greater stability and fairness to our financial system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: If you are swimming in debt, we'll have bottom line this half-hour for you.

Guilty plea expected in the long tortured legal case against the 9/11 terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. A judge met with Moussaoui today and a plea could come at a hearing set for Friday. Moussaoui is a (INAUDIBLE) citizen; he's been in U.S. custody for more than three years now.

Under mounting political pressure, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns. He's promising to try and form a new coalition government. Berlusconi faced growing discontent over the economy and his support of the war in Iraq. On his first full day as pope, Benedict XVI celebrates mass and begins to lay out his plans for the papacy. We'll go to Rome this hour to see what Romans think of the new pontiff.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com