Credit Monitoring Services - How They Can Help You
May 20th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed
One of the most effective ways to repair your post-bankruptcy credit is to get new credit. But, as you get that new credit you need an efficient way to monitor the effect it is having on your credit report. To do that, you should use a credit monitoring service. While you can do the monitoring yourself, using a credit monitoring service is helpful for a number of reasons.
1. Credit monitoring services monitor any inquiry made on your credit report and give you the reason for the inquiry.
By getting regular reports of the queries on your credit report and the reasons for those queries you can easily discover any unauthorized activities being done under your name.
2. Credit monitoring services notify you when any new credit accounts are opened in your name.
Obviously, you’ll know about the accounts you open. But, one of the ways identity thieves use your private information is to open up new credit accounts in your name. Then, they max out those accounts and leave you with the bill. A credit monitoring service protects you from the damages of identity theft because you’ll know immediately if a new credit account has been opened in your name.
3. Credit monitoring services monitor any changes to your mailing address on your credit accounts.
Another tactic of identity thieves is to change your mailing address for your credit cards. They do this so that your credit card statements are sent to them. When they get those statements, they steal your account information and use it to run up charges on your account. If this ever happens to you, it could take you months to sort out the problem and figure out exactly what happened. With a credit monitoring service you’ll get an immediate notification when there are unauthorized changes of address on any of your credit accounts.
4. Credit monitoring services monitor credit limit changes on your credit cards.
Identity thieves like to request increases on your credit card limits. This allows them to run up even more debt for you. A good credit monitoring service alerts you to such changes as soon as they happen.
5. Credit monitoring services give you quick, convenient access to your credit report.
The ability to access your account information online is a big time saver. And, you can opt to have the credit bureaus email you any alerts on your credit report account. Those alerts are delivered as soon as a change is detected in your account. This makes it easier for you to avoid becoming a victim of fraud. Online access to your credit report also makes it much easier for you to correct any inaccurate information on your account very quickly and easily.
Using a credit monitoring service has many benefits for you as you recover from bankruptcy and start the process of rebuilding your credit. If you want to secure you financial future and make the most of your fresh start out of bankruptcy, you owe it to yourself to sign up for a good credit monitoring service.
Technorati Tags: credit monitoring services, credit reports, identity theft
Related Tags: credit monitoring services, credit report, credit reports, credit score
Identity Theft
September 19th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
It was a bright, sunny day when Shelly decided she should check her credit report. It had been over a year, maybe even two, since she last checked. Her application for a new loan had been turned down recently and she was curious why.
After all, Shelly had a great credit record, a top-tier credit score, and she worked hard to maintain it. She made a habit of meeting her financial obligations plus she kept organized records. She never had a problem applying for credit or borrowing money before.
But when Shelly saw a frantic flurry of strange accounts and new purchases, she nearly fell to her knees. She had no idea what they were or where they came from. As it turned out, Shelly’s identity had been stolen a full ten months ago and she had no idea.
The scary truth is, most people don’t actively think about having their identity stolen. It’s only after catastrophe strikes that this debilitating scam makes itself known.
Consider some stats on identity theft from 2007 –
• There were 8.4 million victims amounting to a vulnerable victim every 4 seconds.
• Total identity fraud was $49.3 billion. That’s $160 for every United States citizen.
• The average take per victim was $5,720.
And with the ever increasing storage and transfer of electronic records, the threat is as great as ever. No doubt that’s what 145,000 customers of one data broker were made painfully aware of when it was revealed that a crime ring had obtained their sensitive information - Social Security numbers and credit reports.
Meanwhile, old-fashioned methods like stolen wallets, purses, and snail mail remain the most common ways thieves gain access to your information.
Why Bad People Love Identity Theft?
Identity theft is an instance of fraud or false pretense where someone has obtained your personal data, and then uses it to portray themselves as you, harming you in the process, usually in a financial sense, but sometimes through misidentification or property damage.
The irony is that the longer and better your credit rating and history, the more likely you’ll be a target and have your credit damaged. So, with very little effort, the criminal not only benefits from your years of hard work and financial discipline, they also jeopardize your financial future.
When ID theft occurs, it’s not unlike a burglar breaking into your home, rifling through your personal items. But a thief would much rather fill out a few forms to claim your ID than have to haul your 36” TV out the back door. It’s easy to see the criminal motivation to steal your personal data, instead.
To make matters worse, you are essentially considered guilty until you take a lot of action to prove yourself innocent. You’ll suffer the indignity of explaining your newly damaged credit to skeptical lenders for weeks or months until you get the crisis entirely solved and settled.
Creative Criminals Know No Bounds
So what are some schemes that an enterprising criminal might use when leveraging your good credit standing for ill-gotten gain and pleasure?
Normally, the perpetrator will open a new credit card in your name and max out the purchasing power and cash advance limit as soon as possible.
The thief may put it to more leisurely use by charging to a PO Box so you never see the bill. You’ll only be alerted by the sudden influx of harassing phone calls from a collection agency. Or you’ll find your interest rates suddenly surging because of the undetected red flags now polluting your credit report.
And it’s not always the usual buying binge and shopping spree. The thief might also commit all manner of crimes and then use your identification as their alias when they’re busted. They might even go so far as to rent a home in your name or rent a fancy car, never intending to return it.
If The Worse Has Come True, Here’s What You Do
If you’re like Shelly, having almost buckled at the knees, but now recovered and ready to put a halt to your evil twin’s good times, here’s some things you need to do immediately.
Contact the Fraud Victim Assistance Dept at any one of the major three credit bureaus and have a Fraud Alert placed on your credit reports.
Once you call, they must contact the other two, but is worthwhile to do it yourself and be certain. This will instruct all three creditors to take additional security steps to verify your identity before granting further credit, thus preventing more accounts from being opened.
When opening your fraud alert, you’ll have a choice of 90 days or 7 years. Keep in mind that 90 days may not be long enough to thwart a patient thief, and you can always have the alert removed before t he seven years has fully elapsed. Next, contact the local police and file a police report. You will need this police report should you choose the seven year Fraud Alert option. Make sure to obtain a copy for your records.
If your Social Security number has been compromised, be certain to contact the Social Security administration pronto. This particular piece of data is a key to the magic kingdom in terms of identity theft.
You’ll also be entitled to a free credit report which you should then review in detail to identify all questionable transactions. Look for inquiries from companies you haven’t contacted, accounts you didn’t open, and debts on your accounts that you can’t explain.
Check that information, like your Social Security number, addresses, names, and employers are correct. Close the accounts that have been fraudulently tampered or opened and get written confirmation that accounts have been closed. For existing accounts, contact the billing department and tell them you need to generate a fraud dispute form. They should guide you from there.
With falsely fabricated accounts, file a dispute with the creditor or file a report with the police and provide an “Identity Theft Report,” to the company. If you are unable to file a police report, ask if the creditor accepts the Federal Trade Commission’s “ID Theft Affidavit”. Filing a report with the police and then providing creditors with an Identity Theft Report will provide you more comprehensive protection as it will require that they stop reporting the fraudulent information.
As you resolve your identity theft disputes, be certain to ask for letters stating that the disputed accounts have been closed and fraudulent debts discharged. These letters serve as backup evidence if in the future issues relating to this account reappear on your credit report or you are contacted again about the bogus charges.
Beyond that, you can apply a credit freeze. This allows you to block all access to your credit report and score preventing identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name.
However, because a credit freeze also prevents legitimate lenders from reviewing your credit report without your consent, it may provide more protection than you need. It’s most effective when you’re dealing with an aggressive individual, like an angry ex-spouse, who is trying to ruin your credit.
Start monitoring your credit report. All three credit bureaus offer credit-monitoring services. They’ll notify you when there has been a change in your credit file, such as a new account or credit inquiry.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online or by phone using the their Identity Theft Hotline. And be sure to use it if more trouble happens and you need to update your complaint due to additional information or problems.
Also, providing a printed copy of your complaint form for the police report will constitute an Identity Theft Report and entitle you to further protections. This protective umbrella can be used to permanently block fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report, ensure that debts do not reappear on your credit report, prevent a company from continuing to collect debts that result from identity theft and place an extended fraud alert on your credit report.
As you recover and begin to open new accounts, create personal identification numbers and passwords that are non-obvious or even just nonsense. It will prevent the thief from guessing standards like your mother’s maiden name or your birth city.
As you can see, there are procedures and tools in place to help you combat clever criminals from accessing your personal data and disrupting your financial and personal life.
You’re entitled to one free credit report per year, so go ahead and do what Shelly didn’t - until it was too late.
Technorati Tags: credit report, credit score, identity theft
Related Tags: credit monitoring services, credit report, credit reports, credit score
