Check Your Credit Report Regularly to Avoid Becoming a Victim of Identity Theft

This is the third in a series of articles which will increase your awareness about  Identity Theft.

All of us know the importance of credit reports in our lives. Your credit report shows your personal information including your legal name, alias names, addresses, current and previous employers, social insurance number and date of birth.

It also shows details of most credit enquiries carried out by financial institutions, retailers and many other credit reporting agencies including:

Current and past credit status

Total number of open and closed accounts

If the balances of our accounts are current or delinquent

Public record information such as federal bankruptcy records local government court records, liens, judgments, and child support records (information that can stay in your record for up to 10 years)

Credit inquires that are used when you apply for a credit card, bank loan or retail financing.

Detailed account history - very up to date information about your loans, financing and credit card payments

Credit score.

Your credit score is a number ranging from between 330 and 830 in most states of the U.S. The higher the number assigned to you, the better your credit is. The higher your credit score, the better your chances are of obtaining additional credit cards and or loans.

Your credit report will also include information provided to Auto insurance companies, who usually obtain a credit report as part of their process when applications are made for auto insurance. Sometimes employers may also request credit reports as part of their hiring or promotions process.

In the United States, the Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax are the major credit bureaus that collect, maintain, and distribute this credit information. You are permitted, by law, to obtain one free copy of your credit report each year from each of these reporting agencies. However, when you apply for a copy of your report, you will usually see that fees apply to all requests for this information. Usually the free report is only available if you apply by mail and you must follow the requirements of the reporting company to obtain your free copy.

The information contained in your credit report, thus reflects your credit and consumer habits. Unless you obtain a copy of your credit report, you may never know your credit worthiness. Another more vital reason to obtain a copy of your credit report is to check to see if you have fallen victim to Identity Theft.

Verifying and checking your credit report is a vital means to make sure no one has obtained your identity. You may think that it may not happen to you, but there is nothing wrong by making absolutely sure. If you see any transactions on your credit report that do not make sense to you, immediately make enquiries to satisfy yourself whether the entries are legitimate or not. If they are not legitimate, it could be a mistake made by the credit reporting agency, and they will advise you very quickly if this is so and make the necessary correction. If the information is correct but not known to you, then you need to be on guard because you may have seen the beginnings of your identity being stolen.

You must take immediate action if you wish to avoid major loss and or damage to your personal reputation that presumably took you so many years to establish.

Here are some suggested ways to check your credit report.

Carefully examine your credit report upon receipt. Look into the section dealing with inquiries on your report. If you do not know what some of these relate to then make immediate enquiries. Remember, however, that any time you apply for credit, especially at the retail level, there will be a credit enquiry made upon your account, but you may not recognise the name of the company asking for the information as retailers seldom do their credit checks using their company name.

If you notice errors, such as a bill paid off but still show as outstanding on the report, then notify the agency and request for it to be removed. You must follow up personally on these corrections and make sure that your specific request has been acted upon.

Watch out for accounts opened in your name that you do not know about. Sometimes, maybe a family member has opened an account without letting you know. If this is not so, then maybe a stranger has opened the accounts and that puts your credit and finances in danger. Be alert always and take the issue of Identity Theft as a serious threat to your good name. Make sure that your personal and financial information never get into the wrong hands.

John Ritchie,

Copyright to this article belongs to John Ritchie.    

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