![[bold:MortgageMint®]](/images/logo.jpg){kind=logo} | |
| |
Credit Awareness & Identity Theft Become an Informed Consumer of Credit Services Your credit report can have a dramatic impact on your financial stability. With good credit, you can obtain benefits of all kinds -- a home mortgage or lease on an apartment, an auto loan, low-interest credit cards, and more -- with ease. But if your credit history is poor, many of these financial options may be unavailable to you. Either way, you have a right to know what to expect when a lender runs a credit check on you. Along with demonstrating responsible credit behavior such as paying your bills regularly and on time, it's a good idea to regularly check the contents of your credit report so you know what your credit is saying about you when others check your credit. Studies have shown that many credit files contain inaccuracies that can harm your credit rating, leading to rejections when you apply for loans, insurance, even a job. Often the result of simple human error, they can be caused by anything from a clerical error to a computer glitch in which your file is mixed with that of someone with a similar name. That's why it's essential that you check all of your credit files -- and monitor your credit regularly -- to protect your good credit standing, even if you always pay all your bills on time. And if your credit is less than perfect now, checking your report will help you identify lingering problems so you can deal with them effectively and move toward improving your credit standing. Whatever your situation, reviewing your report regularly puts you in control of your credit so you can meet lenders knowing your credit accurately represents you. Click here to get a FREE CREDIT REPORT and started monitoring your credit today! Making Sense of Your Credit Report You've pulled a copy of your credit report and are now looking at a tangle of information. You see your last three addresses, a long list of businesses that have checked your report, and dozens of credit accounts. But what does it all mean? Which information should you look at first? Here's a quick rundown of your credit report and the key information on it: Why should I care about my credit report anyway? A credit report is a factual record of your payment history and other credit-related items that lenders use to help determine whether to grant you credit. The information on your report is compiled by the credit bureaus, which regularly receive data on whether you make payments on time and how much you owe. Since creditors are constantly reporting new information to the bureaus, your credit report is always changing. If you don't have a credit report handy, get a Free Copy of Your Credit Report by clicking here. What should I be looking for? Inaccuracies! Mistakes are not entirely uncommon on credit reports. Sometimes they're caused by simple human error, other times they occur when credit files of people with similar names are inadvertently mixed. Increasingly, unfamiliar or inaccurate information can also be an indicator of identity fraud - when someone uses your name and accounts without your knowledge. Look closely at the following areas to catch mistakes or fraud: Remember to check for unfamiliar accounts or activity on accounts that you thought were closed. Someone besides you could be using the account. Inquiries - This section shows you who has received information from your credit report and who was given your name during the recent past, as allowed by law. Often, credit grantors will "pre-screen" your credit file in order to offer you special rates. Additionally, inquiries are recorded when you apply for new credit or authorize an employer or insurance company to check your credit history. What Next? If everything looks accurate, then you can breathe easy. Just remember to regularly monitor your credit to make sure everything stays accurate. If you find a mistake, then you have the right to dispute the information free of charge. You should contact the credit bureau that provided the information and dispute the inaccurate information. You can also contact the creditor and ask that new, accurate information be provided to the credit bureau. Finally, if you suspect fraud, contact the credit bureaus immediately and place a fraud alert on your report. Then, contact your credit card companies and bank to protect your accounts. Why should I monitor my credit? You open your mailbox and find a letter from a collection agency. It states that you purchased a stereo system for $2,000 and have not made any payments, and that the creditor has now taken these matters up with the collection agency. Unfortunately, you do not recognize the creditor because you never opened an account with them. But somehow, someone used your name and credit and stuck you with the bill. You have your eye on the perfect car -- it fits your style and your pocketbook. When you apply for your auto loan, you discover the lender denied you because your credit showed a history of late payments. Yet you have always paid all your bills on time every single month. You have decided to apply for a new credit card. You find an offer for a card that has the lowest interest rates and would enable you to transfer all your balances from other cards to this new card. Yet when you apply for the additional credit, you are rejected--after doing some research, you find that someone who has a name similar to yours has applied for credit several times during the last few months and somehow, your files have become mixed. Don't let your credit report take you by surprise! Situations such as these can happen at any time --maybe when you need your credit the most. So why wait until it's too late to check your credit? Monitoring your credit report on a regular basis is a good way to maintain accuracy of your credit information so it's ready to be reviewed by lenders, landlords, or employers. The information on your report is compiled by the credit bureaus, which regularly receive data from creditors such as whether you make payments on time and how much you owe. Since creditors are constantly reporting new information to the bureaus, your credit report is always changing. What should I be looking for? In a word, inaccuracies. Mistakes are not entirely uncommon on credit reports when information is reported to the bureaus by creditors and lenders. Sometimes mistakes are caused by simple human error, other times they occur when credit files of people with similar names are inadvertently mixed. Increasingly, unfamiliar or inaccurate information can also be an indicator of identity fraud--when someone uses your name and accounts without your knowledge. Look closely at the following areas in your credit report to catch any unfamiliar items: If you find an incorrect address or unfamiliar suffix, such as Jr. or Sr., it could be an indication that your file may have been mixed with that of another person. Additionally, an unfamiliar recent address change may indicate that someone is fraudulently opening accounts in your name, but routing the bills to a different address.
Again, make sure sure the information here is correctly reported, as this information stays on your report for up to 7 to 10 years. Next steps If everything looks accurate once you've reviewed your credit report(s), then you can breathe easy. Just remember to regularly monitor your credit to make sure everything stays accurate. If you do happen to find a mistake, then you have the right to dispute the information free of charge. You should contact the credit bureau that provided the information to request an investigation into any inaccuracies. You can also contact the creditor and ask that new, accurate information be provided to the credit bureau. Finally, if you suspect fraud, contact the credit bureaus immediately and place a fraud alert on your report. Then, contact your credit card companies, bank, and the police to file a report and protect your accounts. Click here to get started monitoring your credit, and get a FREE CREDIT REPORT! Why Should I Check My Credit Report Regularly? To detect identity fraud early We all know we should check our credit card statements every month for charges that we haven't authorized. But that only catches the thief who uses an account you know you have. Identity fraud has risen dramatically since its debut on the crime scene. In this insidious form of credit fraud, a thief steals your good credit by taking over or opening accounts in your name, running up large balances, and leaving you to deal with the collectors when they come calling. New accounts opened with your identity will appear on your credit report, revealing identity fraud to you. If you don't check your credit report, it could be months before the credit grantor, fed up with nonpayment, turns the account over to a collector who tracks you down and demands payment for a loan unfamiliar to you. As with much less problematic inaccuracies, identity fraud is something you can detect and remedy more effectively by checking your credit history thoroughly and on a routine basis. Click here to get a FREE CREDIT REPORT and started monitoring your credit today Why Should I Worry About Credit Fraud? If you have never lost a credit card or had one stolen from you, you may feel like credit fraud is not your problem. But the truth is, credit fraud affects us all. When criminals obtain goods or cash through credit fraud, it is the credit card issuer that bears the burden of the loss--a cost it covers by charging its cardholders higher fees and interest rates. Credit Fraud Poses a Growing Problem Law enforcement officials and consumer protection organizations such as the Public Interest Research Group and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse all report that credit fraud is on the rise--especially in one of its most insidious forms: identity theft. There are several different kinds of credit fraud, and some of the most threatening involve much more than a stolen credit card. A lost or stolen card may be what we think of first when we think of someone using our credit--a fraud we know we can halt by reporting the card lost or stolen. But what if someone were using your credit while your card sat safely in your pocket or purse? Credit Fraud Can Occur without the Victim's Knowledge A stolen account number can often be just as effective for a criminal as a stolen credit card, especially if information such as the expiration date or your billing address is also available to him or her. You may not know someone is using your account until you notice charges or cash advances you did not make on your monthly statement. Criminals can steal credit account numbers in many different ways, such as collecting them in telephone or Internet scams, copying them from credit cards when the owner isn't looking, or gathering them from discarded receipts or account statements in people's trash. Gathering information from people's trash, also known as "dumpster diving," is also effective for criminals intending to perpetrate the even more hard-to-catch identity fraud. "Identity theft" describes when someone uses your personal information, such as your name and Social Security number, to either take over current credit accounts or open new ones using your identity. An identity thief might also rent an apartment, take a job, or even commit crimes using your name, but the identity fraud generally involves using your good credit rating without your knowledge. Tactics for stealing your identity include stealing personal information and then using it to apply for credit or, sometimes, stealing pre-approved credit card offers from your trash and sending them in with a change of address. A clever identity thief can use your name and information for months without your knowledge, sometimes making the minimum payments on any accounts s/he opens so as to keep that credit line available longer. You might not find out what is happening until s/he uses the credit to its maximum limit and then stops paying, causing the creditor to send collectors out to find you to settle the debt. Checking your credit report regularly is one of the few ways to catch identity theft before it goes that far. Just as reviewing your credit card statement can reveal charges you did not make, reviewing your credit report can reveal activity on accounts you don't use or new accounts you did not open, alerting you to the possibility of identity theft. Take Steps to Protect Yourself and Minimize the Costs of Credit Fraud Click here to get a FREE CREDIT REPORT and started monitoring your credit today! Does Credit Fraud Affect You? What would you do if your credit cards were stolen? If merchandise that you did not purchase was charged to your credit accounts? If unauthorized credit accounts were opened in your name? These actions are examples of credit fraud, also referred to as identity fraud, identity theft, and account takeover fraud, where criminals steal victims' identities in order to take over their credit accounts. Most of us have never experienced credit fraud. As a result, many of us may be unconcerned about credit fraud and believe that we're not affected. But we are. Credit Fraud Affects Everyone Credit fraud is on the rise. According to MasterCard International, account takeover fraud has increased by 369% since 1995. It has become one of the fastest growing types of fraud, and one of the more difficult to combat. When criminals buy goods and services on credit using false information, we all pay through higher prices and more expensive credit terms--even if our own accounts are untouched. And when someone is victimized by a particularly successful scam, criminals are more likely to continue cheating others using similar fraudulent operations. There are a number of common sense measures you can use to effectively defend yourself against fraudulent activity and minimize the costs of credit fraud. Here are a few: Click here to get a FREE CREDIT REPORT and started monitoring your credit today! Identity Theft Damage Control Would you want someone to take all the money in your bank account without your permission? Or to open up new credit card accounts in your name and run up a large debt on each one without your approval? Regardless of what you want, it can still happen to you, in one of the fastest growing crimes to affect consumers today - identity theft. No matter how many precautions you take, you can still become a victim of identity theft. But don't despair - detecting signs of potential identity theft and taking action immediately can help lessen the extensive damage that this illegal activity can leave in its wake. Here are some tips if you suspect someone else is using your identity:
Take the first step in protecting your credit and check your credit files HERE with a 3 Bureau Online Credit Report. You'll be able to view your Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion files side-by-side all in one easy-to-read report, and look for any discrepancies. See your complete credit report today! Precautionary Measures against Identity Theft What strikes young or old, male or female, rich or poor? Here's a hint: it topped the Federal Trade Commission's list of consumer complaints in 2002, and has cost consumers $343 million during that year. If you guessed IDENTITY THEFT, you are correct. In 2001 alone, there were approximately 500,000 identity theft victims who filed a police report. Identity theft is the act of using someone's personal information (such as a name, account number, driver's license, health insurance card, or Social Security number, for example) without that person's knowledge, and using the assumed identity to commit fraud or theft. Oftentimes, the personal information is used to get loans or open credit-card accounts. Some victims who have had their identity stolen have lost job opportunities, been refused loans and housing, and have been left with destroyed credit and reputations. You can't prevent it from happening to you, but you can take precautions to make sure you're not an easy target! By keeping an eye on your statements and regularly monitoring your credit, you will be taking measures to protect your credit against the extensive damage of identity theft. Want to know more about increasing awareness regarding identity theft? Take the first step in protecting your credit and check your credit files HERE with a 3 Bureau Online Credit Report. You'll be able to view your Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion files side-by-side all in one easy-to-read report, and look for any discrepancies. See your complete credit report today! Information on this page provided by  | |