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Check Credit Reports Regularly and Be Aware of Identity Theft
All of us know the importance of our credit report in our lives. Our credit report
shows our personal information such as your legal name, alias names, addresses,
current and previous employers, and date of birth.
We also have a credit report summary showing the following:
- Current and past credit status
- Total number of open and closed accounts
- If the balances of those 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 we use when applying for a credit card or loan
- Detailed account history - very up to date information about your loan
payments
- Credit card debt and payment history
- Credit score.
Your credit score is a number ranging from 330 to 830. The higher the number
assigned to you, the better your credit is. It increases your chances of
obtaining a loan or credit account.
The Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax are the major credit bureaus that collect,
maintain and distribute our credit information.
Our credit report does not end with our financial matters. We also use
our credit report for a variety of purposes not related to mortgage and
other loan applications.
Auto insurance companies often request copies of our credit reports
as part of the process of applying for auto insurance. Our employers may
also request our credit reports in deciding whom to hire for
a specific position. Our credit report may also be the important link for
us to know if we have become a victim of identity theft!
Identity theft is a criminal act wherein our personal financial information,
supposed to be confidential, is obtained through illegal means and used
for unauthorized purchases and transactions.
The most common forms of identity theft are the credit card fraud, bank fraud,
communications services, and fraudulent loans.
The audacity of an identity thief is shown in his/her use your personal
information, which could result in financial disaster and damage to your
reputation. Falling victim to this harmful activity could devastate
your financial reputation for many years to come.
There are a lot of things you can do to minimize the risk of becoming the victim
of identity theft. This article focuses on obtaining and reviewing your credit
report, quite similar to what we do when we perform network security assessments.
The information from our credit report reflects our credit and consumer habits.
Unless you make efforts to obtain your credit report, you may never
know how credit worthy you are or are not. Obtaining your credit report is also a
way to check if you have fallen victim to identity theft.
Verifying and frequently checking your credit report is a good way 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 being doubly sure. If ever there is
evidence pointing to the fact that you are being robbed of your identity, then
you can quickly act upon it and avoid major damage to your personal and financial
reputation that took you so many years to establish.
Here are ways to check your credit and see if there is evidence of your
credit account being used by an identity thief:
1. Carefully examine your credit report copy upon receipt. Look into the
section dealing with inquiries against the report. If you do not know about
this yet, every time you apply for a loan or credit card there is an
inquiry initiated against your credit report.
You will recognize the inquiries against the report if you are the one who
has applied for a loan using your credit account. However, if you notice
certain entries that you do not recognize, immediately notify the credit-reporting
agency.
2. If you notice errors, such as a bill paid off but still showing 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.
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 gets into the wrong hands.
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