Monitoring Your
Credit Is Critical These Days
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Your consumer credit report should contain accurate
and up-to-date information about your credit history
and behavior. Having your consumer credit report and
credit score in hand lets you see what your creditors
or those who base decisions on your credit will see.
If you discover mistakes, you can have them corrected.
Reviewing your consumer credit report can also alert
you if someone has stolen your identity.
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Credit Report Errors Are Very Common
With credit scoring impacting borrower applications so strongly,
making sure one's credit report is accurate becomes more critical
than ever. In the past, a borrower could simply obtain documentation
to show that an account was not late or did not belong to
the borrower and include it in the application to obtain approval.
Today, if that information brings a borrower's credit score
below 620, even if it is not correct, the borrower is stuck
until the information can be removed from their credit reports
and the report can be scored again.
Keeping an eye on your credit is very important to ensure
accuracy so you can increase chance of credit approval and
pay lower interest.
Identity Theft is a Huge Problem
Given that 10 million consumers are now falling victim to
some form of identity theft each year, according to the Federal
Trade Commission, the stakes are high. Center. Although there
is no single solution to protecting your credit card numbers,
social security number and passwords, regular credit report
monitoring is one of the best ways to spot a problem early
on.
With identity theft becoming an increasingly pervasive threat,
it is critical for consumers to adopt a proactive approach
to safeguarding their personal information. You have to take
as much interest in your credit record information as the
bad guys do.
The best way to stay alert for fraudulent activity involving
your identity or credit history is to review your credit report
at least once a year.
Data Security Breaches: Everybody is a potential victim
The ChoicePoint breach and other corporate security lapses,
combined with the spread of e-mail and Internet scams, have
raised the public consciousness of identity theft to a new
level. Every consumer is now a potential identity theft victim,
just like people affected by the ChoicePoint theft. All it
takes is a stolen credit card, an e-mail scam or a corporate
security lapse.
Until recently, many Americans had never heard of ChoicePoint,
one of the largest data aggregators. But with recent information
coming to light that identity thieves opened 50 accounts to
access ChoicePoint’s databases of personal information,
many people are just realizing that no matter how diligent
you are at keeping your personal and financial information
secure, identity theft can still happen to anyone through
corporate data security breaches.
It is almost impossible to prevent ID theft from happening,
even if you take every precaution to prevent it, particularly
when a business that has your personal information is compromised
from within.
Be sure to get a free copy of your consumer credit report
to stay up to date with your credit profile and to protect
yourself from identity theft.
Get Your Free Credit Report Annually
Consumers nationwide now have new tools to fight identity
theft and credit reporting errors under a federal law. Consumers
can get a free copy of their credit reports once every 12
months from the three major national credit bureaus (Experian,
Equifax and Trans Union.)
Monitor Your Credit Report and Score Regularly
It's important to closely monitor you credit report regularly
by getting a copy of your credit report at least once a year
from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian
and TransUnion) to ensure the report's accuracy and to look
for signs of ID theft
A credit monitoring service may provide an automatic copy
of your credit report from one credit bureau or all three
major companies, perhaps on a quarterly or monthly basis.
You also may be able to get e-mail notices of any changes
in a credit report . The most important alert is one telling
you that an account has been opened in your name. If you do
not recognize it as your account, you can take immediate action
to get the account closed.
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