A thief can take out a loan, lease a car or a cell phone using your data. Watch out for the following symptoms: you are suddenly denied credit, your credit card interest rate has unexpectedly increased, or debt collectors have started calling you. You may see unauthorized transactions on your credit cards.
Credit bureaus to the rescue
In order to obtain credit based on your stolen personal data, a thief applies for credit, for example, a store credit card. Before issuing the card, the store wants to assess your creditworthiness and checks it with a credit bureau. Your credit score is high, so the thief gets credit immediately and buys jewelry or electronics, for which you will be charged.
It is worth knowing that American credit bureaus have joined the fight against identity theft, offering clients two tools: fraud alert and credit file freeze.
Fraud alert
A fraud alert is an annotation in your credit file that suggests to creditors that they contact you before granting new credit, thereby preventing a thief from opening new accounts in your name.
To report a fraud alert, you need to call the fraud department of a credit bureau: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Your call will be taken by an automated system, where you need to leave information needed to identify you, such as: name, Social Security number, date of birth, etc. The credit bureau will appropriately mark your file and contact the other two bureaus, which will place a fraud alert in your file with them. This initial alert will remain for 90 days. You can extend it up to seven years.
Seeing a fraud alert in your file, the credit company should call you before granting you credit. Therefore, provide your cell phone number so that you can be easily contacted. Make sure your contact information is always up to date.
Note: Lenders are not obligated to check or respect the alert. If they see that you have a good credit history, they may grant credit anyway – granting loans is in their interest after all.
Credit freeze
A more effective method is a credit freeze, which involves completely closing access to the file so that no one has access to it. A credit freeze means that potential lenders, insurance companies, landlords, or employers cannot assess your creditworthiness. This prevents a thief who has stolen your data from applying for credit in your name. The criminal may have all your data – Social Security number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name – but will not gain access to your credit file. And that’s the point.
To place a credit freeze, you need to contact each of the credit bureaus:
- Equifax, 1-800-685-1111
https://www.experian.com/help/credit-freeze - Experian, 1-888-397-3742, Experian Security Freeze
https://www.experian.com/help/credit-freeze - TransUnion, 1-800-909-8872
https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
In most states, the service is free for victims of identity theft if they have a police report. Other people who want to place a freeze preventively must pay a small fee. Each bureau has its own procedure, but in all cases, you must submit a written application and provide your full personal data. Victims must attach a copy of the police report or other law enforcement report.
To open a new credit account, you must plan ahead. You then contact the credit bureau and ask for a temporary unfreeze of your file and the issuance of a report to a specific credit company. This can be done via computer using a pre-set password.
Summary
The laws of most states give customers the right to prevent unlawful transactions using misappropriated personal data by freezing their credit file. Some states offer this option only to victims of identity theft. For information on state regulations, search online for “state freeze laws.” More information can be found in the book “Life Anew: How to Organize Backlogged Affairs in Offices,” available in electronic version on the website www.PoradnikSukces.com
As you can see, there are tools that allow us to effectively reduce the risk of identity theft. It is worth using these methods, and also using them to protect yourself from your own or your spouse’s extravagance.
