Identity Theft and Credit Scores

Identity theft has affected close to 30 million Americans. Thieves have "stolen identities" from unsuspecting individuals to make purchases on credit cards, apply for new credit, and take money from bank accounts. It can take weeks sometimes, or even months, before an individual realizes whats happening- and by then their credit has been fully damaged and it can take years to rebuild your credit after identity theft has ruined it, depending on how long the theft occurred before it was reported.

Now only will identity theft hurt your credit score, your ability to get credit at reasonable rates (or get approved for credit at all!), identity theft also affects your automobile and home owners insurance rates, because personal insurance companies often look at a person's credit score in order to determine the rates or to accept the individual as an insured in the first place.

Warning Signs of Identity Theft

If you can recognize the warning signs of identity theft early on, you can act quickly and minimize the damages of theft to your personal credit history and score. Use of a daily credit monitoring service can be your first line of defense in an identity theft crime. The following list includes the common signs of identity theft:

You are turned down for automobile insurance, or have been notified of a rate increase on your automobile insurance.
You've been refused a credit card, mortgage, loan, or other form of credit- based on debt in your credit report that you don't remember charging.
You receive a statement from a creditor for an account you didn't open
You notice unauthorized charges on your bank statement, a long distance phone bill, or credit card
You stop receiving bank statements or credit billing statements- or they arrive late.

Actions to Take

If you think you may be experiencing signs of identity theft, there are a few things you can do immediately to help minimize the negative impact identity theft has on your personal credit score. First, notify your local police department and file a rpeort. Keep a copy of the report because there are many banks and creditors that will require a copy of the report in order to acknowledge that identity theft has occurred.

Immediately contact the three major credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and ask them to freeze your report and place a security alert on it. Request a copy of your report from each agency and verify all of the information in each report. Dispute any transactions that you did not authorize by reporting them to the creditors and the credit reporting agencies by writing. Cancel any accounts that you did not open.

If you find that you've lost a credit card or a wallet containing personal information, call your credit card companies and banks immediately and ask that the existing cards be turned "off" so that no further charges can occur on them, and request replacements. Your bank can put a stop payment on any lost or stolen checks that are submitted for payment if you notify them of any missing checks.

How to Contact the Three Primary Credit Reporting Agencies

Equifax
P. O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1-800-685-1111 (request report)
1-800-525-6285 (report fraud)
www.equifax.com

Experian
P. O. Box 2104
Allen, TX 75013-2104
1-888-397-3742
www.experian.com

Trans Union
P .O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000
1-800-888-4213 (request report)
1-800-680-7289 (report fraud)
www.transunion.com