Credit

Monitoring your credit is necessary but time-consuming, the FACTA act made great efforts in ensuring that consumers have access to their credit reports for free once a year from each of the credit bureaus, and yes this is better than none, but it simply is not frequent enough to give consumers plenty of alert to take action against credit fraud and other types of identity theft.

Other financial experts recommend that you check your credit report twice a year, but ideally you should do it once every quarter. Especially if you’re actively using credit and if anyone other than you has access to your social security number, then the bottom line is you really need to be monitoring your credit as often as once each quarter.

Credit reports are updated once a quarter by the credit bureaus but updates can be recorded anytime especially if there’s a lot of  activity, like credit inquiries, new accounts, or negative entries.

Employing credit monitoring services in general means that you have your credit report monitored for you on a regular basis, and you get alerted via email, phone or letter about any changes to your credit history.

Credit Monitoring: The good and the bad

There are those who do not consider these services worthwhile and those who feel it is essential to your overall credit health. Yes you can monitor your own credit with some effort, and depending on how often you plan on doing it, you’ll need to request a copy of your credit report from each of the credit bureaus individually and pay each for the report.

Doing it yourself is less convenient and you get no alerts. For around $10 a month most credit monitoring services will include a number of benefits to include a service warranty and resolution assistance should anything happen. You won’t get any of these benefits by monitoring your own credit files.

If you can do without the additional benefits then for around $10 to $15 dollars you can get each of your reports each quarter and review your accounts. So it really is a matter of do you want to do the foot work yourself?

The risks of credit fraud and identity theft are always present. From phishing scams, to spyware and the lack of proper security implemented by companies that handle consumer personal information, the odds are against us. In 2009 there were over 400 security breaches reported to the FTC and in 2010 there are 17 so far. These breaches expose consumer information in volumes and each day more and more people are discovering that they’ve been victimized by an identity thief.

The number of threats consumers face today are astounding, what’s worse, once the scam takes place, the victim may not notice the theft until months later. So what can you do to ensure your personal information stays safe?

One of the first steps to get started is to monitor your credit report. Your personal credit files are kept by the 3 major credit bureaus in the US. The information they record include:

• The companies that granted you credit
• Third parties that have made credit inquiries about you
• Third parties that have reviewed your credit
• Payment and timeliness information (payment history)
• Past addresses for the last 10 years.
• Jobs you’ve held in the last 10 years

Guidelines for monitoring your credit:

Keeping track of your credit report and what appears on it regularly, will prove a huge benefit and a great way to stay ahead of identity thieves. Here are some guidelines to be most effective.

1. Check all 3 of your credit reports: You’ll find that there are significant gaps and differences in how your credit is seen by each of the major bureaus. A certain account might show in one but not the other, so it’s essential you compare information across all three reports.
2. Monitor your credit reports quarterly: You can check your credit free once a year, and although that’s better than nothing, it isn’t frequent enough to detect fraud and stop the damage. Checking your report once every quarter is the most ideal way to keep on top of what’s going on with your personal credit file and catch identity thieves and stop credit fraud before it becomes a bigger problem.
3. Look for suspicious activity: When reviewing your credit report you’ll notice and recognize accounts that are familiar to you, like your Visa card from Chase, or that car loan you’re still paying off. Your job is to take a close look at every single account reported on all 3 of your credit reports and find anything that looks suspicious or inconsistent when compared to your other reports. Look at inquiries made and find out who they are and why they’re inquiring about your when you have not recently applied for credit.

Keeping on top of it proactively and consistently is the most effective way to keep safe from credit fraud and other identity theft threats. However, it may seem a little inconvenient and time consuming, if this is you, consider credit monitoring services or full blown Identity Theft Protection services.

These automated systems will alert you automatically when changes to any of your credit reports occur, and depending on which service you sign up for, the coverage can be very sophisticated and certainly takes the burden of your hands.

How to protect your credit:

Taking a proactive and consistent approach to protecting your credit means understanding and accepting the responsibility for it. Making payments on time and never cutting corners or compromising when it comes to the security of your credit cards, bank accounts, and every other aspect of your personal identity.

These points may sound obvious but are often ignored by consumers, and it is when we let our guard down that we create chances for identity thieves to take advantage of our smallest mistakes to earn themselves a big payday. Protecting your credit involves a significant time investment from you, but is is part of the responsibility of being issued credit.

Minimizing the Risks of Fraud

Credit card fraud is one of the most common and most lucrative crime trends. It’s also one of the easiest to do and get away with, and the hardest to detect without the proper credit monitoring in place. Identity thieves are opportunistic and use phishing, skimming, and dumpster diving as methods of digging for key pieces of information such as your social security number, credit card numbers, csv verification numbers and anything they can use to either abuse your existing credit accounts or open new ones under your name.

Victims of credit fraud are often left with the daunting task of restoring their credit and their good names at a significant cost of both time and money. Here’s how you outsmart the scammers and minimize your risks for credit fraud.

1. Pay close attention to your billing cycles – contact your credit card company or bank if your statements do not arrive when they should.
2. Watch out for mail fraud – redirecting mail is very easy to do, know when your statements should arrive and do your best to secure your mail box with a lock. Never leave mail unattended and use a cross-cut shredder to destroy junk mail that contains your personal information.
3. Password protect everything – take advantage of additional security features offered by your credit provider or bank, such as password protection. Many people often see these extra steps as a burden rather than a benefit and this is letting your guard down.
4. Protect your personal information – you need to be cautious about who you give your information to, always know who you’re dealing with. Phone, email and snail mail phishing scams are still around because they still work, millions of people in the US fall victim to these each year.
5. Leave your SSN card at home – it’s a common habit to carry everything you may one day need with you in your wallet, it’s also a big mistake and an easy way to lose a lot of critical personal information at once. Your SSN is one of the most valuable pieces of information an identity thief can get their hands on, it means an easy pay day.
6. Shop securely online – when shopping online make sure you’re only doing it on secured sites. Make sure the address starts with https:// and look for the lock symbol somewhere in the footer of your browser, or the SSL (secure socket layer) text somewhere on the page.
7. Consider credit monitoring and/or identity theft protection – protecting against credit fraud and identity theft isn’t a fun job at all. The most convenient and practical way to protect your credit is to automate the process with these services. It’s instant peace of mind.

Your credit score is in many ways just as important as your social security number. It represents your overall credit worthiness, it is also the very first and sometimes the only thing creditors look at when considering you for credit. So making sure your score is in the “excellent” bracket will guarantee you approval every time.

You can get your credit score when you request your free credit report, typically it costs a small fee to see your credit score, but it’s an essential part of your credit and worth viewing. If your score is only moderate or borderline good, your 3 in 1 free credit report should provide in great detail what accounts or entries are costing you those valuable points on your credit score.

The basic formula for your overall rating is: past credit + present credit = future credit. Your score is calculated based on the information in your credit report, these are some of the factors that play a role in determining your magic number:

• Your Payment history
• How much of your credit currently being used.
• Overall amount of credit available.
• Total Length of credit history
• Recent request for credit

The last factor used in determining your credit score is comparing the number produced by these factors to those of other consumers with similar credit profiles. Depending on the amount of credit used vs available credit, the score may put more emphasis on those two factors than anything else.

Why is your credit score so elusive?
There are dozens of credit valuing methods, each of the credit bureaus uses their own, and different methods are used for different types of credit. Your credit score is not carved in stone, it is a number that can fluctuate positively as well, with changes to your credit report. You can increase the frequency of your positive entries by staying on top of your credit.

To begin, request a copy of your free credit report and begin analyzing your credit history now, look for and dispute any inaccuracies and pay close attention to your credit score comparing it across the board against all three bureaus.

Practicing this consistently will guarantee you’ll always have your credit available to you when you need it. You can also take advantage of the free credit monitoring trial offers that all the credit bureaus are extending to those who get their credit report directly from them.

Getting your free credit report is actually very easy to do, there are a number of places, mostly the credit reporting bureaus that will provide you with their version of your credit report or your 3 in 1 credit report, which includes all three bureaus.

Your 3 in 1 credit report is easily downloaded after you fill out the required information from either one of the credit reporting bureaus, this will typically take from 5 to 10 minutes and your report is made available instantly.

What’s in a 3 in 1 credit report?
A 3 in 1 credit report includes all three of the major credit reporting bureaus (Experian, Equifax and Transunion). This type of report will show you activities as seen by these agencies and gives the credit owner a detailed topside view of their credit activities and makes it easier to detect discrepancies and errors. You will see a number of differences with the way your credit history is reported by all three credit bureaus. Even your credit score will be different.

Will my free credit report include my credit score?
In most cases no, your credit score can be provided to you with your credit report but typically it involves a fee. Depending on the bureau or the promotion running at the time you may be get your score for $5 to $9 dollars in some cases. Even the government sponsored annual credit report, does not include your score.

Can I get a free credit report if I’m an Identity Theft Victim?
Yes, all identity theft victims are entitled to their free credit report by filling out the identity theft affidavit and a police report to all three credit reporting bureaus and by law you’re entitled to it.

What should I do if my credit shows errors?
First you need to make sure the errors are not showing on all 3 reports, if they do, these may be more consistent than erroneous, in which case unfortunately, you must do some of the foot work and contact the creditor that issued the debt or reported the entry and make sure that your account with them is in good standing or resolved. Then provide solid proof to the reporting bureaus about your new account status.

How do I get my report?
To get a free credit report sent directly to you or downloaded instantly check out this new offer that includes free identity theft protection for 30 days. Enjoy the benefits of proper credit monitoring and identity theft when you get your free credit report from identitylookout.com today.