Identity Theft Protection Articles

Tips to Improve Your Credit

Bad credit is both stressful and costly to you financial well-being. Here are some things you can do to begin improve your credit report and credit score .

1. Get a copy of your credit report
You can’t begin repairing your credit until you know exactly what you need to work on. Obtain a copy of your Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring to find out which accounts need work and which are just fine.

2. Stop using your credit cards
In a bad credit situation, one of the worst things you can do is continue accumulating debt by making credit card purchases. Put your credit cards away until you have more control of the situation.

3. Clean up your credit report
If your credit report contains incorrect information, you have the right to have it removed. Your credit report will include information about disputing inaccurate information with the credit bureaus.

4. Get current on delinquent accounts
Your payment history makes up 40% of your credit score. Getting current on your delinquent accounts will have a great impact on your credit score.

5. Don’t put in any more credit applications
As long as your credit is in repair mode, you should avoid making any more applications for credit. It’s likely that you’ll get turned down for credit and the applications will only decrease your credit score.

6. Keep accounts with balances open
You might be tempted to close out credit card accounts that have become delinquent, but wait. Before you close any account make sure it won’t negatively affect your credit.

7. Call your creditors
Right now they’re certainly the last people you want to talk to, but you’d be surprised at the help you might receive. Talk to your creditors about your situation. Many of them have temporary hardship programs that will reduce your monthly payments until you can get back on your feet..

8. Pay off your debts
You will have to start paying off your debts to improve your credit situation. If you don’t have the money on hand, sell some of your belongings to speed up the process. It will be a sacrifice, but the financial freedom you gain will be worth it.

9. Be patient
Your credit wasn’t damaged overnight, so don’t expect it to improve in that amount of time. Continue paying your debts and over time you will see an improvement in your credit.

10. Get proactive identity theft protection
Checkout our top rated identity theft protection services to help stop identity theft impacting your credit before it happens from TrustedID, Identity Guard, LifeLock, ProtectMyID, and ID Patrol from Equifax.

Credit Theft Protection

Credit theft is a crime in which someone uses your Social Security number for their own personal financial gain. The good news is that you take certain steps to protect yourself against credit theft as follows:

  • Sign up for Proactive Identity Theft Protection from TrustedID, LifeLock, Identity Guard, ProtectMyID or ID Patrol.
  • Check your credit report regularly by signing up for a Equifax Credit Report Monitoring Service to stay on top of your credit report from the three major credit bureaus  
  • Report the crime to your local police department. Get a copy of the police’s Identity Theft report to use when dealing with credit reporting agencies.
  • Close all credit and bank accounts after the theft with the time limitations. Plan on contacting debit card companies within 2 business days, and credit card companies within 60 days of the first statement affected by the theft.
  • Place fraud alerts on all your credit reports, so that the thief cannot open more accounts. Credit bureaus agencies will verify your identity by use of special codes or passwords that you will set up with them. Regularly check your credit reports for fraudulent activity taking place in your name.
  • Keep records of all the credit companies you contact by phone or mail. It may take repeated efforts to fix your credit so it helps to have the name of the person you wrote or spoke to.
  • File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. This agency assists victims of identity theft around the country, and it can even refer your case to other law enforcement agencies.
  • Order a statement of activity from the Social Security Administration. If income or benefits are listed that you have not received, you must contact Social Security Administration immediately. You’ll get a new Social Security card if the abuse has been significant.

Credit Consumer Scams

Here are the top five most popular credit fraud consumer scams that everyone needs to beware of and avoid falling victim to these scams.  

Credit repair. Credit-repair companies often run advertisements in newspapers, radio, TV, and the Internet, offering consumers assistance, for a price, to clean up their credit histories. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that most of the claims these credit repair companies make— like removing judgments, liens, and other unfavorable information from your credit records are bogus. Crdit repair firms cannot legally remove accurate negative information from a credit report and any legitimate help they can offer can be pursued by consumers themselves, at little or no cost by going direct to the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUntion).

Advance-fee loans. These unethical advanced-fee loan lenders appeal to consumers who, based on their credit history, can’t get a loan from regular banks. These scammers falsely promise that for an advance payment, even consumers with bad credit histories can qualify to get a loan. Some of these lenders make money through the 900 numbers that charge consumers who call to find out about the loans. Others simply charge consumers a fee for a loan that is never delivered to the consumer.

Home equity. Deceitful financial home loan lenders target consumers who have good credit, but have a bad cash flow. They offer credit based not on income or the ability to repay, but on the equity of the home. Exploitative lenders may take advantage of the borrower by abusive practices such as “loan flipping” by repeatedly talking the borrower into refinancing the loan, which adds to the cost of the debt. If you don’t have enough income to make the monthly payments, you will probably lose your home, as many consumers do through these schemes.

Identity theft. The identity theft crime occurs when rip off artists steal credit card numbers, social security numbers, mother’s maiden names, or other personally-identifying information without one’s knowledge, to tap into the good credit histories of consumers. They then set up new credit accounts, charge purchases to existing accounts, or drain bank accounts. Frequently, consumers don’t know that their credit identities have been stolen until they get bills for credit card accounts that they never opened, see charges on their bills that they didn’t know anything about, get turned down for credit loans or discover that their bank accounts have been fraudulently accessed.

File segregation. This illegal scam is used by credit-repair companies to encourage consumers with unfavorable credit histories to obtain new taxpayer identification or employer identification numbers from the Internal Revenue Service under false pretenses and use them to hide their true credit identities from creditors. For a fee, the companies promise advice on how to go about segregating their credit files. File segregation is illegal and consumers who employ it are committing a felony and get fined or sentenced to jail time.

If you have a problem with any of the scams described here, contact your local consumer protection agency, state attorney general, or Better Business Bureau. Credit consumer scam victims lose a great deal of time, money and peace of mind. In addition, it can take years to repair damaged credit and your good reputation. Therefore, it is wise always remember that if something sounds too good to be true then it probably is a scam that you need to stay away from.

As always, we encourage consumers to also take a few simple preventative steps to protect yourself as much as possible against identity theft before it happens.

  • Keep an eye on your mail. Know when your account statements come; pay attention to your finances; obtain a copy of your Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring; and make sure you check for fraud regularly.

Benefits of Credit Reports and Credit Score Monitoring Services

Credit reports provides details of your individual credit history. This history includes personal identification information, a listing of credit accounts and loans, payment record on those accounts (particularly late payments), defaults, charge-offs, repossessions, and bankruptcies, and recent inquiries from third parties (such as potential lenders or insurers) about the credit report. Credit reports are compiled by specialized data aggregation companies called Credit Reporting Agencies or credit bureaus. The Big Three Credit Bureaus in the United States are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

The accuracy of your Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring is important because your credit history affects so many areas of your life. Planning to buy an auto or boat? How about a mortgage to buy your own home? Or maybe you just want to open a charge account or get a credit card. Lenders use your credit history to determine whether to give you the loan or account and how much interest you’ll pay. Potential employers often check credit reports before offering you a job and landlords before renting you an apartment. Most insurance companies now use an insurance score based on your credit history to help determine the rate you’ll pay for auto insurance, and some use it for homeowners insurance.
Checking your Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring regularly is important because your credit history plays such a big role in these areas of life, making sure that your report is accurate helps you manage your credit to accomplish your financial goals.
  • First, every consumer should monitor his or her Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring to check for errors and false, misleading, or incomplete information. Various studies have found that as many as 75 percent of credit reports may have errors.
  • Second, because identity thieves steal your personal information typically to steal your money, they often open accounts in your name or co-opt your accounts (run up charges and don’t pay) or they may do other things in your name that show up negatively on your credit record. Monitoring your Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring regularly won’t stop identity thieves, but it is one way to spot potential identity theft as quickly as possible so that you can take steps to stop it.
The Equifax 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring is not a deterrent to identity theft, but simply a potential early warning. In general, the service promise to check your report regularly for suspicious activity and alert you. This checking ranges from daily to quarterly. They also provide your FICO credit score again at stated intervals. You may be able to view your report online anytime, but the services again typically update the report only at stated intervals, which can be lengthy. Some offer “fraud resolution” services and fraud insurance though just what those include again varies.
Both the credit industry and consumer experts in privacy and personal finance agree that individuals need to monitor their credit reports regularly. Our conclusion is that each consumer must make an effort to check their credit report and score at least twice a year.

TrustedID Review

TrustedID is our number one rated review for proactive identity theft protection service. TrustedID have received respectable consumer ratings, averaging a score of 80% satisfaction. Their customer base is large and growing, and TrustedId has been endorsed by the Identity Theft Resource Center, the most respected identity theft protection advocacy group in the U.S.

TrustedID was founded in 2005 by Scott Mitic, formerly a vice president at Fair Issac, creators of the FICO lending score. Scott Mitic has stated publically his reason for starting TrustedID was he got tired of watching credit bureaus place greater importance on selling consumer’s data than protecting it. TrustedID is designed to offer proactive identity theft protection and has proven to be the most comprehensive solution for protecting families against identity theft.

With great security features and additional safety services, TrustedID provides exceptional comprehensive identity theft protection service for helping protect both you and your family against identity theft. And more than helping defend your good name, they will help you resolve any problems with their service that you may encounter should you become the victim of identity theft. For what’s at stake should you become a victim of identity theft, TrustedID offer tremendous value to protect both you and your family against identity theft.

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