Check Credit Reports to Help Foil Identity Theft
One of the best ways to protect yourself from identity theft is to keep a close watch on your credit reports, which you can order free of charge. Identity theft scams are designed to let criminals loot your bank accounts, max out your credit cards, and open new loan and credit card accounts in your name before you even realize there is a problem.
By regularly monitoring your free credit reports, you may be able to spot any unusual activity on your credit card accounts--often the first sign of identity theft--and take action before it is too late.
Get Your Free Credit Reports
You can get one free credit report every year from each of the three national credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It is important to order reports from all three credit bureaus, because not all creditors report to all three bureaus and you are likely to find discrepancies among the three reports.
You may request all three free credit reports at once, or stagger your requests by ordering from a different bureau every four months. Ordering all three free credit reports at the same time makes it easy to compare them. On the other hand, the staggered approach enables you to keep an even closer watch on your credit history, to note changes sooner, and to stay current on what potential creditors are seeing when they check your credit reports.
Free Credit Reports Can Help You Manage Your Finances
Keeping track of your credit history by checking your credit reports regularly not only helps you guard against identity theft, it also makes good financial sense for other reasons.
- Stay Current: Keeping up to date on what your credit report says about you provides a strategic opportunity for you to resolve any outstanding issues that could lower your credit score and undermine your ability to get credit approval the next time you apply.
- Correct Mistakes: Errors sometimes occur on credit reports—a loan listed as active that you paid off years earlier, or a bankruptcy by someone with the same name and mistakenly listed on your credit report. Getting those problems corrected is much easier and less stressful when you’re not in the middle of negotiating a mortgage loan or trying to buy a new car.
- Track Your Payments: Credit reports also show whether you make your payments on time. You may be extremely conscientious about on-time payments, but you can’t control what happens after you mail the check or hit the SEND button (if you’re paying online). If some of your payments have been delayed, your credit report may show delinquencies. If you call your creditors and explain, they may agree to adjust the information. But if you don’t check your credit report regularly, you won’t know about the late payments in your credit history.
You can order your free annual credit reports by phone, toll-free, at 1-877-322-8228, or online from AnnualCreditReport.com, a service set up by the three nationwide credit bureaus to help consumers review and manage their credit histories.
If you prefer, you can also order your free credit reports by mail. Just follow these three easy steps:
- Download the request form [pdf]
- Print and complete the form
- Mail the completed form to:
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
No matter how to choose to order your free credit reports, allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.
Ordering and reviewing your free credit reports regularly is one of the best investments you can make in your financial security--by protecting yourself against identity theft and being smarter about how you manage your money. Why not start today?
