Safeguard Your Identity with an Annual Credit Report?

Answer 1

In the modern world, consumers find themselves exchanging valuable information with people on a daily basis. This information, however, can be used to destroy someone’s financial well-being if placed in the wrong hands. The ability of someone to use another’s sensitive information to get loans, credit cards, or even pay medical bills is known as identity theft, and has become increasingly commonplace. Thankfully, a free annual credit report can prevent complete financial ruin by stopping an identity thief early.

The United States government offers any citizen a free annual credit report once a year, as mandated by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act passed in 2003. The website, AnnualCreditReport.com, is operated by the three main credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Any citizen now has the right to check their free annual credit report once a year from all three credit reporting bureaus. In addition, getting a report from AnnualCreditReport.com does not impact a credit score negatively, unlike credit reports requested from a bank or credit union.

The information contained in a credit report is personal data, credit history, and inquiries. The personal data contains information like address, social security number, and employer. It is from the latter two, however, where an American citizen can see if his or her identity has been used in fraudulent transactions.

The credit history section contains a list of all lines of credit established throughout the previous year, with whom they were established, and when they were established. Obviously, if someone finds a home loan on here that he or she did not sign for, he or she may very well be a victim of identity theft.

The inquiries section lists all of the requests to see this credit report over the previous year. Again, this is a place to look for identity theft prevention. If a free annual credit report lists an inquiry from an establishment where a person has never conducted business, he or she may be a victim of identity theft.

With the information on a free annual credit report, United States citizens can be armed with the information needed to stop identity theft before it dominates their finances.