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Protect Your Credit Score From Identity Theft
If you have good financial habits such as paying your bill on time, paying your credit card balance in full, have regular saving and so forth, your credit score may still be lower than what you expected. While it is possible that it is due to some small financial mistake or oversight you have made in the past, it is possible that you are victim of identity theft.
Identity theft is a form of crime in which unscrupulous people take your personal information and use that information to pose as you. This enables them to apply for credit cards or loans using your identity. Since they have no intention of paying back the money, you are stuck with the large debts and a poor credit score.
Some identity theft experts can even steal your PIN for your bank accounts. They will access your private bank accounts and steal your money using wire transfer.
There are many things you can do to prevent identity theft. One of them is to check your bank and credit card account statements carefully each month. You should keep all the receipts for every transaction you made during the month. Then match them against the entries in your bank statements. You should report any suspicious activities or charges you don't recognize to the banks or credit card companies immediately or as soon as you can.
It is advisable to keep a copy of all the contact numbers of all the financial institutions you deal with. This is very useful for reporting loss of your credit cards or ATM cards.
In addition, you should also check your credit report regularly, preferably at least once every six months. If there is any new credit accounts that you do not recognize, you must immediately submit a dispute to the credit bureaus.
If you have been the victim of identity theft, report the matter to the police quickly and get a police statement. Send copies of this statement to your banks and credit card companies. You should also send a copy to each of the credit bureaus. Get them to attach the police statement to your credit report.
You should also consider closing your accounts and reopen new ones. If this not feasible, you should change the PIN for your bank accounts and password for Internet banking accounts. For credit cards, you can call up the credit card companies and request them to issue new cards to you.
Identity theft is here to stay and you should do everything you can to prevent it from happening to you.
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