Identity Theft

 

Credit monitoring provides a useful way of helping to protect against identity theft.

ID Theft Protection

A credit score is based on personal financial information about you and keeping up-to-date and checking it on a regular basis helps to protect yourself.

There are 4 sections of a credit information:-

• Personal information
• Credit history
• Public records
• Inquiries
  

Personal information

It is worthwhile to check that your personal data (such as name and address) are correct. If you find any discrepancies aside from basic spelling mistakes it may be that your identity has been compromised due to id theft.

Credit history

Your credit history documents all the borrowings that have taken place and includes the names of lenders, when accounts have been opened and closed, credit limits granted, outstanding balances, delinquencies, debt collections made or accounts written off.

It is important that you check your credit history for accuracy as errors can be made by the credit bureaus in reporting. For instance it may be that a family member's details have been included in your credit data by mistake.

Public records

This section includes any details of court judgments, liens and bankruptcy protection filings and so ensuring it only discloses correct information is essential. Any inaccuracies due to identity theft or for any other reason could adversely affect your credit score and should be removed.

Inquiries

Companies will sometimes make inquiries about you prior to providing or offering a service.

Hard inquiries are made as a result of services requested by yourself such as a loan, credit card or other forms of finance.

Soft inquiries are those that originate from service providers who want to see if your credit credentials are applicable to the services they offer.

In general a high number of inquiries has a negative effect on your credit score as it often indicates you have credit problems.

ID theft may have occurred if the inquiries are made by a company that is not relevant to your circumstances.

 

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