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You know that your credit report is important; the information contained in your credit report can determine how much you pay in interest on loan, as well as determine whether or not you get a job, or what you pay in insurance premiums. You want to be able to access your credit report for free, to see what is inside – and possibly identify fraudulent accounts that could mean that your identity has been stolen.
Getting Your Free Credit Report Online
Once a year, you are entitled to a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. You can go to www.annualcreditreport.com to get access to your free credit report. Be wary of web sites that advertise “free” access to your credit report online. Many of these sites require that you sign up for a paid credit monitoring service before you get access to your free credit report. Annual Credit Report is the only official site for your free credit report online.
You can also get a free credit report in some cases by calling each credit bureau and placing a “fraud alert” on your report. This alert is an indication that someone might be trying to steal your identity. It makes it more difficult to open accounts in your name, and requires that lenders contact you before opening accounts, in order to verify that you are truly the one applying for credit. A fraud alert can be a way to limit those able to get a credit account in your name, and it can result in a free credit report.
In Canada, it is important to note that you are entitled to a free credit report when you write in. You won’t get your free Canadian credit report online, but you can get a free copy by visiting the Canadian credit bureaus’ web sites and getting the addresses for writing in. This can be a great tool as you combat identity thieves.
Other Ways to Protect Yourself from Identity Thieves
While a fraud alert can protect you from identity thieves, there are other steps you can take to keep your personal information safe. If you don’t want to go through extra verification steps when you apply for credit, a fraud alert is inappropriate. Instead, be careful about what information you give out, and to whom you give it. Here are some steps to take to improve your safety:
Don’t give out your full account or Social Security numbers to people who ask.
Be on the alert for phishing scams with your email. Don’t click on links in emails; instead, open a new tab or window and enter the homepage of the site you want to visit.
Shred documents that contain personal financial information before throwing them out.
Make sure you are on a secure site before completing online transactions. (Look for the “s” at the end of “http”, or the lock icon, to determine if the site is secure.)
Check your bank accounts regularly to catch suspicious activities and purchases.
Choose different passwords for different accounts. That way, if a thief gets into one account, he or she can’t get into all of them.
Realize that there is no completely full-proof way to protect against identity theft. However, you can protect yourself, as well as catch identity theft early, if you are vigilant, and check your credit report regularly.
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