CatDad asked:


Last week I made a purchase on a “secure” site that ended up not being secure. The company notified me that they had a security breach. Sure enough, my card was compromised and I had one fraudulent charge. I immediately called WaMu and canceled the card.

Whoever did this has my name, address, phone # and my (now canceled) credit card number. My date of birth can be pulled off the Internet. They do NOT have my SS#.

Question: To be on the safe side, should I enroll in the Equifax credit monitoring to make sure that there won’t be any identity theft attempts, or would this be overkill?

Rachel

Jill Mohler asked:




I think that we are all well aware that we have fallen on hard economic times. People react to economic decline by reducing or eliminating the spending of disposable income and begin to reassess their finances. More than likely, the person of average income will focus on how they will make ends meet and how to keep up with their monthly payments on their mortgage and their car because they know that making their payments late or not at all will negatively affect their credit standing.

That’s why credit monitoring is so crucial to your financial well being. By monitoring your credit or having a credit monitoring service do it for you, you have given your credit an additional layer of protection. Your credit standing affects so many facets of your life, from buying a home to obtaining a job to being able to get credit to buy furniture and other expensive items, so why jeopardize it? Moreover, it’s the digital age and an enormous amount of personal information is floating around in cyberspace where clever hackers are just waiting for a chance to hack in and steal it, such as your Social Security Number, Address, and even credit card information.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, 10 million consumers fall victim to some type of identity theft each year. In fact, identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. and Canada.
Credit Monitoring services originated as a result of an epidemic of financial fraud and identity theft. It was the three CRA’s (Credit Reporting Agencies), Experian, Equifax and TransUnion that first began offering these services to the public. Then came an outpouring of credit monitoring services, some reputable and some not.

There are many arguments for an against credit monitoring. Read a blog or two or Google “Credit Monitoring” and you will undoubtedly find a plethora of articles saying that credit monitoring services are scams, that their level of protection isn’t worth the money you spend on them and they aren’t effective in preventing identity theft. Then there’s the side of the people saying they’ve been the victim of identity theft and that credit monitoring services CAN prevent your identity from being stolen and NOT having a credit monitoring service is like playing Russian roulette with your credit.

Which side should we believe? We do need to be aware of credit monitoring scams. There are many credit monitoring services who claim that you can get a free credit report if you give them a 30-day trial, and even when you meet the terms of their agreement, which is to cancel before the trial period is up; they’ll still charge you for a month of services. To prevent this from happening, check any company you are planning to utilize, against the Better Business Bureau.

It’s important to note that it could take up to 30 days for a security breach to show up on your credit report. Credit monitoring services are not full-proof safeguards. They can only help to soften the impact of financial fraud. If you have chosen a service that only checks one of your reports, let’s say from Equifax, then it’s possible that a breach can occur on one of your reports at Experian or TransUnion and you would not be aware of it until the damage has already been done. That’s why your best defense is to purchase a three bureau monitoring product. This type of monitoring service monitors your reports from all 3 CRA’s and thus makes it less likely that someone can steal your personal information.

Take action right now. Make the decision to have a credit monitoring service protect your credit report or get educated on how to self-monitor. The cost of protecting your credit definitely outweighs the cost to your bank account if someone decides to steal your money or your identity.

Jesse

Melek asked:


Last time they charged me $14.95 coz I didn’t saw that you have to cancel within the 7 days trial period. That’s ok with me. So I cancelled it, and they told that I’m not gonna be charged anymore. I recieved a confirmation email that I canelled it blah2x. So now, I got another email from them, and they said,

“This email alert is to notify you that a key change has been posted to one of your three national Credit Reports. To view your complete alert report, please sign into https://www.freecreditreport.com/Login.aspx

We monitor your Experian®, Equifax®, and TransUnion® Credit Reports daily and alert you if key changes are detected, including potential signs of Identity Theft. Key changes include:
New accounts
Inquiries
Potentially negative information
Public records
Address changes
We’re glad you made the right decision by choosing FreeCreditReport.com® – the trusted leader in online credit monitoring, reports and scores. Should you have any questions concerning your membership, please contact Customer Care at 1-866-274-5002. For your convenience, we are open Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. (Pacific Time).

Sincerely,

Customer Care
FreeCreditReport.com”

DO I HAVE TO CHECK IT? OR SHOULD I JUST LEAVE IT ALONE COZ THAT’S NORMAL? I’m just tryin to make sure, coz I’m scared if log in and type my SSN and charge me again…LOL

Brandon

Kristy Annely asked:




The three major credit bureaus in the United States are Equifax (based in Atlanta), Experian (based in Costa Mesa, California), and TransUnion (based in Chicago). There are many credit monitoring services which help you to escape from being a victim of fraud by alerting you about the slight changes in your credit daily or weekly by referring to credit bureau reports.

The three credit bureaus differ in their processes of determining the credit score according to the retrieval of information, and report of information. The three major credit reporting agencies determine their own FICO (Fair Isaac & Co. Credit scoring) scores. But each of the agencies gives the scores a different name ? Equifax calls it the Beacon credit score, Experian making it as Experian/Fair, Isaac Risk Model and TransUnion calling as Empirica.

Experion credit report includes the financial behavior and identification information of a consumer. These reports can be obtained through your creditors, public records and other reliable sources. TransUnion credit reporting contains identifying information, items that may affect your creditworthiness, credit history or trade lines and inquiries. But it does not contain the details regarding medical histories, business accounts, and the major purchases that are paid in full.

Till the recent past, these three major credit bureaus had their own strategies and methodologies for making the credit report and rank consumers’ creditworthiness. But, now they have jointly adopted a new method called VantageScore system – a standardized formula. By this method, even though the credit scores remain different it will be easy for the consumers to understand the differences more readily than before. This will provide the consumers and businesses to have a highly predictive, consistent score. In general, apart from preventing identity theft, a credit reporting system can greatly reduce its impact by its service efforts.

Colleen

Anvinraj V. S. asked:




Credit monitoring is the report issued by the regulatory authorities of the state, to describe credit worthiness of an individual or an organization. This report considers the past credit history, the present financial status, etc to rank the credit worthiness. This is done to monitor the possible fraud as well as the changes in the financial status.

The monitoring is based on some statistical parameters, called the credit scores. If your score is low, the more risky it would be to get the credited amount back. The monitoring is done by the TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. However, online facilities are there to get the free ratings from any of these regulatory bodies.

Free credit scores websites allow you to view your credit report by simply entering your email address or your login ID from any of the three regulatory bodies. The reason why you should view your reports regularly is because it will help you in keeping track of your credit status. If anything abnormal is observed, it is reported instantly to the user to make the preventive actions. Since, it is not always possible to maintain the status and the credit monitoring on a daily basis by physical checking, so the online service is sought after.

The scores are important for both short and long term credit. One can look for a hefty amount to meet the emergency, or in order to invest it on a long term basis. A bad score can hamper the opportunity to get future credit sanctioned. In this regard, the help from the credit consulting agencies serve their purpose. They, with a thorough monitoring on the client’s financial status, generate the credit report. They make valuable suggestions as well to improve the score.

The online credit appraisal organizations in some cases work on behalf of their clients as well. As we know, the credit appraisal requires the secret financial data of the client like the account identity passwords etc. Once they are submitted online, there is every opportunity to get the data hacked by unauthorized users. The organization, in this regard act as a safeguard for the client to maintain the secrecy of the data, apart from this facility, they sometime act as the representative for their clients and act as the intermediary between the client and the credit sanctioning institute.

As a part of the credit monitoring, the organizations that provide the service of free credit scores are the indispensable option for the individual to get an improved score. An improved score can be achieved only by effectively designing the credit accounts. The organizations also provide enough support and valuable inputs in doing that. But the most important criteria is the trustworthiness of the organization. Today internet is the biggest source of information, and before visiting, one can easily check the market reviews as well as the cost. Once the research about these is made, it is easy to make a choice.

Chad

Cornie Herring asked:




Bankruptcy often is the last ultimate solution for many debtors who have unbearable debts. With filing a bankruptcy, you will get rid of your debts instantly and relief you from the harassing call of your creditors.

Although bankruptcy has many undesirable consequences such as your bad credit record will remain on your credit report for 7-10 years, but with a little work, you can improve your credit even before these negative records expire. Here are five easy steps you can take to rebuild your credit.

Step 1: Get to know your current credit status

The first step to rebuilding your credit is to look at exactly where you stand. Order all your three credit reports from those three national credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You can order these reports online, it easy and secure.

Print each report and review it closely. Try to understand the information listed in your credit reports and highlight any negative records or inaccuracies that are damaging your credit score.

Step 2: Check the expiration dates

By law, your bad credit record will remain in your credit report for 7 to 10 years, but the exact expiry date might be different among these 3 reports. Your bad record will still remain at your credit report although you have pay off your old debts and discharge from bankruptcy.

Look up the exact date of each of bad records including judgments, liens, charge-offs, late payments, bankruptcy filings, and collection records. You will likely see a major improvement in your credit score when these records expire.

Step 3: Request For Correct On Any Inaccurate Records

If you find inaccurate records, fraudulent accounts, or records that should have expired on you credit reports, you have the right to send a separate dispute letter to each of the credit bureaus to correct your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion records. The bureaus will initial a 30 days investigation to see whether your requests are valid and if so, they will correct the inaccuracy in your credit report.

Just one note, don’t try to dispute any of the positive information listed in your credit reports and it is a waste of time to attempt to dispute these records. Disputing positive information may actually harm your credit scores.

Step 4: Start to create good credits

Since there is no way to remove your bad record from your credit report, the best way to improve your credit score is to add good credits and building up your credit from there. You can easy do this by open up a new credit card from banks like Orchard Bank (Orchard bank has credit card plan designed specially to help people rebuild their credit after bankruptcy).

Use this new credit card responsibly and make the monthly payment timely; with this you are building new history of good credit behavior on your credit report. Over time, you may want to open additional credit card accounts or obtain a loan to boost your credit score even higher.

Step 5: Monitor your progress

Subscribe to a credit card monitoring service or get a credit card monitoring software and use it to track your credit score progress closely. Your credit score should improve steadily as you continue to use credit responsibly and add new positive information to your credit reports.

Summary

Bankruptcy does not need to chain you to bad credit for the next seven to ten years, but you have to be proactive in order to recover and rebuild your credit.

Leo

crstom185 asked:


the problem is simple my fatther and i have the exact same name only the different middle initial

he is H.G.M
i am H.C.M

i just turned 18 a while ago and am now trying to set up credit. so i asked my bank to first enroll me in a credit monitoring program. and this is where the bad begins, after enrolling in the program they found that my credit (which i have none) and my fathers have been mixed in all the 3 institutions, equifax, trans union an the other one. now my father has bad credit so it is being applied to my social security as well as his. and when i access the report, all of his debts come up under my name as well and it shows his birth date instead of mine. My question is how do i go bout changing this because my bank was no help whatsoever.

David

Bart Newman asked:




Credit reports are very important in many ways. It does not only tell you your credit standing, it also helps you on your loan, credit card, and job applications. These reports are generally the basis for the approval of such applications. For this reason, having an updated copy of the report at least once a year is very important. And if you want to know the best ways to order a credit report, you’ve come to the right place.

There are three ways to order a credit report. One way is to print out the annual credit report request form and mail the copy to the agencies that offer free report. And if you’re not comfortable with this method, you may order the report by phone.

There are three major agencies where you can get this report from. These are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. What’s great about them is that they offer free once a year. Here’s how you can order a credit report from each of these agencies.

Experian

Ordering this report through Experian is pretty easy. You just need to fill out a request form and you’ll get your the report in a matter of seconds. After viewing your report, take note of the report number in case you need to view it again within 30 days.

Equifax

With Equifax, you’re offered various features and product promotions. And although you’re not really required to get the extra services that this company offers, you may avail of their credit monitoring and analysis services at a discounted price. Equifax also allows you to view the report again within 30 days.

TransUnion

As a new TransUnion user, you would need to create your own account with them. And if you already have an account, log in to view your credit report. Like other two agencies, TransUnion allows you to view your report again within a 30-day period.

Although it is not really recommended that you constantly check your report, there may be times that you would need to view them again even after you’ve used up all your freebies.

Aside from these the three bureaus, there are also other online sites where you can order a credit report. At any time, you can purchase this information online by subscribing to monitoring program that offers regular access to this data. But just be vigilant to make sure that they are credible companies. There are sites that pretend to give your report after you fill out a request form but are actually scammers trying to steal your personal information.

Gladys

ILUVTOFU asked:


All three?
[Equifax, Experian, TransUnion]
I want to know my FICO score, but want to know if every credit bureau has their very own FICO score.

And does MyFico offer monitoring for all 3 bureaus? [for individual credit scores]

Lee

Bart Newman asked:




Importance of Credit Report

Every single American citizen are entitled to acquiring a copy of their free annual credit report, thus “how can I order all three of my credit reports” is one of the commonly asked questions that are involved in credit monitoring. Thus, you need to ensure that you order a copy for yourself since it can serve you multiple purposes. Simply put, your report holds vital information about your credit status and rating.

Therefore, this is where you and your future creditor can obtain all the useful financial information, such as past and existing loans, credit card history, debt information, mortgages, and the like. This is one reason why your credit company seeks for your report upon filing for loan since it reflects your payment history, such that they can determine whether you are a risk to the company, should they decide to approve you for a loan.

How can I order all three of my credit reports?

Getting your report should definitely start with asking yourself: “How can I order all three of my credit reports?”

There are several methods of contacting the three major credit agencies, which are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, so you can get your free copy. The most basic step you can do to ask for a copy of your free report is to check out the website for Annual Credit Report and file your request. You will be provided a form that you must fill up with some basic details that the service needs to identify your copy. Then, you must decide which specific report from what agency you’d like to get first. You do have a choice whether to order all of the credit report from all three agencies at the same time, or not.

You must also complete different authentication process for each report from the respective credit agencies. Make sure you have prepared vital documents such as loan accounts or credit information handy, since it will be used by the credit report agency to verify your identity.

You can also try different means of contacting any of the three agencies, such as calling them through their landline numbers, checking out their individual websites, or send them a letter of request via their respective mailing addresses. For this sending a request over the phone though, some agency like Equifax require that a written request be made as follow up, wherein you will be asked to suffice some other details such as address, date of birth, name, SSN, and driver’s license, among others.

If your request to order all three reports has been completed, it will instantly appear online. Then, you can print out your own copy of the report and review over the information contained in it to identify possible errors and make credit repair. If no reports for correction are made, the information contained in your report will be considered valid and final.

Your question, “How can I order all three of my credit reports?” is fairly easy to answer once you know the steps involved.

Bill