Credit & Identity Theft - Research Paper Example

Credit and Identity Theft Identity theft is a crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another persons personal information in some way that involves fraud or deception. It can severely damage your finances, your credit history, and your reputation.There are many steps that you can take to protect your personal information and your identity. You should very carefully go over your financial statements such as bank statements and credit cards bills and do so frequently. The faster you find out that your credit or your identity has been tampered with, the faster and easier it will be to repair whatever damage has been done.

You should know all of your payment due dates. Make a list of all your regular due dates and if a bill doesn’t show up, look into it right away. You should always review your medical insurance claims and statements. Medical costs are so high that it would only take one or two fraudulent claims to leave you owing thousands of dollars for treatments someone else received. Another way to protect yourself is to invest in a paper shredder. There is just so much information on so many different bills and statements that can easily fall into the wrong hands.

Before you throw away anything with any personal information on it, shred it!Another good idea to take advantage of the three free credit reports that you can access every year. You can space them apart so that you can review a credit report every 4 months. Not only is it important to keep someone from accessing your identity or your credit but it’s just as important that you become aware of it right away. The longer it goes undetected, the longer it will take you to repair your name, your identity and your credit.

It’s important to keep in mind that this is a global problem. Last year I got a phone call from my credit card company asking if I had made two charges totally about $1000 in France. They told me that the two charges were actually “swipes” at two stores in Paris, France which means that someone had actually made up a fake credit card with my credit card number on it and passed it through a credit card machine. Even though they didn’t allow the two charges I felt violated that somehow somebody had gotten my credit card information.

Mine was a small case. Some people have been financially ruined with their bank accounts emptied; credit cards “maxed” out, home and car loans initiated without the victim’s knowledge until it was too late.As I stated earlier, if your identity is stolen it is important that you find out as quickly as possible to minimize the damage. The first thing you should do is place a Fraud Alert. Ask one of the three credit reporting companies to put a fraud alert on your credit report. They are obligated to notify the other 2 credit agencies.

This is free to you. This makes it harder for the identity thief to open more accounts in your name. It will last for 90 days but you can renew it. The next step is to order your credit reports. Review all of the information and contact any companies that have used by the identity thief. Once you have the reports, create an Identity Theft Report. To create one, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and print your Identity Theft Affidavit. Use this to file a police report. The Affidavit and police report form the Identity Theft Report.

You can use this report to get fraudulent information removed from your credit report. It will stop a company from collecting debts from the identity theft and place an extended fraud alert on your credit report. You can also get information from companies about accounts the identity thief opened or tampered with.The best advice I can offer is to protect and guard your personal information. This can help reduce the risk of identity theft. There are four main ways to do it: know who you share information with; store and dispose of your personal information securely, especially your Social Security number; ask questions before deciding to share your personal information; and maintain appropriate security on your computers and other electronic devices.

Don’t let down your guard. There are many people out there just looking for their next victim; don’t that that victim be you.ReferencesFederal Trade Commission, Consumer Information. (2013). Identity Theft. Retrieved from Federal Trade Commission website:http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0014- identity-theft