Monitor Your Financial Identity Review Your Credit Report
Why is monitoring my credit report important?
One step to ensure that no one has stolen your financial identity or established fraudulent credit in your name is to review your credit report. There are three large credit reporting agencies – Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax – that receive, store, and make information available on the borrowing of most consumers.
The credit agencies receive information when someone applies for credit as well as the payment history on most individual borrowing. Lenders can then access that information when they are considering making loans to individuals. To ensure that your information is correct and that no one has taken loans in your name, you should know what is in your credit report.
Where can I get a free credit report?
The Federal Trade Commission established a program with the three credit agencies that enable consumers to receive a copy of their credit reports from each of the three credit agencies once a year. You can request and receive the free reports at the AnnualCreditReport.com website. You can also request the reports by phone 1-(877) 322-8228 and by mail.
This is the only government-authorized program for this service. AnnualCreditReport.com does not solicit consumers by email, telemarketing, or direct mail. You should be very wary of advertisements promising free credit reports or credit report monitoring. They are probably attempting to sell reports or services that you probably do not need.
You can also call the credit reporting agencies directly, but there may be a charge.
Where can I get credit monitoring, identity theft protection, and identity theft resolution?
Alternatively, you could open a Secure Checking account with 1st National Bank. Secure Checking is a checking account that comes with many benefits including credit monitoring. Credit monitoring will notify you when there is a new account opened or if there has been a credit inquiry in your name. Secure Checking also comes with IDProtect.
IDProtect searches and monitors thousands of databases and billions of records looking for suspicious activity that could indicate the beginning steps of identify theft. Proactive early warning is the key to helping prevent or reduce the damaging effects of identity theft. IDProtect will run an initial scan following registration and a monthly scan to look for suspicious activity.
Should you do fall victim to identity theft Secure Checking has your back. It comes with identity theft resolution which pairs you with a dedicated fraud specialist will be assigned to your case. Your experienced recovery professional will handle the recovery process until your identity is restored. In the event you experienced a monetary loss, expense reimbursement helps pay expenses associated with restoring your identity.
Learn More About Secure CheckingConclusion
You should review your credit report carefully when you receive it. Do not be surprised if the reports are somewhat different from the different companies. Each company gets information from many sources. If you find the information in your file is inaccurate or unfair, you can take steps to correct it or at least get your side of the story attached to your file. If a creditor has made an inaccurate complaint, you can write to the creditor and insist the record be corrected. You should also write to the credit bureau and request their records be corrected.
If you see totally unusual items in your report, contact the credit agencies immediately.
The material provided on this Website should be used for informational purposes only and in no way should be relied upon for financial advice. Also, note that such material is not updated regularly and some of the information may not, therefore, be current. Please be sure to consult your own financial advisor when making decisions regarding your financial management.
The descriptions herein are summaries only and do not include all terms, conditions, and exclusions of the Benefits described. Please refer to the actual Guide to Benefit for complete details of coverage and exclusions. Coverage is offered through the company named in the Guide to Benefit.
