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The process is simple. Once you sign up for the plan, you will be notified any time significant changes appear on your credit report. Such changes would include the opening of new credit accounts, a check of your credit, a change of address, late payments, or notifications of liens, lawsuits or legal judgments against you. Should you receive such a notification, you can then contact any agency that would be appropriate to the change. If you saw that an account had been opened in your name at a department store, you could contact them as well as the credit bureau to inform them of the fraudulent activity.
There is a free alternative to the paid monitoring plans. That would be to take advantage of the free credit report authorized by Congress last year. Most Americans can now obtain one free credit report per year from each of the three credit bureaus. These reports must be ordered through the official annual credit report Website, and they can be obtained online just by answering a few simple questions. The savvy consumer could stagger the free reports and obtain one every four months throughout the calendar year. By examining the report every few months, a consumer could note any major changes on the report and contact the authorities to report any unusual activity.
The free solution isn’t as effective as the paid solution, which offers notification nearly in real time. Still, there’s a choice for everyone, and most any consumer who is worried about identity theft or credit theft now has an option to carefully monitor financial activity conducted in his or her name.
The process is simple. Once you sign up for the plan, you will be notified any time significant changes appear on your credit report. Such changes would include the opening of new credit accounts, a check of your credit, a change of address, late payments, or notifications of liens, lawsuits or legal judgments against you. Should you receive such a notification, you can then contact any agency that would be appropriate to the change. If you saw that an account had been opened in your name at a department store, you could contact them as well as the credit bureau to inform them of the fraudulent activity.
There is a free alternative to the paid monitoring plans. That would be to take advantage of the free credit report authorized by Congress last year. Most Americans can now obtain one free credit report per year from each of the three credit bureaus. These reports must be ordered through the official annual credit report Website, and they can be obtained online just by answering a few simple questions. The savvy consumer could stagger the free reports and obtain one every four months throughout the calendar year. By examining the report every few months, a consumer could note any major changes on the report and contact the authorities to report any unusual activity.
The free solution isn’t as effective as the paid solution, which offers notification nearly in real time. Still, there’s a choice for everyone, and most any consumer who is worried about identity theft or credit theft now has an option to carefully monitor financial activity conducted in his or her name. |
