Learn About Credit Reports

If you're serious about fighting identity theft, you need to learn about credit reports. The Federal Trade Commision says "One of the best ways to catch identity theft is to regularly check your credit record."

Everything About Your Credit Gets Reported
Companies report every time you apply or are approved for credit. Have a cell phone? It's in your credit record. Test drove a car last weekend and the salesman did a quick credit check? It's in your credit record. Got a second mortgage? It's in your credit record. This information is reported back to three major national credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian (used to be called TRW), and TransUnion.

When anyone applies for credit in your name, it will show up in your credit report. You just need to figure out where to get your credit report and how often to get it.

	Credit Monitoring
	More Info | Order Service	More Info | Order Service	More Info | Order Service
Overall Rating:
Cost:	$14.95/mo	$12.99/mo	1st month free, then $14.95/mo
Credit bureau data source:	Equifax | Experian | TransUnion	Equifax | Experian | TransUnion	Equifax | Experian | TransUnion
Best Feature:	Unlimited access to all 3 credit reports and scores	Least Expensive	Unlimited Equifax reports
	Details	Details	Details
Credit score included:	Unlimited access to all 3 credit scores	All 3 credit scores	Yes (FICO® score only)
I.D. Theft Expense Reinbursement Coverage:	Yes - $25,000*	Yes - $20,000*	Yes - $20,000*
Credit analysis tools:	Yes	Yes	No
Credit bureau data source:	Equifax | Experian | TransUnion	Equifax | Experian | TransUnion	Equifax | Experian | TransUnion
Easy to ready report:	Excellent	Excellent	Good
Frequency of credit alerts:	24-hour notice of changes to all 3 of your credit alerts (via e-mail or mail)	Every Business Day (via e-mail, phone, mail or text messaging)	Every Business Day (via e-mail, phone, mail or text messaging)
New credit report available:	Unlimited access to all 3 credit reports and scores	Quarterly update to all 3 credit reports and scores.	Unlimited access to Equifax credit report only.
Credit alerts report:	- new accounts - credit inquiries - address changes - public records - changes to current accounts	- credit inquiries  - new accounts  - public records  - address changes  - changes to account info	- new accounts - credit inquiries - address changes - public records - changes to current accounts
Company owned by:	Service provided by TrueCredit, owned byTrans Union	Intersections Inc.	Equifax

* This benefit is not available to members who enroll using a New York mailing address

NOTE: Whenever you order a credit report from anyone, you may be required to provide your name, address, telephone number, social security number, and credit card. This information is used to verify that you are who you say you are. It is one of the few times it is okay to provide this information. Even if you order a report directly from the credit bureaus, you will have to provide this information to verify your identity.

Service features and pricing verified as accurate on 2 MAR 2007.

 

NOTE: All of the reports offered from Fight Identity Theft are from TrueCredit, and are offered under their FreeCreditProfile or Credit.com brand name. They are the most reputable and well known provider of online credit reports in the U.S. They were one of the first to offer credit reports online, credit scores online, and have now added the ability to get a merged credit report online with data from all three major credit bureaus.

Whenever you order a credit report from anyone, you are required to provide you name, address, telephone number, social security number, and credit card. They use this information to verify that you are who you say you are. It is one of the few times it is okay to provide this information. Even if you order a report directly from the credit bureaus, you will have to provide this information to verify your identity.

Here's what to look for once you get your credit report:

In most cases, fraudulent activity can be detected by reviewing the accounts, inquiries and addresses that appear on a credit report. Review your report carefully for the following items:

Accounts: If you do not recognize an account and the account is newly opened, that may be an indication that a criminal has obtained a line of credit using your identity.

Inquiries: Review all the inquiries on your credit report in the section titled: "Requests viewed by others." This section contains inquiries from creditors that have accessed your credit report to process an application. If you do not recognize the credit grantor accessing your report, that may be an indication of fraudulent activity.

Addresses: Review the addresses appearing on your credit report. If you discover an address that you have not lived at, it may be an indication that the address was used on a fraudulent application for credit.

Here's everything that appears on a credit report:

• Your name, current and previous addresses, phone number, Social Security number variations, date of birth and current and previous employers. Your spouse's name may appear on your version of the credit report but it will not appear on the version that is provided to others. This information comes from your credit applications, so its accuracy depends on your filling out the forms clearly, completely and consistently each time you apply for credit.

• Specific information about each account such as the date opened, credit limit or loan amount, balance, monthly payment and payment pattern during the past several years. This information comes from companies that do business with you.

• Federal district bankruptcy records and state and county court records of tax liens and monetary judgments. This information comes from public records.

• The names of those who have obtained a copy of your credit report. This information comes from the credit reporting agency.

• Statements of dispute, which allow both consumers and creditors to report the factual history of an account. Statements of dispute can only be added after a consumer officially disputes the status of an account, the account has been investigated, and the consumer and creditor cannot agree about the account status. Both the consumer's and creditor's statements of the account status will appear on the credit report.

Your credit report does not contain data about race, religious preference, personal lifestyle, political preference, medical history, friends, criminal record or any other information unrelated to credit.