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Money and Mobility: For Military Personnel and Families
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| Protect yourself from identity theft while away by placing an "active duty alert" on your credit reports. |
A credit report is simply a record of your personal financial
transactions that make up your credit history. Lenders look
at your credit history to see how well you manage credit.
Your report lists:
- Payments for any transaction you made on credit
- Whether you made payments on time and for the
amount due
- The type of credit you use (revolving, installment,
mortgage)
- Requests for credit (hard inquiries)
- Any accounts sold to a collection agency
- Public records: tax liens, foreclosures, bankruptcies,
wage garnishments, lawsuits, and judgments
Information that is not on your credit report:
Your race, sex, marital status, religion, age, national origin,
criminal or driving record, political preference, or health
status, or whether you receive public assistance.
It’s easy—and free—to check your credit report. The three
major credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and
TransUnion—set up a Web site where you can request
your credit report from each agency for free, once every
12 months. You may wish to request your credit report
from each of the agencies at different times within
the year. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call
1-877-322-8228 to request your free credit reports. To
make the request by mail, send a letter with your name,
Social Security number, and date of birth to:
Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105283
Atlanta, GA 30348-5283
Scam Alert
While some financial institutions provide free credit
reports as a courtesy to their customers, you should be
skeptical of offers for free credit reports from businesses
other than annualcreditreport.com, Annual Credit Report
Request Service, or the three credit reporting agencies.
At best, offers made by entities other than those just
mentioned provide a free credit report—often with a
free credit score—only if you pay for ongoing “credit
monitoring” or some other service. At worst, they could be
scams “phishing” for your personal information, especially
your Social Security number.
When you get your reports, review them carefully. Is the
information accurate? Are there signs of fraud or identity
theft, such as accounts you didn’t open or charges you
didn’t make? Is all of the information about you, or does it
include another person’s information? If you see suspicious
information, do these three things:
- Call one of the credit reporting agencies immediately.
Explain the situation and ask that a “fraud alert” be
placed in your file. The credit agency you call is
responsible for contacting the other two with this
request.
- Report the fraud to the local police. Credit card
companies may need a copy of the police report to
make refunds for wrongly charged items.
- Report the situation to the FTC by calling its toll-free
ID Theft Hotline at 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338).
Here’s how to contact the fraud divisions of the credit reporting agencies:
If you see other problems on your report, such as an unpaid bill that you simply
forgot about, take action to pay it. Then, ask the business to whom you owed the
money to send a letter to the credit reporting agencies stating the matter has
been resolved.
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