Friday, December 13, 2013

Experian Dispute

By Melanie Harrison


Why Having a Credit Monitoring Service Is Important

Let's start off here with a look into one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States to date, identity theft. In order to properly and effectively monitor your credit report and your identity it is absolutely critical that you first understand identity theft from the traditional methods, all the way up to the more sophisticated digital, or on line methods. The idea here being that an identity thief is less apt to try and exploit a population of consumers that are well informed. Here are some statistics that will help you build a more broad understanding of the epidemic:

I noted an incorrect address, one that I had never lived at but was listed as a residence. I was also concerned about a leasing account appearing as active that had been closed six months earlier. These both only appeared on my Experian report which I obtained via the free annual credit report link above. I wasn't freaking out about fraudulently use as I didn't see any accounts that I hadn't personally opened. However, I was fully prepared for an upward fight after watching the 60 Minutes piece and reading some Experian horror stories online. The first step involved visiting Experian's dispute website.

Step 1 - Selecting which type of credit report you have. PROBLEM 1 - the annual credit report doesn't have a report number. After doing some Google research it seems that some Experian free annual reports print with the number while others don't. Mine didn't have the number, so I selected that option. You also must have a report that is no older than 90 days if you want to open a dispute, otherwise you'll need to purchase a new one (more on that below). Step 2 - I was then asked to select which of the reports my report looked like.

Now that we have taken a look at some of the nasty elements of identity theft, we can glance at the importance of having a professional credit monitoring service to keep a watchful eye over your financial institution:

60 Minutes: Fair Credit Reporting Act Mike DeWine, the Ohio attorney general, is investigating the credit reporting industry as well, and he thinks the findings are only going to make consumers more angry. He believes that the companies are violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

These extra set of trained eyes on your credit report are great for viewing it under the microscope with a fine tooth comb. Remember, they are professionals and a lot of the times they will pick up on things that you may have glossed over and missed. You gain the advantage of the identity theft protection that goes side by side with a credit monitoring service. The proper measures can be apportioned here by both you and your credit monitoring agency to terminate the identity theft in its infantile stages. For the criminal parasites that might try and attach themselves to your healthy credit report; they will exposed by the unauthorized user updates that you receive. Again, this leverages you to properly and effectively stop the crime before it gets out of hand. Lastly, there is the overall sense of well-being that goes along with knowing that there is a professional out there that's got your back in terms of you and your family's financial well-being.

By taking advantage of a qualified and experienced credit monitoring agency, you can be sure your financial assets and monies are in good hands. You'll also benefit from the advantages mentioned above. The more in tune the consumer is with identity theft and the calculated criminals that take part in it, the better they will be able to sequester both them and their families from the devastation that goes along with it. Bringing on a credit repair agency to protect the very financial foundation of the consumer and their family would be a decision that only a well-informed and wise individual would initiate.




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