It’s important to receive your credit report once a year to check for any suspicious activity or any inaccuracies.  Checking your credit annually is one way you can help guard against identity theft. You can verify the information is accurate and make sure nobody else has obtained credit in your name.

The law allows you to order one free copy of your report from each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies every 12 months. To receive your free report, visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com or call toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Many other websites claim to offer “free credit reports,”free credit scores,” or “free credit monitoring” but www.annualcreditreport.com is the only authorized website. You must provide your name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number in order to receive your report.

Once you have your credit report in hand, take a good look at it. Is there loan activity on your report that you don’t recognize? Do any of the balances look odd or inflated? Are there active credit card accounts that you have no knowledge or memory of? Also, are the monthly statements for accounts you had opened in the past no longer arriving in the mail? These are all warning signs of identity theft.

Article Content Provided by: S.A.L.T. Times Newsletter
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