Identity Theft

Few things are as devastating as having your identity stolen. Maintaining a good credit rating is hard work because you have to take extra care to make sure your payments always reach the creditors on time, even if you are on vacation or doing other things that can prevent this. You also have to take care not obtain too much credit since this can also hurt your rating. All of those efforts can become meaningless if your identity is stolen and the credit obtained has ended up in default. Unfortunately for most victims, becoming aware of the theft does not occur until the damage has already been done.

If you find that you have been a victim of this type of crime, the time to act is now. The longer you delay in taking steps to regain your identity and credit rating, the more damage that will be done.

The first step that you should take is to notify all of your credit card holders of the theft. Don’t limit yourself to the card that may have been stolen. If a thief has gotten one card’s information, he may go onto to try to obtain the others. Have the creditors cancel the cards and issue new ones, so that no further charges can be made on your stolen card.

Once new cards have been issued, choose passwords and pin numbers that would be difficult for a thief to guess. Never use pet names, or birthdays. It is not uncommon for a person to be victimized by someone they know. If they have been around you, they have also been privy to this type of information. Instead use information that very few people would know, such as the house number of the home you grew up in as a child, or the street name of your grandmother, who lives in a different state. You can also use something as obscure as the last name of your kindergarten teacher or the school name spelled backwards.

Another very important step to take is to alert all of the credit bureaus of the theft. They will then put an alert on your credit report, so that in the event the thief tries to obtain other credit, those creditors will know not to arbitrarily issue a card in your name. You can put personal messages on the alert, advising creditors to not issue any credit in your name without first contacting you. You can then give your mobile phone number, so that they can so. Mobile phone numbers are not readily available like home phone numbers, so this can give you added protection in this area.

Make sure that you report the theft to the police as well. This way you can have official documentation regarding the crime. You can use this as evidence that your identity was stolen, should you have to prove it to creditors.