What To Do if your Identity is Stolen

If your identity is stolen there are some important steps for you to follow.

  1. File a police report and make sure you get and keep a copy of that report. You will need copies to send to creditors, collection agencies, banks, credit bureaus and others.
  2. Request free credit reports from each of the three major nationwide credit bureaus. The reports are free because you believe they contain inaccurate information due to fraud. Go over each report with a fine tooth comb looking for accounts that you did not apply for, did not open and for inquiries that you did not authorize.
  3. Request that each credit bureau block the reporting of items related to identity theft on your report. In order to do this you will have to provide the credit bureaus with proof of identity theft which amounts to supplying the police report you filed. This action blocks the creditor from sending the account in question out for collection.
  4. Contact all of your creditors including utilities and banks to find out if your accounts have been compromised or if someone has tried to open new accounts in your name. If you do this by phone ask to speak to someone in security or in the fraud department and be sure to follow-up any conversation with a confirming letter. You should send the letter by certified mail. It may prove to be a good idea to ask to close any current accounts and re-poen them under a new number but this may not correct the problem and may even contribute to damaging your credit history more that the identity theft has already done.
  5. Fill out an FTC identity theft affidavit. This form may be found on the FTC website. The information provided will enable your creditor to properly investigate your claim of identity theft. You may be asked to provide more information by individual creditors. Comply with additional information requests promptly.
  6. Contact the Postal Service to see if anyone has filed a change of address form in your name. The change of address form is an important piece of evidence supporting your claim of identity theft.
  7. Keep concise, dated records of all conversations other encounters you have with everyone you notify about the theft. Make copies of all correspondence you have (in both directions) with creditors and others that address the issue of identity theft.
  8. Contact your local Social Security office to see if there has been fraudulent use of your SSN Look for earnings reported on jobs you have never held which, again, provides excellent evidence that your identity has been stolen.
This entry was posted on Saturday, September 15th, 2007 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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How Credit Scores Affect Mortgage Applications

With a good credit score an applicant will receive prompt response from many lenders, all of them offering low interest rates and low down payment options. The loan amount offered also may be high. On the contrary a low credit score would result in a lot of rejection from various mortgage financers. Because creditors wouldn’t come forward easily to give credit to individuals that have a history of difficulty in repaying existing loans. After all, creditors take risk when they finance mortgages against the credit history of a debtor. Naturally, they will wish to remain on the safe side and pick up less risky ones that have good credit histories. A good credit score means less chance of missing on payments and therefore less risky.

But there are some real risk takers that will come forward to finance mortgages for individuals with bad credit scores. They would charge high down payments and always high interest rates though. They may also fix additional charges for every little paper work and may charge high closing rates. The loan amount offered will also be considerably less. The individual with poor credit scores will not have much choice but to accept the terms and conditions as there are no other alternatives. This is a tight situation and to avoid this you must have a good credit score.

People with bad credit may fall in to the trap of ’secured loans’. Secured loans are the ones where the loan applicant offers an asset as collateral security. The lender becomes secure about the repayment of the loan and not the borrower. Securing a loan with bad credit score becomes easy only when the applicant is willing to offer some asset as collateral security. This again is a very dangerous situation where an individual runs the risk of losing his entire collateral asset in case of failing to pay the loan installments in time. An individual should always avoid such type of a loan.

Resort properties normally require large amounts of finance which a person with bad credit may find it difficult to obtain. So it is always advisable to keep your credit score high. Incase the credit score becomes low due to unavoidable financial reasons it can be improved upon. There is no need to lose hope simply because a person has a low credit score. If the property that he intends to buy has good equity he should go out and try to obtain finances for it. There are many sub prime lenders willing to offer their services.

For a review of your credit report as it relates to a mortgage loan and a consultation on the best loans available to you, give us a confidential, no obligation and no cost call.