Identity Theft in America

Identity Theft

Identity theft has reached plague proportions in the United States. So much so that in many surveys, Americans indicated that they fear Identity theft more than the usual top concerns like burglary.

With the pressure of identity theft being used to commit crimes like terrorism, America has been trying desperately to overhaul its privacy laws and bring all of its states onto the same page with its new Real ID laws.

Despite the positives of Real ID many Americans see negatives associated with privacy concerns. What consumers seem to be preferring, is the concept of insurance and /or retaining a company to watchdog their credit history and alert them if something has gone wrong.

Identity Guard

Enter Identity Guard, one of many players in America’s war against identity theft and fraud.

There’s a host of companies providing identity theft protection, but what attracted me to Identity Guard was their attitude towards online protection of their client’s identity, which will make it ideal for heavy users of the internet and wireless modems which pose a huge security risk. Identity Guard does all this ;

• Daily credit bureau monitoring, email alerts plus unlimited toll free customer service
• Daily monitoring of the Internet’s “black market” and “back alley” chat rooms.
• Daily scanning of all three credit bureaus with reports, scores and quarterly updates
• Public record reporting, scanning for application and social security fraud, and more.
  

Whilst the internet does pose a new risk of fraud and identity theft to its users, by far the most cases of identity theft and fraud are committed by stealing information the old-fashioned way - stealing bills or watching people entering their details like pin numbers. Sensitive information like birth details, Social Security numbers and credit card details are like gold to fraudsters.

The Crimes they Commit

Identity theft can happen in seconds and once a criminal has hold of a few details they can do a lot of damage. In fact, many victims of identity theft don’t actually know that someone else is using their details until it’s too late.

Criminals often open new credit cards in your name and change the bill delivery address to something else so that the victim cannot see the totals building. And, they can spend a victim’s money fast!

There are cases of criminals taking out home or car loans in someone else’s name, claiming scholarships to study or simply using the details to gain employment.

When an identity thief uses another person’s details to gain employment, it’s likely that they are an illegal immigrant. The consequences for the victim are the IRS contacting them expecting income tax on wages they never earned.

Victims can spend years trying to clear their name and repair their credit history, sometimes this isn’t successful. Some people even face jail for the crimes of a doppleganger using their name.

It’s frightening how fast an identity thief can destroy a person’s life emotionally and financially and this is exactly why companies like Identity Guard are prospering.

http://www.identityguard.com/ for more details

Credit-Reports

What is in a credit report?

Your personal credit report may include details like; past addresses, previous employment history, current employment, credit applications, overdue accounts, judgments, clear outs, crossed or linked files, name changes and bankruptcies etc.

You can sometimes Improve your credit report by disputing mistakes and they do sometimes contain unfair mistakes. This may allow you to obtain a loan you would be otherwise refused, lower your current interest rates and lower upfront and ongoing fees.

Many people believe that credit ratings can be improved by borrowing small amounts, obtaining low interest credit cards or even paying back debt.

Unfortunately, Australia is one of the few countries in the world that follows a negative credit reporting system.

The Australia. system only records negative occurrences, there is no positive credit to balance any small negatives. When you pay your old debts, the negative credit stays. It’s like a life sentence.Therefor, your paid negative listing is no better than anyone else’s unpaid negative listing.

This means a person will not get much further by doing the right thing and paying the old debt.Then, when it comes time for you to apply for credit, the credit provider taps your name into their computer to determine your suitability for the loan and bingo, there you are for something that happened years before.

The whole process can be assessed by algorithms, with limited human input and the result is often a ‘no‘ with no way for you to reason with the person giving you the bad news.When your name pops up on the computer screen with the smallest of blemishes the provider can reject you if you, even a missed phone bill can stop you getting a loan sometimes.

It’s a little known fact that when you make any application for a mobile phone on a contract, or maybe apply for an interest free store offer, you may have consented for your particulars to be given to a credit reporting agency.These enquiries include almost every application for credit including personal loans, credit and store cards.

22,953 bankruptcies were declared in Australia during 2005. The reality is that many bankruptcies are avoidable, this is due to a variety of options now available to debtors that many people know little about. It is possible to stop the harassing phone calls and letters, freeze the interest on your loans, postpone your payments and most importantly recover from a stressful life of debts.

There are over 13 million credit reports held in Australia, 1.5 million contain defaults.

What is a debt agreement?

A debt agreement resolves your debt without you becoming bankrupt. It’s a legally binding arrangement with creditors and stops the harassing phone calls and letters. You can freeze payments and interest upon acceptance, release you from your debt and pay less than you owe, put a hold on payments and even transfer assets or property such as cars, from your name to your creditors.A debt agreement may also allow the repayments to become affordable.