The Connection between Your Credit Report and Identity Theft

When we talk about your credit report, we are talking about one, two, or all three of the credit profiles that are on file with the three national credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each of these credit reporting agencies compiles your report based on the information that lenders send them about your credit activity. If you have a reasonable amount of debt relative to your available credit and income, and you make your payments in a timely manner, your report will reflect this If you have too much debt or you are late about making payments on time or at all, your credit score may go down. It's important that you maintain good credit so that when you apply for loans or other types of credit products, you will get them more easily and at more favorable rates. But what does all this have to do with identity theft?

When we talk about your credit report, we are talking about one, two, or all three of the credit profiles that are on file with the three national credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each of these credit reporting agencies compiles your report based on the information that lenders send them about your credit activity. If you have a reasonable amount of debt relative to your available credit and income, and you make your payments in a timely manner, your report will reflect this If you have too much debt or you are late about making payments on time or at all, your credit score may go down. It's important that you maintain good credit so that when you apply for loans or other types of credit products, you will get them more easily and at more favorable rates. But what does all this have to do with identity theft?

Identity theft occurs when someone unscrupulous gains access to some of your personal information. This compromised information can be anything from your home address and your Social Security number to your credit card or banking account numbers. They then use this information to assume your identity, by opening up new lines of credit in your name, making fraudulent charges on your credit cards, or otherwise committing fraud using your information. In many cases, you may not be aware of the theft until something unexpected happens. You may try to use credit and find that you have none left, be unable to obtain additional credit, discover that your credit score is much lower than it should be, be contacted by a bill collector for debts you don't know you owe, or other similar scenarios. A drop in your credit score could be an indication that you've been a victim of identity theft. When the perpetrator of identity theft starts taking these credit actions, these activities may show up on your credit report and harm your credit standing.

Fortunately, FreeScoresAndMore provides daily credit monitoring for all three of your major credit files. If certain changes happen on your credit report, you'll be alerted, giving you the heads up needed to help avert further damage. See details.

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