How to Prevent Identity Theft

Identity theft can cause much stress and heartache in its victims. Statistics say that over ten million people in the United States of America alone have become victims of identity theft. These same statistics say that identity theft costs its victims between $2500 and $15,600 dollars in dealing with straightening out the mess the criminals leave their lives in afterwards.

Our criminal justice system had made this a difficult thing for the victim to deal with. Many people have to wait years to get their credit back in good standing because of the lack of cooperation with various levels of police and the credit reporting agencies themselves. A person's ability to protect themselves from identity theft has always been a hit and miss concept. Even those who have followed all the suggestions given to them to protect their identity have ended up becoming victims of this horrible crime.

Imagine if you will coming home from work one evening to hear the phone ringing. You pick up the phone and its a credit collection agency wanting to know when you plan to start paying them for your delinquent account. You tell them you don't know what they are talking about and get more information from them only to learn that they think you have an account with a place you have never done business with. You try and tell them about this and they hang up on you. It happens. These collectors are trained to ignore everything you say except your credit card number your giving them to pay off the debt they are collecting. You finally hang the phone up and it rings again. Another collection credit collection agency is calling about a different account you have never heard of.

A week later you go to use one of your credit cards and it is declined. You know it should work because you rarely ever use it and know you have several thousands of dollars of credit on that card. You pay with cash, hurry home and call the account holder to find out what is wrong. One of the customer service agents says that they noticed you are behind on several of your accounts and canceled your account because your a poor credit risk and asks you to cut up the card and throw it away.

A couple weeks later you get your statement from your mortgage company and your payment is $300 more than it was last month. You find a notice in the envelope informing you that due to your delinquent accounts your interest rate has been raised and your new payment is the current amount. You call them and let them know what is happening and get little or no help.

If you ever find yourself in this position you need to get a lawyer fast. Don't expect these lending vultures to believe a thing that comes out of your mouth. You may find some rare exceptions to this rule, but I never have. However if you still have good credit and want to do the most you possibly can to protect it, then there is something very simple you can do to give yourself the best protection money can buy. It will cost you about $30 and can be considered money well spent. If you have already been a victim of identity theft, you can in most states have your credit report frozen for free.

Recently credit reporting agencies such as Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have started offering a service called credit freezing. Credit freezing is a simple concept. Once you have filled out the paperwork to have your credit report froze, no one can access your credit report but you until you have it unfroze. Without this information it is highly unlikely that anyone would be willing to establish a credit line for you, or anyone pretending to be you. The paperwork you have to fill out is simple and easy and will not take much of your time. If your concerned about identity theft and want to protect yourself credit freezing is the way to go.