How to Protect Yourself Against Credit Card Fraud and Identify Theft

By law everyone is entitled to obtain a free credit report every 12 months by each of the three credit reporting bureaus.

The first thing you need to do is either log onto the annual credit report website or call 877-322-8228 and request your free credit report from Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. This is the official website to help consumers obtain their free credit report once every 12 months.

Once you have obtained your three credit reports you need to carefully look at all the information to ensure it's accurate. The following sections of your credit report need to be reviewed very carefully.

Personal Data- name, address and employment history

Account Information- detailed account information on all credit and loans

Inquires- Companies that have viewed or requested your credit information.

Dispute File Information- This is the section of your credit report that will explain to you how to go about disputing any information on your credit report that is incorrect or not accurate.If you have been a victim of fraud you should file a police report and then initiate a fraud alert on your credit files. You can initiate two different alerts. An extended alert which requires a police report and last for seven years. Or a 90 day alert which last for 90 days. The 90 day alert can be put back on after the 90 days have expired.

To initiate a fraud alert you need to call only one of the credit bureaus and they will notify the other two for you. The fraud alert numbers for each credit union are:

Experian- 1-888-397-3742

Equifax- 1-800-525-6285

TransUnion- 1-800-68-7289You should also consolidate your credit cards. The more credit cards you have the more difficult it's going to be to keep track of your spending.

When reviewing your credit history, on your credit reports, you need to make sure that there are no credit accounts or loans on your report that you have not initiated. This is one sign of fraud and identify theft.

You also want to log into your bank accounts and review your charges on each credit card account to look for any purchases you did not make. Credit card theft is very easy to do. A person, claiming they are you, calls your bank and gives them your personal information to request an address change and then starts using your credit card number. They may even request that the bank sends them new cards.

When establishing a credit card account with a bank, request that you give them a secret password that only you know. This will usually stop the card theft when they call your bank to initiate an address change. You just need to make sure that the bank will ask for that secret password before they make any changes to your account.

Most banks also offer email and phone alerts on spending limits. This will also help you in keeping track of any credit card purchase limits. Just log into you bank account on line and go to the Alerts section of your account.

For more information on identify theft and your rights as a consumer please visit the US Department of Justice website at: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html