The Credit Bureau

Somebody Bought a Car With My Name & Social

You are a victim of fraud if someone has purchased a car in your name. This person has all your information. Please follow the instruction below to protect yourself.  1) Run your reports asap and look for suspicious activity such as address change, name change, new credit cards and new loans that have been opened without your permission. You will also have access to the customer service line if you need help deciphering the reports. It costs $1 for the first week and $29.90 per month thereafter: https://thecreditbureau.com/consumer-credit-report/ 2) For assistance on how to clear fraudulent activity on your reports, read: Remove Fraudulent Items off your credit report  3) Once you have a handle on your reports and what needs to be addressed, freeze your report immediately. Follow the instructions here: How to Freeze Your Credit Report 4) We recommend continuing the monitoring of your reports – this is because there may be previous activities around the identity theft that has yet to appear on your report, and you need to be able to catch that as soon as it happens. You can also use the score analyzer to see how your score is progressing and what to do to improve your score. 5) If you would like to buy a car or want to apply for a new credit card, you’ll need to temporarily unfreeze your reports. Follow the instructions here to do that: Unfreeze Your Report  Then refreeze your reports once you’re done. Freezing only lasts 12 months – you’ll have to refresh it going forward. Questions: Call us at 800-518-1077 Option 4

I am an authorized user but the credit card does not show up on my report. Why?

You have been added to someone’s credit card as an authorized user, but realized it won’t help you with your score because the credit card does not show up on your credit report.  This means that there is a mistake that happened at the time the credit card was created. Here are the steps to help:1. Have the person authorizing add your Social Security Number (SSN) to the account through thebank. This makes you an authorized user.2. Make sure that the credit card owner would make you responsible to pay. That means that you arealso responsible for the payments on that credit card. Note: If the credit card is newly authorized to you, wait for three to four months for the account to mature andyou will start seeing updates each month on your credit report. A word of caution is to make sure thatthe owner of the card pays the bills to this credit card on time. We recommend applying for membership with The Credit Bureau so you can see activity from the three major bureaus (Transunion, Equifax, and Experian), and have the ability to use optimization tools such as credit analyzer and in-person phone support to help improve your score. To become a member, click the following link: https://thecreditbureau.com/consumer-credit-report/ Call us if you have any questions. The Credit Bureau Phone Number is: 800-518-1077

Victim of Fraud? Freeze Your Credit Report

1) Run your reports asap and look for suspicious activity such as address change, name change, new credit cards and new loans that have been opened without your permission. You will also have access to the customer service line if you need help deciphering the reports. It costs $1 for the first week and $29.90 per month thereafter: https://thecreditbureau.com/consumer-credit-report/ 2) For assistance on how to clear fraudulent activity on your reports, read: Remove Fraudulent Items off your credit report  3) Once you have a handle on your reports and what needs to be addressed, freeze your report immediately. Follow the instructions here: How to Freeze Your Credit Report 4) We recommend continuing the monitoring of your reports – this is because there may be previous activities around the identity theft that has yet to appear on your report, and you need to be able to catch that as soon as it happens. You can also use the score analyzer to see how your score is progressing and what to do to improve your score. 5) If you would like to buy a car or want to apply for a new credit card, you’ll need to temporarily unfreeze your reports. Follow the instructions here to do that: Unfreeze Your Report  Then refreeze your reports once you’re done. Freezing only lasts 12 months – you’ll have to refresh it going forward. Questions: Call us at 800-518-1077 Option 4

How to View Your Credit Report For Free

The following link provides 3 free credit reports (Trans Union, Experian and Equifax) once a year with no score.  These sites are not hard inquiries on your report and will not impact your score. We suggest running one report every quarter.  That way you can monitor your report more often. www.annualcreditreport.com Also with the following link you can see your score for free, see and monitor your credit reports (Trans Union, Experian and Equifax) for a non-refundable amount of $.80 for one week and $29.95 monthly fee thereafter.  See Your Report 

The Fair Credit Reporting Act Benefits Credit Active Consumers

The Fair Credit Reporting Act Benefits Credit-Active Consumers The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) law went into effect in 1971 and was amended considerably in 1997 by Congress.  The original FCRA protected your rights as a credit-active consumer by limiting who has access to your credit report.  It mandated that, while you yourself may request a copy at any time, no one else may legally review your report unless they intend to: The 1971 FCRA also stated that your credit report may be accessed in response to a court order or federal grand jury subpoena. Fines up to $5,000 and imprisonment for up to one year are consequences of knowingly and willfully obtaining a credit report under false pretenses. The 1997 version of the FCRA further protects credit-active consumers and gives them more control over their credit information. Highlights of the updated version of the FCRA are summarized below: Credit Reports Credit Disputes Credit Accuracy Credit Offers Banks, retailers, and credit card issuers purchase pre-screened lists from credit bureaus and use them to identify qualified and interested consumers to whom they market credit cards and other retail loans. These pre-screened lists have also been affected by the FCRA amendment.  Card issuers can deny credit if the consumer does not qualify for the pre-screening criteria. Credit Clinics Credit repair clinics will charge consumers up to thousands of dollars to allegedly “repair” less than perfect credit reports.  Although these clinics claim the ability to dispose of negative credit information from a consumer’s file, if the negative information is accurate, it has to stay on the credit report for up to 10 years.  This is federally mandated.  If  the consumer pays the credit repair clinic before the service is performed, the consumer can expect to lose a large amount of money.  The new law prohibits credit repair clinics from collecting a fee before a service is performed.