Protecting yourself from Identity theft—Regularly checking your credit report is one of the best ways to catch mistakes and identity theft problems early.

What You Should Know About Your Credit Report

You probably know that one of the first steps to take if you suspect identity theft is to check your credit report. But what if you have no reason to believe an identity thief has targeted your bank account or credit card info? Is it still worth checking your credit report? And if so, how do you go about it?

Remember that your credit report is a key factor in determining your eligibility for buying a new house, buying a new car, perhaps even getting a new job. If you can, you’re better off correcting mistakes in your credit report before it really matters—before, that is, a bank is considering your application for a mortgage or loan.

How Likely Are Mistakes?
More likely than they should be, that’s for sure. A few years ago, CALPIRG Education Fund participated in a nationwide survey that found:

• Twenty-five percent of the credit reports surveyed contained serious errors that could result in the denial of credit, such as false delinquencies or accounts that did not belong to the consumer.

• Fifty-four percent contained personal demographic information that was misspelled, long-outdated, belonged to a stranger, or was otherwise incorrect.

• Twenty-two percent listed the same mortgage or loan twice.

• Eight percent were missing major credit, loan, mortgage or other accounts that demonstrate the creditworthiness of the consumer.

• Thirty percent contained credit accounts that the consumer had closed but the report listed as open.

	See “What Consumers Need To Know About Credit Reports” at www.calpirg.org for the full list of consumer and tenant databases. Click on the image above to enlarge.

Under a 2003 federal law, you’re entitled to one free credit report each year from each of the three major national credit bureaus. You don’t have to contact each credit bureau to get your reports. Just visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

You are also entitled to a free consumer report if someone has taken an “adverse action” against you because of information in a credit report, or if your are a victim of identity theft, have had a fraud alert placed on your file, or believe that a file contains inaccurate information as a result of fraud.

If you find inaccurate information, dispute it with both the credit bureau and the person or company that provided the information to the credit bureau.

Once you have notified the credit bureau of any mistakes in your report, the bureau must investigate the disputed items and remove information that is found to be inaccurate, incomplete or unverified and provide you with an updated copy of your credit report.

If you ask, the credit bureau must notify any persons who recently obtained your credit report that the information has been removed. If you disagree with the results of the credit bureau’s investigation, you have the right to include a written statement of the dispute in your credit report.