How to Deal With Identity Theft that’s Affecting Your Credit Score

With the technology advanced to the level that it has, there are new types of dangers and risks that any individual has to contend with. One of these is the case of identity theft, which can leave any individual’s credit score woefully poor. In fact, identity theft is a problem that can severely affect an individual’s personal finances for the foreseeable future.

While there are not many ways to counter identity theft leading to a deterioration of your credit score, apart from keeping your personal details safe, there are ways to counter it once it has happened. Here are some tips on how you can deal with identity theft that is bringing your credit score down.

  1. Notify the credit bureaus of the situation:

    Your first step in dealing with a situation of identity theft should be to notify the credit bureaus of the situation. You would have to get in touch with the fraud department of the credit bureaus and give them the details of what has happened.

    While the ideal situation would be that you notify all the credit bureaus, you can also make do with one because, once your notification has been noted, the credit bureau you contact would inform the others of the situation as well.

  2. Step up your monitoring of credit reports:

    Your next step should be to start monitoring your credit reports for situations of fraudulent items. You need to do this because it would be unwise for you to rely on the credit bureaus to take care of your information.

    In fact, credit bureaus are notorious for not paying much attention to such situations, apart from lodging a complaint or flagging the credit reports. Therefore, by monitoring your credit reports, you can rely on yourself for spotting discrepancies in your credit report.

  3. Implement a security freeze:

    You should also implement a security freeze on your credit account. This would mean that credit issuers would be unable to access your account without your explicit permission for the same. This is the best way to prevent new credit accounts being opened up in your name.

  4. Report the crime to local authorities:

    Finally, you should also report the crime of identity theft to your local law authorities so that they can start investigating the matter. It is advisable to provide the authorities with as much evidence as you can with regard to this crime.