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Do Search Engines Scare You?
Do Search Engines Scare You? What do the words "Search Engine" make you think of? I get immediate mind-pictures which vary but all have similar themes. Sometimes I see one of those tiny submarines which are used to explore the deepest parts of the...
Fair Debt Collection
If you use credit cards, owe money on a personal loan, or are paying on a home mortgage, you are a "debtor." If you fall behind in repaying your creditors, or an error is made on your accounts, you may be contacted by a "debt collector." You...
Get the Internet on Your Own Terms
RSS for the Rest of Us I don't know about you, but I'm seeing a whole bunch of articles and websites telling me that I need to get into this RSS thing. Is it really time? RSS (it stands for "Really Simple Syndication") is the latest wave of...
How Do I Lower My Auto Insurance Premiums?
It seems as though the price of everything is on the rise. The amount a house may have cost in the early 70s is how much you will pay for a new car in the 21st century. Oil companies have used the problems in Southwest Asia as an excuse to send gas...
Unaffordable Housing, Loss of Inheritance, the End of Family Life and the resulting drugs and crime
How this civilisation decays and disappears. Tony Blair will go down in history as the man who used socialism to destroy society and lost for the world, the cream of its civilisation. How did he do it? By stealth! What did he do, that we did not...
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Protect Your Credit
Protect your Credit
Because identity theft and credit card fraud are among the
fastest growing crimes in the U.S., there are several steps you
should take immediately if your credit card becomes lost or
stolen, or if you find bills in your mail that you do not
recognize or charges you did not authorize.
The first step you should take is to initiate a fraud alert on
all your credit card accounts. There is a common misconception
that doing this will prevent you from obtaining any further
credit cards or financing. This is simply untrue. What a fraud
alert will do is require creditors to contact you by telephone
before any new accounts are opened in your name. It will also
require creditors to contact you by telephone before making any
requested changes to any existing accounts, such as increasing
your line of credit.
To place a fraud alert on your accounts, contact any one of the
three major credit bureaus:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289
The credit bureau you contact will then contact the remaining
two bureaus and all three will send you a current copy of your
credit report, free of
charge. When you receive these reports,
look them over carefully. Note any accounts you didn't authorize
or debts you don't recognize. Also check that all your personal
information, such as name, address, and Social Security number
are correct. If any incorrect or fraudulant information is
found, contact the credit bureau to have it removed. Then
continue to check your credit report on a regular basis to
insure no further fradulant activity is found.
After initiating a fraud alert, you should then immediately
close any accounts you think may have been violated and submit
an ID theft affidavit to the credit card companies in question.
You should then file a police report with your local police
department and also file a case with the Federal Trade
Commission.
Identity theft is a federal offense with stiff penalties for
those who dare to attempt it and are caught. Take steps to
protect your credit and prevent yourself from becoming a victim
of this very serious crime.
About the author:
Karyn Kudrna is owner of the website www.credit-123.com which
offers information on low
interest credit cards
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