When is the last time you checked your credit report? The information it contains may matter more than ever in this digital age, and 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft looked into an alarming number of mistakes on the reports that can affect a consumer's entire financial life.
Every time I do a churn, usually every 90 days, I'll run a copy of my credit report and credit scores. Remember, you can get your free TransUnion score from CreditKarma and your free Experian score from Credit Sesame. Don't forget that you are also entitled to a free credit report each year from the 3 major credit reporting bureaus, thanks to Uncle Sam. I've actually been lucky enough to never find any mistakes on my reports...that is until my recent April churn.
A new government study concluded that 40 million Americans have mistakes on their reports, and about half of those mistakes are serious. A 60 Minutes investigation found that it is almost impossible in some cases to get those mistakes cleared up. Experian, Transunion, and Equifax are the three companies that dominate the credit reporting market, tracking the financial prowess of US consumers.
Unfortunately, research has revealed that it is becoming more and more ordinary for criminals to actually prey on the individuals that they are closest to, an uncle or a grandparent perhaps. The research also revealed that 20% of victims were exploited by a close friend, a neighbor or an in house employee. Usually only about 27% of identity theft happenings actually center around financial or credit card fraud. The more common forms here seem to center more around bank, employment, utility or phone fraud which actually account for roughly 50% of identity theft cases. On a more positive note here, it has been proven time and time again that if the criminal act of identity theft is caught in the early stages, the likelihood of any real significant financial damage becomes a lot less. Lastly, and on another positive note, lending agencies and financial institutions like banks, credit unions or creditors, will normally only hold the member accountable to pay back the initial 50 dollars of the criminal charges.
Now that we have taken a look at some of the nasty elements of identity theft, we can glance at the importance of having a professional credit monitoring service to keep a watchful eye over your financial institution:
You will be afforded the opportunity here to review detailed and precise credit reports, as the credit monitoring service you sign up with will pull your information through the three major credit bureaus; TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. * You will have detailed access to every account on your credit report history in terms of the when and how they were initially established. Any time there is a noteworthy incident on your credit report that can significantly influence the particulars; a credit monitoring service will bring you up to speed and confirm that you are keenly aware of them.
"If you believe that there is a mistake, you can go to them and they have an obligation to do a reasonable investigation. They're not doing a reasonable investigation," DeWine said. "They're not doing an investigation at all." Credit reporting agencies are being accused of stonewalling customers who are desperate to correct errors. DeWine said the problem isn't making mistakes, but a refusal to fix them.
Step 6 - 12 days later I received an email from Experian that indicated that there was an outcome to the investigation. I was instructed to access a special dispute site. Step 7 - Shocking success - The address was deleted and the leasing account was updated to indicate closure! Conclusion - Finding the right way to actually dispute items on my Experian report was a challenge, but the actual process worked and was dare I say timely...perhaps I was just lucky. What has your experience been? Nightmarish?
Every time I do a churn, usually every 90 days, I'll run a copy of my credit report and credit scores. Remember, you can get your free TransUnion score from CreditKarma and your free Experian score from Credit Sesame. Don't forget that you are also entitled to a free credit report each year from the 3 major credit reporting bureaus, thanks to Uncle Sam. I've actually been lucky enough to never find any mistakes on my reports...that is until my recent April churn.
A new government study concluded that 40 million Americans have mistakes on their reports, and about half of those mistakes are serious. A 60 Minutes investigation found that it is almost impossible in some cases to get those mistakes cleared up. Experian, Transunion, and Equifax are the three companies that dominate the credit reporting market, tracking the financial prowess of US consumers.
Unfortunately, research has revealed that it is becoming more and more ordinary for criminals to actually prey on the individuals that they are closest to, an uncle or a grandparent perhaps. The research also revealed that 20% of victims were exploited by a close friend, a neighbor or an in house employee. Usually only about 27% of identity theft happenings actually center around financial or credit card fraud. The more common forms here seem to center more around bank, employment, utility or phone fraud which actually account for roughly 50% of identity theft cases. On a more positive note here, it has been proven time and time again that if the criminal act of identity theft is caught in the early stages, the likelihood of any real significant financial damage becomes a lot less. Lastly, and on another positive note, lending agencies and financial institutions like banks, credit unions or creditors, will normally only hold the member accountable to pay back the initial 50 dollars of the criminal charges.
Now that we have taken a look at some of the nasty elements of identity theft, we can glance at the importance of having a professional credit monitoring service to keep a watchful eye over your financial institution:
You will be afforded the opportunity here to review detailed and precise credit reports, as the credit monitoring service you sign up with will pull your information through the three major credit bureaus; TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. * You will have detailed access to every account on your credit report history in terms of the when and how they were initially established. Any time there is a noteworthy incident on your credit report that can significantly influence the particulars; a credit monitoring service will bring you up to speed and confirm that you are keenly aware of them.
"If you believe that there is a mistake, you can go to them and they have an obligation to do a reasonable investigation. They're not doing a reasonable investigation," DeWine said. "They're not doing an investigation at all." Credit reporting agencies are being accused of stonewalling customers who are desperate to correct errors. DeWine said the problem isn't making mistakes, but a refusal to fix them.
Step 6 - 12 days later I received an email from Experian that indicated that there was an outcome to the investigation. I was instructed to access a special dispute site. Step 7 - Shocking success - The address was deleted and the leasing account was updated to indicate closure! Conclusion - Finding the right way to actually dispute items on my Experian report was a challenge, but the actual process worked and was dare I say timely...perhaps I was just lucky. What has your experience been? Nightmarish?
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