How Identity Theft Can Affect Credit Scores
Posted on September 20th, 2011
The impact of identity theft on an identity theft victim can vary. It can range from a couple of hundred dollars lost to the complete disarray of a victim’s life.
Individual identity theft victims lose, on average, $4,841 and it takes about 330 hours to recover identities, as reported in an infographic by Jolie O’Dell in Mashable.
But what does this have to do with credit scores?
Think about it – when someone uses your stolen identity information to rack up charges on your credit cards – do they have any intention of repaying that debt, let alone repaying that debt on time? No way. Even worse, identity thieves could use your information to take out a loan that you will default on.
All of this affects your credit scores. Your credit scores take into account the amount and types of debt you have, new lines of credit opened, and especially – if you pay your credit obligations on time!
Your credit scores are like your SAT scores – they tell inquiring eyes how well you manage your credit. If an identity thief messes up your score, it could affect your ability to get a mortgage, obtain car insurance or a new line of credit.
To prevent identity thieves from squandering your credit scores, here are some tips:
- Check your credit reports – new credit inquiries, new loans, and unpaid bills all show up on your credit reports. You can get one free from each of the three major credit bureaus from annualcreditreport.com. Or, you can sign up for a credit score service.
- Password protect all devices – identity information can be usually be accessed through devices like laptops and smartphones.
- Check your accounts regularly – you can check most accounts online.
- Join an identity protection service. For example, IdentityHawk and other services provide 24/7 identity security scanning as well as access to identity fraud specialists and $1 million dollars of identity theft insurance in case an incident occurs.
Take these precautions and don’t let identity theft affect your credit scores.
Carrie Coghill is Director of Consumer Credit Information at . Check out her blog at .
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Tags: Identity Theft, Theft
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