Identity theft already had a lot of victims in the past years. It is a difficult problem to handle because it can cost you both your time and money. Most credit cards have zero fraud liability policies but it can be possible that the victim could spend a lot of hours and hundreds of dollars to take care of the problem.
Prevention is always the key to everything, including avoiding being a victim of identity theft. The earlier you know that identity theft is trying to access your account, the earlier you can take care of the problem. In this way, you can prevent more damage from happening to your account.
Here are the things that you should watch out for to determine if you are a victim of identity theft:
1. Receiving Bills From Accounts That You Never Opened
One sign of identity theft is if you receive a credit card statement with your name on it, but you know that you have never opened a credit card account for that company. The best thing that you should do is to contact the company’s customer service and let them know that you were not the one who opened the account. Tell them that it might be an identity theft case.
Moreover, you should also check your credit reports for any fraudulent reports.
2. Missing Credit Cards
Have you discovered that your credit card is missing? The first thing that you should do is to report it to the issuer immediately. Most credit cards company have 0% fraud liability protection that can keep you from paying for bills that were made by theft.
3. Not Receiving Credit Card Bills
Identity thieves can change your mailing address to reroute the credit card bills. Once you notice that you stopped receiving your credit card bills, call your issuer immediately. Confirm the address where they have been sending your credit card bills to know if it is accurate. If the issuer claims that they have been sending the bills to your address, the second thing that you should do is to secure your mailbox. The thieves may be are stealing mails from your mailbox.
4. Receiving Inquiries from Businesses You Are Not Aware Of
As you already know, your credit reports include two kinds of inquiries: soft inquiries and hard inquiries. Soft inquiries function as a promotion while hard inquiries are results of your applications or applications made by the thief.
If you see unfamiliar hard inquiries, it could be a sign that someone else is using your card to apply for credit products. Once you notice these hard inquiries on your credit report, put a fraud alert on immediately. It will warn the business to confirm your identity first before granting application to any of their credit products.
5. Getting Denied to Loans and Credit Cards
If you have fraudulent accounts, you would not be approved for loans and credit cards, especially if you have accounts with high balances and negative payment history.
Everyone wants to avoid being a victim of identity theft. If you want to take extra precautions to keep this from happening, this best anti-hacker software is worth checking.