Credit repair law is an extremely important topic that everyone should have at least a basic understanding of, particularly anyone who has been victimized by identity theft or other forms of credit card fraud. Among the worst, yet sadly, one of the more common crimes nowadays is identity theft. It occurs when one individual uses somebody else’s identity for his or her own gain. They will often get credit cards or loans in the victim’s name or steal files from their computer that contain sensitive personal information. Identity theft is really a scary crime and it is currently occurring all across the globe.

If you don’t want to fall victim to identity theft, it’s essential to frequently monitor your credit reports and make certain that there’s nothing suspicious going on. New provisions in credit repair law protect those who have fallen victim to identity thieves and have had their credit score negatively impacted as a result of it. Anyone who falls victim to this type of crime is going to have a terrible credit mess that will need to be cleaned up. In cases like this, the victim should seek the help of a credit repair lawyer that that has the knowledge and resources available to help during such a traumatic time.

 

 

If you can’t afford a credit repair lawyer, there are a number of things that the victim of identity theft can do on their own behalf that can be of major significance when it comes to fixing their damaged credit scores. If you suspect that you have become a victim of this type of crime, experts recommend that you start by obtaining a copy of your credit reports from each of the three main consumer credit reporting bureaus; TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Once you have the credit reports, review them to find out where your credit was negatively impacted. There can be a large number of unfamiliar transactions in the reports when you consider the fact that some identity theft criminals have been known to charge thousands of dollars in their victims’ names.

After you have identified the transactions in the credit reports that you believe to be fraudulent, you will need to contact each of the credit reporting bureaus and issue a fraud alert. Under regulations provisioned in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, upon your request, the bureaus have four days to block any transactions that you report as being fraudulent. Each of the bureaus then have sixty days to send you a model summary of the rights of victims document which details how victims can remedy the effects of credit card fraud and identity theft. The credit reporting bureaus have to put a fraud alert on your file for at least 90 days. You will want to request with the credit reporting bureau, an extended fraud alert. This will require the bureau to disclose the fraud alert in any credit score that it issues for a period of seven years.

With identity theft and credit card fraud on the rise, it is important for everyone to know the basics of credit repair law. What is equally important is to take the steps necessary to prevent these crimes from happening to you before you become one of the countless victims. More information on this topic can be found in our post on identity theft protection.

 

 

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Filed under: Credit Repair

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