End of the Year Identity Theft

Posted by: Henry B. | Dec 26,2007


Hope everyone had a great Christmas!  It’s now the end of the year and it’s a perfect time to order up a copy of your credit report.  If you have not yet done so for the year of 2007, you are eligible for one free credit report a year.  Free credit reports don’t have rollover minutes: if don’t order a free credit report one year, this doesn’t mean that you can order two the following year.  So you’ve got less than a week this year to get your quota.  

One misconception people have is that they are only entitled to order up one credit report a year.  This isn’t true: you can only get one free report a year.  After that, the service will cost you.  Ordering up your credit report is not the same thing as making an inquiry. An inquiry is when a business checks your credit rating in order to see your viability as a borrower.  Personally ordering your credit report does not have the same impact on your rating as you are not being tested by a lender.  

This will cost you, however, if you’ve already gotten your quota for a free credit report.  Credit reports will cost up to $9.50 per bureau.  It’s recommended that you order a copy from each bureau as they can all have different information, so you’re looking at around $30.  It’s not a huge sum, but it’s something to consider.  One of the advantages of the new Vantage score is that each bureau will record the same rating, so there’s no need to order up separate reports.  The catch is that a Vantage report is expensive and new lenders won’t necessarily access a Vantage score first, so you need to also get a copy of your Fico report to see if there are any items to dispute.  

Keep in mind that Christmastime is not just a huge time for shopping, but for identity theft as well.  With so many credit and debit cards changing hands for both online and offline shopping, identity thieves are more active.  Now is a good time to get a copy of your credit report as well as verify every item on your credit card bill to make sure you have not been a victim of identity theft during the holidays.  

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