Consumers often go to great lengths to protect their financial data. This includes encoding credit and debit cards with PINs, and online accounts with password protections. Despite this, many third-party financial institutions have been rather casual about protecting the information of their customers.
However, due to a recent ruling by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), credit report resellers will now have to take additional precautions to ensure that a consumers vital financial data doesnt fall into the wrong hands.
Under the terms of the agreement, three credit report resellers, which purchase credit reports and then combine them with additional information for mortgage lenders, will be required to strengthen their security procedures and undergo mandatory security audits for the next two decades.
These cases should send a strong message that companies giving their clients online access to sensitive consumer information must have reasonable procedures to secure it, David Vladeck, director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
Consumers can take added precautions themselves. Checking their credit reports frequently, for instance, can help them detect signs of unauthorized purchases in a timely fashion and allow them to address any errors or signs of fraud before they do significant, ongoing damage to their credit scores.
One of the tasks for the New Year would be to review the credit report that you receive annually. Not only is it free for the consumers but it also doesn’t require signing up for anything. The Congress a few years ago had passed a law which required each of the 3 credit bureaus, Equifax, Trans Union and Experian to provide the consumer with a free copy of the credit report every year. Consumers also should understand that there is just the solitary source for the annual review. They need to go to the site annualcreditreport.com and follow the instructions. This credit report is very important as it tells the consumers how their credit history is shaping up. This is critical as a bad credit history would mean that the consumer’s creditworthiness is at question and he or she has to take steps in the right direction to repair the credit history.
With the news that over a million of American consumers being in the red because of their low credit scores (and that there are many more expected to join them), there is a need to making sure that you keep your own score afloat and maybe even improve it. One of the most basic ways of doing so is by monitoring your credit report more thoroughly for any errors and more frequently than the annual check up.
There are just some times when you find a few errors in your credit report, and these kinds of mistakes could often cost you a loan you want to get or a job you want to have. If you find these kinds of faults in your financial document, then you need to fix them as soon as possible because doing so is a long and tedious process.
Identity theft and credit hacking related crimes have grown more active these past few months, and you may never know if you are a victim of such acts. It is best that you check your credit report more carefully whenever you make the regular annual check-up to make sure that your credit information is safe.
The Fair & Accurate Credit Trans Act (FACTA) is a law that allows every American consumer to obtain a free credit report every twelve months. Many consumers are well aware of this, but many aren’t. The government, economists and even financial institutions advise consumers now and then of the importance of this annual check. Purposes of the check are to provide timely error correction and improvement of accuracy check on the reports.