Posted by Matt G on March 13, 2001 at 15:07:40:
because of an incident almost 2 yrs ago I did put the fraud alert on my credit files, since that time I have opened one other credit acct., when I called to activate it they asked a LOT of questions about me I have never had asked before, so I assume this is what they do, if anything.
hope this helps
Matt G.
Credit Reports? - Posted by Greg NY
Posted by Greg NY on March 13, 2001 at 06:18:51:
Good morning everyone,
Has anyone ever heard of putting a fraud alert on you credit report?
Does this work? If yes, How does it work? And how do you go about doing this?
Thank you,
Greg NY
Re: Credit Reports? - Posted by Rich[FL]
Posted by Rich[FL] on March 13, 2001 at 11:40:40:
Hi Greg. I put a fraud alert on my credit reports last year because of a big goof-up with my credit card company. I know the alert is there because I requested a copy of the credit reports a few months later and it’s there.
Does it work? Can’t say for sure. I created a new loan late last year for a car I had to buy (old one literally died on the way to the car lot to look for cars!). I wasn’t ready to do this, I was trying to save the cash to buy, but the wife said she needed a car now to get to work! (The nerve of her ! ) Anyway, when I had the fraud statement put on my credit reports, I was led to believe the credit companies were to contact me whenever a new credit request or notification shows up. I was never called by any of the credit companies when I originated this loan. So I’m not sure what what effect this really has. Maybe it makes it easier to remove fraudulent entries.
As Nate said, all you have to do is call the credit companies and request a fraud victim statement be added to your report. They will probably ask some questions about what, why, who, when, where, etc. but I was able to do mine over the phone. Pretty easy actually.
While I’m not sure what this really does for you, it can’t hurt if you’ve really been a victim. Good luck!
Rich
Re: Credit Reports? - Posted by Nate
Posted by Nate on March 13, 2001 at 08:50:02:
Greg,
You would do it by contacting the 3 major credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union - and asking that the statement be added.
All 3 have web sites and it should be pretty easy to determine which number to call for customer service issues.
Basically, the fraud alert will put a message on the report saying something like “Fraud Alert: Do not open any accounts without verifying first - call Greg at 315-555-1212” or something like that.
I have to warn you, though, that while it’s better than nothing, it is NOT 100% guaranteed foolproof. Not every credit grantor will even read the warning or act on it properly (though most do). If they don’t, and fraudulent accounts are opened anyway, however, you may have better recourse if you have to sue them later for negligence by disregarding the fraud report.
NT