Student Credit Cards Center

Identity Theft Protection: Identity Theft and Your Credit Report

Identity theft can be as simple as someone using your personal information (like on your credit report) to open an account at the local Macy’s, or as complex as using your identity to open multiple accounts from a city you have never heard of. Either way, one person’s information was used by someone else without permission for financial gain.

Identities can be stolen for other beneficial reasons, but the majority of the time identity theft occurs for some form of financial gain. If not caught, identity theft can impact your credit report and credit score, which makes it much harder to be approved for things like a car, house loan, or student credit cards.

Fortunately, there are several tools available to monitor your identity, as well steps you can take to protect your personal information. One of the easiest steps you can take is to check your credit report regularly. This is a painless way to monitor multiple things, but most importantly to monitor if someone is trying to use your personal information to open some type of account.

If you are willing to pay a fee, there are also private companies who provide identity theft protection services. The menu of services range from protection when your wallet is stolen all the way to detailed credit report monitoring, with the fee correlating to the amount of protection you are seeking. Your student credit card company may also offer some form of identity theft protection specific to that account, adding an extra layer of protection.

Finally, although monitoring your credit report and paying for a private service will greatly help protect against identity theft, you ultimately protect your personal information by not giving it out unless necessary. Each situation is different, so don’t hesitate to ask if information like your birth date, social security number, or credit card information is necessary if you do not understand why it is being requested. This way you reduce your chance of personal information getting into the wrong hands in the first place, the best form of identity theft protection.

Here are 3 simple steps you can take to ensure you do not fall victim to identity theft and your credit report stays clean:

1. If you get a phone call from a debt collector or credit card company, do not give them your personal information over the phone in that first call. Instead, ask them if you can call them back. This way, you ensure that the person you are talking to is who they say they are and do not risk identity theft.
2. When making a purchase online, you need to ensure you maintain identity theft protection. Check the address box in your browser window. Check to see if your URL starts with an "http" or an "https." The "s" in "https" stands for secure. Some sites (like this one) start out with an http, but when it comes time for you to input your personal information, you'll notice that things quickly shift to an https for your protection. You should never provide your personal information if the site is not secure.
3. The 3 digit security code on the back of your student credit card is your key to the castle. Don't give it away unless you are certain the person or company asking for it is who they say they are. The difference between yourself and many victims of identity theft can easily be this number.