1.  Policies and procedures must be put in place to RECOGNIZE the red flags of identity theft that may occur in a company's day-to-day operations.  Red Flags, in this instance, may be described as suspicious patterns or practices, or specific activites that indicate the possibility of identity theft.  If a customer must provide proof of his/her identity to you, and the method they use looks suspicious, that is considered a Red Flag.

2.  Coming up with a list of Red Flag issues for your business is imperative.  It you do not put procedures in place to recognize a red flag, as in fake, forged or altered identification sources, then you have not fully fulfilled the requirements of a good program.

3.  Describe the specific actions you will take to detect and act when given a fake ID.

4.  Put into place a timetable to review the Red Flag list you have implemented in order to keep up with the changing financial landscape within which you operate.

Just because you have written things like this down, it doesn't constitute having taken care of the problem.  You must have procedures in place to implement, review, act and/or change the identified threats in the daily round of your business.  Determining the risks to your business and how to act when they do pop up is of paramount importance to having a successful program im place.

Donna Perkins

Security of any data you collect is crucial.  We've all heard the stories on the news of corporation's having their computer's hacked, and losing large amounts of consumer data.  What will you put in place to keep this from happening?

In our next article, we will continue this subject and discuss who must comply with Red Flag Rules.  Stay Tuned.

So if you are going to have a problem with privacy issues, it will reside with the creditor or lender, not the bureaus.

However, it is important to be sure that you question your creditor to be sure he is adhering to the laws under which he must protect your privacy. So ask the question, and listen carefully to the answer.

Donna Perkins

Privacy issues are actually much more prevalent with consumers themselves. For instance, standing in line at the pharmacy and having them shout out your private information for the next few people in line to hear is one of the most irritating situations. This can occur in a physicians office, as well, or any place where you must stand in line with others. If you are taking out your ID or credit card, checkbook, etc., and not shielding it from prying eyes, you can cause your own worst nightmare.

Learn how to be security conscious!

Primary Data (your identity):         Primary data consists of your first, middle and last name, including any prefixes and suffixes…i.e. DR. or Jr. or III.  Your physical residential address with the number, street, apartment number, city, state and zip code are next.  If you reside in a rural area, the complete address to which a document would be mailed to you is required.  Post Office Boxes are acceptable, but should not be used in place of a physical address if you have one.  As you move from time to time, and do not inform the bureaus yourself (most people do not do this step), then the next time you apply for credit with your changed address or pay a bill at a creditor who reports credit, your new address will be added to the data…but not necessarily will your file be updated immediately.  Additionally, the credit bureaus also receive data from the government and social security offices, so any variations in your address the way you put it on an application or a credit line will also be added to your credit file.

Primary data also consists of your date of birth, and social security number.  If you do not have a social security number, your data file will be incomplete and erroneous.  If you are using a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) which is granted to illegal aliens under certain circumstances (see section on Social Security Numbers and Other Forms of Identification), your credit file may not be accessible through the credit bureaus, as they often do not recognize these numbers.

A great controversy has been raging for the last few years about whether or not a CPN number, is legal to use in place of a social security number.  CPN means “credit profile number”, and you can find many sources to create these numbers for a lot of money.  Especially if it claims to be a “validated” or “verified” CPN.   BEWARE!  It is illegal to use a substitute social security number.  Why would you want a new number?  Well, if you have had your identity stolen, or just had a bad credit file for a long time, it may seem attractive to acquire a CPN so you can “start over”.  But you will not be able to attain credit legally with a substitute number without possibly landing in jail for credit fraud.  For more information on this subject, you can listen to a video on this subject at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hneplxsLXw

Remember, getting a CPN number requires that you provide a new address, new phone number, and previous address.  BEWARE!  If you lie on a credit application, you are committing credit fraud.  Additionally, you may not use an EIN number, which is an identification number for businesses.  The Credit Repair Organizations Act, or CROA states that no organization may do this for you, either.  To read more about CROA, you can go to http://www.ftc.gov/ro/chro/credit.shtm

Other identifying data that the bureaus may have in your credit file but not necessarily show on your credit report include, but is not limited to the following:  Male/Female, Single/Married/Divorced/Widowed, number of children, anniversary date, drivers license number, your previous residential addresses, your employer information going back 10 years and more.  All of this data is kept because it allows the bureaus to sort your information by category in order to sell more data to businesses.  Consider what a potential mortgage lender can do by pulling your credit report…compare and contrast what you put on your application by what they can purchase from the bureau…to be sure you are telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

When you understand the power that the bureaus have over your credit health, it becomes very clear how important it is for you to make sure that EVERYTHING in your credit file be as accurate as possible, at every bureau!

Secondary Data:  This is a snapshot of your current financial life…and includes such information as the status of each loan that you have at that moment (plus or minus about 90 days because of the delays in reporting the data).  This includes loan types such as a home mortgage, a lease or rental agreement for your place of residence, each car loan, every credit card or line of credit, your banking information if you have any lines of credit or loans through them (checking and savings account balances are not reported).  Some data is gathered also from your creditors when you make a purchase, if you filled out an application for an open line of credit.  A good example of this would be Dell Computers.  Also in this section is current information about any bankruptcies, foreclosures, judgments, voluntary or involuntary repossessions, etc.

Tertiary (third type) Data:  Your past history going back 10 years at the minimum is also stored, so that any creditor may see if you have had any credit problems within that time.  It is important to note that certain credit relationships may not be reported if the creditor does not report to the bureaus, such as an owner of a home that you rented; so if you were asked to leave for not paying your rent, this may not be reflected in your credit report.  It is vital that you find out by reviewing your credit report.

Of significance to you will be whether or not you have a spouse that has had trouble or is currently having financial difficulties.  Although credit data is kept individually, certain states that have laws regarding married couples where “community property[1]” is the standard may find that cross references are made on the credit report about your spouse’s credit history.  For instance, a bankruptcy granted in a community property state will show up on both spouse’s credit reports. When a creditor pulls credit to consider whether or not to lend to you, he will generally pull the credit reports of both spouses, and average the scores, whether or not both spouses are employed.  The creditor may be looking for the 10 year history on both spouses, regardless of how long the couple has been married.

The creditor will look at each loan, credit card or line of credit on each report, and assess whether the history shows all payments on time, or not.  You will have to answer questions about any late payments or other negative aspects of your credit history, usually in writing, to that creditor before your credit request will go to an underwriter[2].  The underwriter, using the guidelines developed by that financial institution, will look at your entire history and that of your spouse, and decide whether you are creditworthy or not.

Underwriting is a science, designed to decide whether the risk associated with lending money to you is sufficiently low, because most loans are “sold off” to third parties after a certain period of time.  In order to sell financial assets, a financial institution needs to have a certain percentage of their portfolio in low risk loans.  In this way, they can sell them for the highest amount possible, and use those funds to lend more money to more borrowers.

If you find that several items on your credit report are incorrect, it is solely your responsibility to get them corrected.  There are several chapters on this website devoted to explaining how to do that.  See Credit Restoration.   You can click here to get started on that path.

See Example of a Credit Report Here.

At one time, hundreds of websites were advertising that they could get you a new substitute EIN number with a new address, for the sole purpose of setting you up with a new identity.  In this way, your "bad credit" history would be bypassed, and you could start over.  Many people paid hundreds of dollars to these firms in hopes of getting that new financial life.

Then the Federal Trade Commission got involved, and put a stop to that practice for one reason…it is illegal. 50 of those firms were charged with crimes, and in this way, the word got out that to sell this type of service would get you in serious trouble.  Here are some of the ways that these firms set people up for a new identity:

PIN (personal identification number):  a pin was a "made up" number.  Using nine digits with the hypens in the right place, people starting using this new number as a social security number.  It was thought that by having at least one merchant accept this new number, it could be considered legitimate.

CPN (credit privacy number):  a CPN is a nine digit number, also "made up", that looks like a social security number. 

While both of these practices are actually legal in the formation of them, using them with any kind of lender is considered fraud.  Defauding a lender is a serious crime, punishable with fines and jail time.  In fact, in the case of using an alternative to a valid social security number for a mortgage, the fine can be $100,000 and  up to 30 years in jail for federal cases, and more for state cases.

In these uncertain times, you are much better off working with a credit restoration specialist who can assist you with cleaning up your credit report using your original social security number.  Using the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a seasoned expert can show you what needs to be addressed.  Remember, you have the RIGHT to dispute innacurate, incomplete, misleading, and aged information from your credit report.  By removing those negatives, your score can improve.  A credit restoration specialist can coach you on how to fight these inequities and win!  They can also provide you with strategies and information about adding positive lines of credit to your credit file.  CLICK HERE to get started today!

After this cleanup has been completed, and even during the process, there is one LEGITIMATE way you can stop using your social security number to personally guarantee loans for houses, vehicles, credit cards and more.  If you have a buisness, or have been considering starting one, then you can follow our plan to get you a Federal EIN number, and eventually a DUNS number.  Dun and Bradstreet is the premier purveyor of business credit monitoring.  Getting an 80+ PAYDEX score will assist you with putting everything you buy into a company, guaranteed by that company.  This frees up your personal credit, so it can remain as good as possible for the future.

To learn more about how you can get business credit started for yourself, CLICK HERE.

Donna Perkins

For the past many years, the Federal Trade Commission has been the watchdog of the industry.  But they are so huge that their focus has been on protecting the public from unscrupulous credit repair companies, and not much has been done to solve the problems of credit cleanup.  Enter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which now claims oversight for the bureaus…which may or may not be challenged by the FTC sometime in the future.  The CFPB has laid out a plan, at least initially.  They are seeking input from consumers, consumer groups, and the industry leaders in credit repair to offer problems and solutions.  After that review, we shall see what they intend to do.  Given how slowly a bureaucracy functions, however, and it may still be years before anything helpful to consumers is achieved.

Donna Perkins

In the meantime, you can be working on getting rid of the damaging negatives that may be on your particular report, and artificially lowering your credit score.  A seasoned credit restoration firm, with a proven track record, can assist you determine what can be removed.  Removal of negatives equals improvement in scores…it's as simple as that!  However, there are many other ways that your credit scores can be improved as well.  Why not seek out the help of a professional firm today?  For more information, CLICK HERE.