Freezing your credit report can be an effective tool to protect yourself against credit fraud using Louisiana credit reporting laws, debt reporting laws and Louisiana debt collection laws. A credit report freeze prevents credit con-artists from starting new cards and other financial accounts in your name and surname, and can often be recommended when you’re facing the ramifications of identity theft. With the recent Equifax Breach your personal information may have been obtained by internet hackers and potentially used to set up credit accounts in your name. These accounts may create massive debts in your name and ruin your credit score and make your life a living nightmare. If you’re worried about identity manipulation and the breaching of reported information, or somebody getting access to your credit information without you knowing, you might want to consider starting a freeze on your credit report.
It’s also known a credit security freeze, this allows you to restrict access to your credit report, which makes it much more troublesome for identity manipulators to start financial accounts in your behalf. That’s because lenders usually request to see credit history report before they’re able to pass on a new credit account. If they couldn’t locate your file, they cannot approve the credit.
You’ve got to understand that a credit freeze also does not restrain you from getting your free yearly credit report. And does not as well keep you from starting a new financial account, getting a new job, renting a house, or purchasing insurance. But if you’re doing any of these, you will have to stop the freeze temporarily, either for a limited time or for a specific trustee, for example a landlord or a job boss.
It does not restrain a thief from purchases or transactions on your existing financial accounts as well. You still need to keep track of all bank accounts and credit cards’ history to make sure you’re on the safe side. A credit freeze gives you the opportunity to have more security, distance yourself from any potential financial abuse against you, and lock your data at big credit bureaus. Doing so, also makes it impossible for any hackers to use your identity to do any mischievous acts that are required for making illegal purchases or harm your credit report in any way.
During the process, you will get a password or an identification number to be able to use for temporarily or permanently removing the freeze altogether. Credit freezes, nevertheless, do not influence your credit score or restrain you from getting your yearly credit report. Freezing your credit report requires you to make a request to each credit bureau to for any respective task. There is not much work to do in regards to what’s required to freeze your report between the different credit bureaus, as they all offer detailed procedures on how to go about how to completing this process. Your request must be in writing and should include your name and surname, contact info and proof of residence, some data on your date of birth, your social security number, and usually a copy of your driver’s license or any other valid or expired identification card.
Security experts, consumer advocates, and even state attorney generals sometimes recommend freezing your credit report even if the above issues do not occur. This is because data breaches have become commonplace. A credit freeze differs from a fraud alert in that the former locks down your credit while the latter allows creditors to obtain a copy of your report as long as they verify your identity. As with credit freezes, fraud alerts do not stop identity thieves from using existing accounts, but do prevent them from opening new ones. Initial fraud alerts protect your information for 90 days, and are often used by those who are concerned about identity theft but haven’t been victimized yet. Extended fraud alerts protect the credit of identity theft victims for seven years. Lifting your credit freeze, whether temporarily or permanently, requires contacting credit agencies, who typically lift the freeze within three business days following your request. The cost to lift the freeze again varies by state.
To initiate a credit freeze in Louisiana, you must send an official request to the respective credit reporter following Louisiana Debt Collection Laws. This request generally must include a $10 fee, a report of complaint from a valid law enforcement agency, or provide documentation that you are at least 62 years of age and live in Louisiana to qualify for the fee to be waived. There is no fee for Louisiana residents that are victims of identity theft with a valid copy of a report from a law enforcement agency. Alternatively, if you have been impacted by the recent Equifax breach, you may be eligible for the fee to be waived on a separate basis. Once the the security freeze has been added, a confirmation notice along with a personal identification number will be provided that will be required for each temporary removal of the freeze as needed for credit application or any transaction that another party may need to access your personal credit report. For assistance, a New Orleans FDCPA lawyer can help you navigate this process in accordance with Louisiana credit reporting laws and Louisiana debt collection laws.
Consumer advocates say that the credit reporting industry has another reason for pushing other options instead of credit freezes: money. Banks and bureaus sell credit monitoring services to their customers and thus have a vested interest in promoting them. Protect yourself from possible and actual identity theft with a credit freeze. Removing fraudulent activity from your credit report often takes hours, and such activity affects your credit score until it’s removed.
A credit freeze can be a powerful weapon against identity theft. When a freeze is in place, credit reporting agencies may not release the consumer’s credit report or credit score unless the consumer first removes the freeze by providing his password. Most lenders and creditors rely on access to a consumer’s credit file to determine his credit worthiness. By denying such access, a credit freeze makes it very difficult for an identity thief to open an account in a victim’s name.
Although one does not generally associate Louisiana with freezing much of anything except daiquiris and snoballs, the process for requesting a credit report freeze with a couple exceptions is fairly as simply as it is in the rest of the country. Based on Louisiana Credit Reporting Laws, a consumer is not required to provide the same number of identification documents. Louisiana Credit Reporting Laws are more relaxed than laws in other states, but it’s fairly the same process.The same goes for New Orleans Debt Collection Laws, the procedures are the same and the fees varies from state-to-state. However, if your information was released in the recent Equifax Breach, it may be possible for you to request compensation for those fees from Equifax. Louisiana credit reporting laws will likely facilitate this compensation if navigated by an experienced FDCPA lawyer.
In the case of theft occurring against your financial records, you will need to show a proof of theft. One may satisfy the required proof of theft by providing documentation of an inconsistent credit balance, suspicious transaction history, or an identity theft report. This documentation of proof of theft must then be provided to the police to open an investigation it and issue you an official report. You will then need to send copies of your proof of theft to the responsible credit bureaus. Most likely, these will not be sent back to you. Thus, it is important to make and send only the copies of this evidence, and maintain the originals for your records, which may be required to be presented in a court of law.
Freezing your credit report is crucially important when a financial account has been established in your name. It is also necessary if you have found out your social security number was used following an info breach, such as the recent Equifax information breach. If you are concerned that you may become a victim and want to secure your personal credit now, contact a New Orleans FDCPA Lawyer and they can tell you how!
