There are people all over North America that go to great extremes in order to protect and guard their credit scores from identity theft and fraud. Some turn to using the services of credit monitoring companies to help them keep a better eye on any activity with their credit report. Now this is by no means a bad thing, but unfortunately every consumer may not have the funds to make monthly payments for a service such as this.
This leaves one to wonder how they expect to feel comfortable in knowing that they have completely secure credit scores without the best credit monitoring services that are currently available. The answer can be found through personal monitoring and helpful tips that Consumer Reports suggested to individuals who would rather not spend money on an outside service.
5 Ways To Monitor Your Credit and Save Money
As helpful as credit monitoring services can be there are still plenty of easy methods that consumers seeking bad credit auto loans can implement that will allow their credit to remain secure, and allow them to place their money to better uses. Here are five simple tactics that we can all utilize and is sure to produce great results:- Wallet/Card Security
- According to Consumer Report nearly 86% of identity theft in 2011 came by way of unauthorized access to a consumer existing account through debit and credit cards. How does something like this happen at such a high percentile? The answer is commonly found to be the result of negligence when people misplace or have their wallets or purses stolen, which according to a separate stat this occurs 1,000 times every 2 minutes in the U.S.
So how do you prevent things like this from happening to you? The best way is to go the route of online banking, which enables you to have security over your accounts, perform transactions, check balances, and address any bills that may be due all through the Internet.
- Freezing Credit Reports
- Fraud and identity theft through a person's credit report is attempted on a very large scale with marginal success, but it's still a good idea to consider freezing your credit report. This will prevent any auto finance company or other lending institute that you don't currently have affiliation with from looking at your credit report without your consent. It's usually good to have this in effect with Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax to make sure each bureau is covered.
- PC and Internet Protection
- It is well known that often times scammers will look to steal your identity through e-mails and fraudulent websites. Most emails usually target some sort of financing opportunity such as special auto loan options, bad credit financing for low credit scores, and so much more. The easiest to help monitor and guard your credit from these traps is to never respond or open messages that you did not request. This will help protect you from unleashing viruses or visiting a site that is not secure. Also by having updated security software and keeping all personal information on a separate flash drive you can be sure that your credit information is safe.
- Guarded Smartphones
- The development of smartphones ushered in a new age of accessing and exchanging data between people, which also meant that people's credit information was now at further risk. Much like wallets and purses, our smartphones contain a great deal of personal information and if we don't properly protect them we can be at risk of fraud. Therefore, it is suggested that people make sure their electronics are guarded against malware, are password protected, encrypt personal data, and possible locks or deletes information when stolen.
- Respond Quickly to Threats
- Often times people are victims of fraud and identity theft because they fail to check their credit reports and ensure everything is still intact. If you accidently open a spam email, lose your wallet, or think your account has been accessed by an unauthorized individual immediately contact your bank, credit bureau, and other companies that guard your information. Taking the initiative and being aggressive with monitoring your credit can be the difference between a having secure credit and possibly applying for low credit financing on a vehicle in the future.
Credit Monitoring Services
These are only a few useful tactics that you can easily carryout yourself without having to pay a large sum of money each month. However, if you're not sure if you can keep your credit ratings safe on your own there are still some great affordable credit monitoring companies that can be utilized. This way you won't ever have to question or worry about being a victim of identity theft when surfing the web, financing a car with poor credit, or anything else in life.
Here at AutoNet Financial we help provide no money down auto financing for people with bad credit that earn over $1,500 per month, regardless of how long they have been on the job. We work with local car dealerships and in house financing dealers to find the best auto loans that accept people with problem credit.
