Protecting Your Identity
In light of cyber security threats and data breaches making headlines, our team at Covenant Wealth Strategies would like to remind you that it is a best practice to be vigilant and closely review or monitor your financial accounts, statements, credit reports and other financial information for any evidence of unusual activity, fraudulent charges or signs of identity theft.
Capital One most recently announced that 100 million accounts were breached, putting many customers at risk.
To protect yourself, you should consider taking a proactive approach by freezing or locking your information. The benefit of a freeze is that it prevents lenders from accessing your credit report. Lenders will typically not extend credit without first accessing your credit report.
You can contact the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the national consumer reporting agencies for more information on fraud alerts, security freezes and other steps you can take to avoid identity theft:
- Equifax, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, Georgia 30348, 1-877-478-7625, www.equifax.com
- Experian, P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013, 1-888-397-3742, www.experian.com
- TransUnion, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016, 1-800-680-7289, www.transunion.com
- Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580, 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357), www.ftc.gov/idtheft
You may also obtain a free copy of your credit report online at www.annualcreditreport.com, by calling toll-free 1-877-322-8228, or by mailing an Annual Credit Report Request Form (available at www.annualcreditreport.com) to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA, 30348-5281.