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Most people are aware that they can obtain a copy of their credit report for free - or for a minimal charge - from credit-reporting agencies like Experian and Equifax. However, many have no idea what’s on their credit report, how to read it, or how to correct erroneous information. This article reviews six items that appear on your credit report, and shows you how to fix any errors you may find.

Personal Information

Are your name, social security number, address and other personal information accurate? If not, contact your credit-reporting agency to correct the error. A lending company would hesitate before lending money to someone whose name or address is different on their loan application than on their credit report.

Open Account Information

Your credit report details all of your current credit card accounts. It spells out your credit limits, whether you have been paying your bills on time, and if you hold any balances.

Pay particular attention to the accuracy of this information. Lenders use it to gauge whether they’ll lend you money.

Mortgage Information

Credit reports also detail information on outstanding mortgages; your account number, the date you signed your mortgage and whether you have been late with payments. The same information is available for any other outstanding loans or lines of credit from your financial institution.

It is vital that this information is correct. If a lender perceives you as having too much debt they are unlikely to approve you for another loan.

Collections/Negative Account Histories

Your credit report identifies whether you have any accounts that are in collection, and the status of those cases. Because this information can adversely impact your credit score and determine whether you are able to obtain a loan, it is important that it is correct.

Some credit-reporting agencies offer services to help you resolve these issues or advice on how to improve your credit score.

Judgments & Liens

Any judgment or award against you in a court of law will be included on your credit report. It will specify the case number, identify the plaintiff and the defendant, verify whether the case is open or closed and detail its resolution (i.e. the amount that has been awarded).

Should there be a lien on your property, your credit report details the case number, the court where the lien was established, the amount of the lien and whether the lien has been released. Make sure your credit report reflects if your lien has been satisfied or the judgement has been reduced or rescinded. Bankruptcies

Bankruptcy information is also available on your credit report and should be monitored carefully. The report will outline whether it is an individual or a joint bankruptcy and include the amount of assets and liabilities you have incurred.

Incorrect bankruptcy information (especially the date bankruptcy was declared) is a frequent source of problems for consumers looking to obtain loans.

Correct Erroneous Information

There is a space for comments under each section of your credit report. You might say that a lien was established due to a misunderstanding with a vendor, and that it was promptly satisfied. You could note that you have paid off outstanding balances listed on the report. You may even choose to briefly explain why you are in arrears on a certain debt payment.

When making credit report fixing and correcting factual inaccuracies such as your address or the spelling of your name, provide your credit agency with written proof as soon as possible. With appropriate documentation, your credit agency should make the necessary changes fairly quickly.

Bottom Line

Try to obtain your credit report at least once a year and review it for inaccuracies. If you spot errors have them fixed as soon as possible. You’ll be glad you did.

Although the federal government has made it possible for each citizen to protect their identity by accessing free credit reports, initiating free fraud alerts and, placing their name and contact information on “do not call” or mail lists, many individuals do not realize that they must continuously request these “free” services in order to continue to protect their identity. When you consider the amount of time it takes to repeatedly request these “free” services and calculate the risks involved in forgetting to put these protective measures in place, “free” can turn into thousands of hours spent trying to restore one’s good name and credit and thousands of dollars of financial ruin. When it comes down to it, if time equals money, then free is not “free” when it comes to protecting your identity. There is however, an economic way to protect your identity and prevent identity theft through a company called LifeLock. LifeLock’s Identity Theft Prevention services can help you protect your identity and prevent identity theft in six valuable ways.

1. Fraud Alerts - Fraud Alerts are one way to protect your identity. Although placing a fraud alert on your credit file with each of the 3 major credit bureaus is free, in order to benefit from having a fraud alert on your credit file, you must request a new alert every 90 days. LifeLock takes the time and effort out of remembering to request fraud alerts by requesting these alerts for you every 90 days. Through this service, LifeLock ensures that there are no lapses in Fraud Alerts on your credit report.

2. Do Not Call or Mail Lists - LifeLock protects your identity by removing your name from pre-approved credit card mailing lists and by placing your name on “do-not-call” lists on an annual basis. Identity thieves can easily steal your identity and affect your credit status is by taking pre-approved credit card offers from your mailbox. They can also act as telemarketers and call to tell you that you have won a free trip and then ask for your credit card number in order to pay for the expenses not covered by the award. LifeLock makes it easy for you to remove your name from solicitation lists and prevent this type of identity theft.

3. Credit Reports - Being sure to check your credit report is a good way to help protect your identity. By checking your credit report, you can see if you have had any unauthorized loans or credit cards opened in your name. Although the federal government has made it a law for you to receive a free credit report from each of the 3 credit agencies yearly, the only way to ensure that your credit is checked all year long is to request a credit report from one of the credit agencies every 4 months. This can be very time consuming and cumbersome. LifeLock takes the time and effort out of remembering to pull your credit report by sending you a copy of your credit report four times a year.

4. WalletLock - If you ever lose your wallet, LifeLock’s WalletLock system will help prevent identity theft by assisting you in identifying what was in your wallet and will assign you a WalletLock specialist who will help you contact each credit card company, banking institution, and any state and federal agencies who issue driver’s licenses, etc. to cancel the affected accounts and to begin the process of reinstating missing documents.

5. Identity Monitoring -LifeLock provides an additional way of preventing identity theft from occurring through its eRecon and TrueAddress systems. eRecon protects your identity through searching criminal websites for the selling or trading of your personal information and notifies you if such use is discovered. TrueAddress works by detecting any change of address information attached to your name in nationwide databases. You will then be alerted if a criminal tries to steal your mail or obtain your financial information by attempting to change your address. LifeLock also ensures that new bank accounts are not opened in a member’s name by monitoring check systems.

6. Recovering Your Identity - Because criminals find ways around the system, preventing identity theft is not always fool-proof. Because of this, LifeLock offers a $1,000,000 total service guarantee that if someone happens to discover a weakness in their system and uses it to steal your identity, they will provide attorneys, investigators, accountants, case managers, etc. to restore your good name and, if you lose money as a result of the theft, LifeLock will reimburse you the amount of money lost. Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, has even been quoted as saying “If you get thrown in jail [because of identity theft], we’ll bail you out of jail.”

The decision to protect your identity and the way in which you go about protecting your identity is completely up to you. There are ways to protect your identity which will only cost you in terms of time and effort; however, there is no guarantee that you will recover your money and good name if your identity is stolen. Then there’s LifeLock’s Identity Protection and Theft Prevention services that will save you time and effort in protecting your identity and preventing identity theft and LifeLock comes with up to a million dollar guarantee to recover your money and restore your good name if your identity is stolen.

Identity theft is becoming increasingly common, and protecting yourself is important. One way to keep your identity safe is to get an unpublished phone number. This is often overlooked but phone companies sell customer information including name, address, and calling records to anyone who will pay for it.

This can put you at risk of having your identity stolen because the more places your personal information is stored, the greater the chance of it being ripped off.

Using a post office box is another option. By having your bills and statements sent to a post office box, you’ll be safer from criminals who steal these things out of people’s mailboxes. It can also keep you safer from people who want to connect your name and address by researching your utility bills. A post office box will help shield your physical address.

While you’re at the post office, always mail bills and other letters containing checks and personal information from the post office. This will eliminate the chance that your personal information will be stolen out of your mailbox.

Identity theft of this kind is common but also easily prevented if you make sure you never put items containing personal information in your mail box.

Don’t ever put your phone number, social security number or any other private data on your checks. Your name and address (your PO box address, remember?) should be all that is printed on them. Some stores ask you for this information but it isn’t required if you show them the proper identification. Many businesses are using electronic check verification now anyway so don’t ever give out your personal information.

Safeguarding your social security number is especially important to prevent identity theft. Even if companies request it (except companies running a credit check) don’t give it. The fewer number of companies that have access to your social security number, the less chance it will be stolen.

When applying for a job, don’t give your social security number until and unless you are hired. Gaining access to social security numbers stored in files is a common way of identity theft as well so make sure only companies that are secure and don’t share customer information have access to your number.

Do you know what’s in your wallet? If you answered no, then you are at risk for having your identity stolen. In fact, if you are not aware of the ways your identity can be stolen, then you are not aware of the ways in which you can protect yourself from identity theft. If this is the case, then it is very likely that you will be one of the 10 million individuals who will have their identity stolen this year. With identity theft, what you don’t know can hurt you. The best defense against becoming a victim of identity theft is by knowing the following ways in which your identity can be stolen.

First, one of the easiest ways your identity can be stolen is through a losing a wallet or having it stolen. Thieves can take your personal information from a driver’s license, social security card or other identifying information found in your wallet. With this information, they can open credit card and utility accounts in your name. Thieves may also attempt to obtain public services, get a driver’s license or official ID card issued in your name, but with their picture on it, or even give out your personal information when arrested.

The second way your identity can be stolen is by becoming comfortable with your day to day activities and your surroundings. Letting your guard down concerning your paper trail, especially your financial paper trails, is one way for thieves to access your personal information. Identity theft crimes are more likely to occur by someone you know or who you feel comfortable with. For example, if you employ someone who works in your home, such as a housekeeper, you need to be sure that your personal papers are kept in a secure location within your home. Be aware of who you perceive to be trustworthy before you allow them access to your home or personal records.

A third way thieves can access your personal information is by scouring dumpsters or trash cans to get receipts from financial institutions or pre-approved credit card applications. They can use this information to create counterfeit checks or open credit card accounts in your name. Thieves can also steal checks, bank statements and other financial documents straight from your mailbox before you ever know they are missing. It is important to monitor your incoming and outgoing paper mail and shred all financial documents before trashing them.

A fourth way your identity can be stolen is through telemarketing phishing scams. Thieves call and pretend to be an employee of a popular company, such as Kmart, and fabricate a problem with your most recent payment. Most people fall for this type of scam by providing the caller with personal and financial information. Identity theft also occurs on-line through social websites. Be careful not to tell others too much about yourself as identity thieves are great at using any tidbit of personal information to take over your identity.

The fifth way thieves try to steal your identity is by watching your transactions at ATM machines. You should always be aware of your surroundings when standing at automated teller machines. An experienced thief can see pin number you type in. They may then follow you, wait for a chance to get your ATM receipt, and then have access to your bank account.

The sixth way to have your identity stolen is to, as simple as it sounds, fail to put protective measures in place to keep thieves from gaining access to your personal information. Whether you purchase identity theft protection services or put your own identity theft protection services in place, the important thing is for you to be proactive when it comes to protecting your identity. If you are not protected from identity theft, you inevitably have your identity stolen.

When it comes to knowing how your identity can be stolen, what you don’t know can hurt you. Learning the 6 ways your identity can be stolen is the first step in being knowledgeable about protecting your identity. What you choose to do with this knowledge is up to you. If you don’t do something regarding your identity, a thief certainly will.

In a perfect world we would not have to worry about the threat of someone stealing our identity and ruining our credit. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world. Fortunately, there are services available, such as LifeLock’s Identity Theft Protection Services, which work to protect your identity. Although there are pro’s and con’s to using such services, LifeLock’s pros greatly outweigh their cons.

To begin with, one pro of LifeLock is that they offer child identity theft protection services. At this time, LifeLock is the only company to offer credit checks and monitoring services for a member’s child who is under the age of 15. With the number of child identity thefts growing each year, LifeLock is leading the market in providing this needed service.

Another pro of LifeLock is that LifeLock works to prevent identity theft. While most companies provide identity theft monitoring services, LifeLock’s services are proactive in preventing identity theft from occurring in the first place. LifeLock’s identity prevention services include detecting when a member’s address has been illegally changed in national databases through their TrueAddress services; placing fraud alerts on your credit files; and monitoring the internet for black market activity regarding the illegal use of credit card numbers and social security numbers through their eRecon services.

A further pro of using LifeLock services is that LifeLock reduces the amount of access thieves have to your personal information by stopping pre-approved credit card offers that come in the mail and curtailing the number of telemarketing calls received. Stealing identifying information from your mail box or trash is a popular way for identity thieves to steal your personal information, not to mention using Pretexting scams to gather your credit card information by phone. LifeLock not only prevents identity theft by reducing the amount of access thieves have to your personal information; they also reduce the amount of junk mail you receive. Who wouldn’t count that as a pro!

The only con that LifeLock may be considered to have is that they do not perform daily scans of a member’s credit report. LifeLock does pull credit reports annually and mails them to their members for review; however, some individuals may not think this occurs often enough. Keep in mind though, since LifeLock places fraud alerts on their members credit files, any unauthorized request for credit or loans will be discovered almost immediately.

Finally, one of the best pros of using LifeLock is their $1,000,000 total service guarantee. Because thieves will inevitably find “a way around the system,” there is really no way to ensure that one’s identity will not be stolen. However, LifeLock does ensure that, if an individual’s identity is stolen while they are a member of LifeLock, LifeLock will provide attorneys, investigators, accountants, case managers, etc. to restore the individual’s good name and credit. In addition, if the individual loses money as a result of the theft, LifeLock will reimburse the amount lost.

When it comes to weighing the pros and cons of using an identity theft protection company, the scales are tipped towards LifeLock. LifeLock offers some of the most comprehensive identity theft protection and prevention services available. When deciding which identity theft protection company is right for you and your family, it is clear that LifeLock’s identity theft protection services outweigh the competition.

With the growing number of identity theft protection companies, it is important that you become familiar with the type of services offered by each company. LifeLock is one of the fastest growing identity theft protection companies on the market today and offers members a wide variety of identity theft protection services. Take a look at the following 5 ways LifeLock compares to other identity theft protection companies.

First, in order to truly protect your identity from being stolen, you have to prevent the theft from ever occurring. LifeLock differs from most identity theft companies in that LifeLock offers preventive services in the form of setting fraud alerts on your credit files with all 3 credit bureaus. Fraud alerts prevent lenders from issuing credit or loans without writing or calling you for verification. While most companies merely monitor the activity on your credit report, LifeLock goes a step further by requiring your verification before activity can occur on your credit report.

The second way that LifeLock compares to other credit protection companies is that it provides you with a copy of your credit report from all three credit bureaus on an annual basis. This enables you to review your credit files to see if there has been any unauthorized use of your personal information to open fraudulent accounts. Although some identity theft companies only pull credit reports from one bureau, LifeLock pulls from all three bureaus giving you a greater ability to see any activity on your credit report.

Third, LifeLock keeps a “lock” on your personal information by ensuring that your name is removed from junk mail registers, pre-approved credit card mailing lists and that you are on the “do-not-call” lists. By doing this, the avenues thieves use to secure credit cards in your name or to gather your credit card information are “locked.” In addition to preventing identity theft via snail mail and the telephone, LifeLock offers eRecon and TrueAddress services to monitor websites and national databases for illegal use of your personal information or for unusual changes to your personal information.

The fourth way that LifeLock protects you and your family’s identity is by protecting your children’s identity as well as your own identity. Through the provision of identity protection services for your children, LifeLock leaves no chances of someone in your family falling prey to identity theft criminals. Children are often overlooked by other identity protection companies but are often a targeted population by thieves. A child’s identity can be stolen and never realized until the child is in high school or even college. LifeLock provides a monitoring service specialized for children up to age 16.

Lastly, LifeLock offers two services to save you time, effort, and worry in the event that your identity is stolen and fraudulent activity occurs. First, with LifeLock’s WalletLock, if your wallet is ever stolen, LifeLock will provide an agent to assist you in cancelling all credit cards that were in your wallet and in contacting the necessary agencies to get your identification cards re-processed. Second, LifeLock offers a $1,000,000 full service guarantee that if someone steals your identity while you are a member of LifeLock, they will cover the costs associated with recovering your good name and credit.

With the growing number of identity theft protection companies on the market today, it is important to know how each company stacks-up to their competitors before deciding which company to use to protect your identity. LifeLock’s identity theft prevention services place LifeLock among the leading companies that provide identity theft protection services.