FRAUD ALERTS WITH CREDIT BUREAUS FAIL TO PROTECT

Fraud alerts are placed by consumers in their credit bureau files and are intended to warn new credit grantors, such as credit card providers, of the potential of fraudulent activity in the consumers account.

Fraud alerts have several serious flaws about which consumers are unaware. In addition fraud alerts have one fatal flaw.

Fraud alerts “advise” credit grantors to phone you before granting credit. The purpose of the phone call is to validate your application for credit. Unfortunately, phoning consumers to validate this information is not a legal requirement to granting credit. The phone call is advisory only – there is no legal requirement for the credit grantor to actually call. In our experience at KnightsBridge Castle, fewer than 50% of new credit applications result in a call. Credit grantors simply find a short telephone call too burdensome in granting immediate credit to consumers.

A second flaw of fraud alerts is that unless you claim to be a victim of identity theft, your fraud alert duration is limited to three to six months.

The Fatal Flaw of Fraud Alerts – In recent months KnightsBridge Castle has assisted clients with fraud alerts that do not seem to be working. The flaw – criminals are phoning the credit bureaus and changing the telephone numbers. Of the few credit grantors who actually call, the credit card companies find themselves asking for credit application verification from the thieves who have stolen the consumer’s identity!

(NOTE: KnightsBridge Castle does not reveal details of criminal activity not already known by identity thieves – we provide information only to assist our readers in understanding the full risk of identity crimes and the inadequate protections currently available from our institutions)