Two Significant Threats

Two Significant Threats to YOU Personally

Number 1. Identity theft and fraud are now prevalent in ways not seen before.

Someone uses your name and date of birth and drivers licence / passport details to fraudulently obtain a $20k personal loan or credit card from an unwitting lender. In the process that person changes your address. You find out some months later when contacted by a collections agency because you are in default. Your Credit File is of course, by now, ruined.

This is not far-fetched – it has happened twice to clients of mine this year. In the UK there are now 500 cases a DAY of this occurring.

Number 2. ‘Positive Credit Reporting’ is now officially sanctioned and in operation.

Banks now report to each other, on a rolling 24-month basis, every credit payment you make and its timeliness and use this information against you.

From our biggest bank to its own customers: “Warning: Paying your accounts regularly and on time may work in your favour when applying for credit” (say that one in reverse and the problem is very clear!)

Australians are too complacent about their own data. You need to actively monitor your credit file to:

1.     alert yourself to activity that is NOT yours and

2.     see exactly what Big Brother is watching

There are places that offer this “free”. Free is never free however, as many of these sites are not actually interested in your credit score, they want your personal data. One of the worst examples is a site that, after clicking the consent box for their ‘free’ credit score service, your data is then sold to anyone who wishes to buy a “qualified lead” for $150. I am not making this up!

Monitoring services direct from credit bureaus themselves cost up to $250 per annum.

I am offering a new value add to my own clients for less than $1 per week – where your privacy is guaranteed and I act as your agent to give you peace of mind in relation to your credit data and credit file. The charge is only to recover cost.

Please contact me to find out more, or if you would like advice tailored to your own personal circumstances.

Just Ask Alan – Your online mortgage broker.