As a number of identity theft victims now know first-hand, a California free credit report can end up in the wrong hands. Your most personal information...social security number, date of birth, mother and father's details, your children and even pets' names, your residence address...along with your actual credit cards and even bank account details can be vulnerable to electronic pilfering. You need your private data kept private. Yet, you also routinely share aspects of your private data in cash-less transactions you make all day. Think of going to the supermarket, getting your hair done, paying bills and mortgage online, bidding on Ebay, buying from any number of favorite online web shops, getting an oil change for your car. The most mundane daily activities "expose" you to identity theft, especially credit card ID theft. Everyone wants a secure purchase, but is it? California Straddling The Privacy Rights Line. The "business" of California includes embarrassing enrichment of the State's coffers at the expense and risk of over 25 million Californians. How so? Like other states, California has sold to private online contractors the State's birth index containing private and confidential personal records of around 25 million residents. Worse, the State joins other state bureaucrats in a bid-and-sell game of revenue enhancement, selling private citizens data to commercial loan marketing firms. In 2002 Florida actually passed into law a bill that required real estate appraisers to publish over 500,000 real estate owners' social security numbers! It doesn't get more stupid by government...or more easy for criminals! All of this "stuff" happens outside the light of day. Elected pols jump on the "privacy" band wagon, actively claiming consumer protection advocacy. However, the reality speaks to the money side of your data. How Bad Guys "Mine" California's State Data Base. What begins as theft of your hand bag, wallet or car quickly snowballs into a major financial problem for identity theft victims. California's state Uniform Commercial Code or UCC data base contains personal social security numbers, drivers license and supporting background private information. Once the bad guys "sting" you, then they rapidly penetrate the State's data base, trolling for additional personal and financial details which theyll use to plunder your accounts. Getting Control Over Your California Credit Report. Crime stats show a staggering 80% increase in "reported" credit card identity theft crimes nationally. Unreported and unknown cases of identity theft may account for potentially 50% more cases. You're looking at billions of dollars "vanishing" as technology-enabled criminals scoop up raw data from unsecured merchant sites, or simply buy data on the open market. Once these criminals take over just one of your financial accounts, all hell breaks loose in terms of your credit status. California credit repair boils down to specific steps you'll take to formally notify the big 3 credit bureaus, Transunion, Experian and Equifax. California Credit Freeze Law. Fortunately California passed a law effective 1 January 2003 that permits any citizen to trigger a California credit freeze. You don't need to show that you're an ID theft victim in order to freeze your credit records. You'll pay an initial fee of $10 and a total of about $30 to lock-down your credit records so that no credit bureau can reply to any request "without first obtaining your permission". On the other hand, if you've been ripped-off via credit card identity theft, then California waives its fees and allows you to initiate a full force California credit freeze without limitation. Remember too that once you've proven ID theft via a valid police report, you only have minimal legal responsibility for payments. Banks and credit card companies bear the brunt of pay-back responsibility. How Long Does California Credit Freeze Last And What Are The Fees? Coverage time frames? The law states "indefinite", so you can get back in control either before the damage occurs or after you've been hit by the bad guys. Once you've completed your California credit repair, you can elect to "unfreeze" your State file by sending in $10 fee to get a temporary date-range limited for each credit reporting agency or a $12 fee to permit an agency to share your data with a single creditor-applicant. |
