Credit Expert

1. Check your bank statements carefully.
   With your account data and basic personal information criminals could try to get hold of your money. If you spot any unfamiliar transactions, tell your bank immediately and explain the circumstances. The amounts may not be large at first. Small amounts can be used to see if the process is working without raising alarm bells before the large amounts are taken.



2. Review your credit report.
   Criminal may try to apply for loans, credit cards and even mortgages in your name – as well as other forms of credit such as mobile telephone and catalogue accounts. Your credit report lists all your credit commitments and recent credit applications, so you can instantly see if someone has been trying to use your ID and put a stop to problems before they can develop.



3. Minimise information you post on social networking sites.
   Organised gangs are focusing on ID fraud as a profit centre and they know that many people give away useful snippets that could be passwords or key dates giving access to your bank and card accounts. Edit out the names of pets, mother's maiden name, schools and anything else you might use as a password or PIN. This should also include being wary of website on which you publish your family tree!



4. Watch for hoax calls, letters or e-mails.
   Taking advantage of your distress in the wake of a data breach, criminals may call, e-mail or write pretending to need further information in order to protect you. In fact, they hope to rip you off more thoroughly – so don't give away information to people you do not know. Check with organisations that might have a genuine reason for contacting you before you part with your data. If anyone contacts you and asks for date of birth, security questions etc don't answer directly but ask them which department they are from. Look up the contact phone number (recent statement, website etc - DO NOT USE A PHONE NUMBER THEY GIVE YOU) phone them and ask for the relevant department. If they have asked for security details it is also worth making a formal complaint to the organisation regards their lack of security.



5. Ensure your bank and credit card account passwords do not relate to the data that could be compromised.
   Many of us tend to use details such as children's names and memorable dates as passwords to protect our bank and credit card accounts. Fraudsters are likely to make a good guess at these passwords which will give them access to your finances for further theft and much more. Make sure you update your passwords on a regular basis and use unique words that do not relate to data that could be compromised in a data breach.


Credit monitoring is such an effective method of protecting yourself that it is recommended by the Home Office and many responsible organisations automatically offer it to customers and clients who have been affected by a data breach.

You can see your Experian credit report for free with a 30-day trial of CreditExpert, the UK's leading credit monitoring and identity fraud protection service. Then keep on checking regularly, to give yourself peace of mind and make sure that criminals haven't taken their time in impersonating you.
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