U.S. Soldiers who are being deployed outside of the country should not only be vigilant abroad, they should also be active in making sure that their credit reports that are left in the country would be safe from identity theft.
With the increase of credit card hacking and identity theft related crimes these past few months, it is best that people be vigilant that their credit card records and banking statements are safe from financial fraud. And U.S. soldiers would have a harder time in doing so because of their being overseas. They have limited access to technology depending on their location out o the country, therefore soldiers would find it more difficult to review their credit reports and inspect their financial statements.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have stated that soldiers would have a better chance of protecting their credit records by having their credits placed with an “active duty alert” before they get deployed. This is because having someone commit financial fraud by assuming their identity while they are out of the country is that last thing soldiers would want to fret and worry about, the FTC further said. And those who are unfortunate enough to be victims would spend a long time, maybe months or even years, to clean up the mess.
These “active duty alerts” work similarly to traditional fraud alerts. Though most alerts are applied when the insured suspects to be or have been victims of identity theft, soldiers and other servicemen do not necessarily have to be past or current victims of identity theft to have their credit reports placed with an alert. With the amendments made to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, soldiers are now allowed to place these “active duty alerts” to better protect their financial information while they are deployed out of the country.
The “active duty alerts” would be active for a one year period after they have been applied to a soldier’s credit report, and lenders would take more precautionary measures to properly identify whoever is trying to use the owner’s credit line during that period. Also, FTC reports that soldiers who place their report with an alert would be removed out of the nationwide customer screening database that houses information of insurance and pre-approved credit cards for a period of two years. And soldiers who would be facing a longer time out of the country could always place on their report another notification after the first year is over.
Nearly an estimated 11 million Americans are affected and victimized by identity theft every year, so it would do well in making use of credit protection and placing them on one’s credit report to better protect the person’s credit information and banking statements.
