The reports are free and a good preventative measure to guard against identity theft. Even if there has not been a report of a data breach involving your personal information, it is still important to check the credit reports. Some data breaches are not reported. The identity theft can be focus on you personally and, when you discover that someone has accessed your confidential, private information, the damage has been done.

You are entitled to a free credit report. In fact, it is really three free credit reports. You can receive a free credit report annually from three agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. If used prudently, these three reports can be spread out and used throughout the year. It would be a way of doing a regular, routine monitoring of your credit. And it is an excellent preventative measure against identity theft.

If you think that this is a drain on your time and energy, consider the alternative. Think of the time and energy that would be necessary if your personal confidential information were to be compromised and used for identity theft. It is a nightmare.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster:  http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]credit report, data breach, privacy, security, identity theft, free, prevention[/tag]