Identity theft continues to be an important issue to A&M System employees, as made evident at the System Employee Benefit Advisory Committee’s (SEBAC) February meeting. While the committee continued looking into offering a coverage that protects against identity theft, SEBAC Representative Nancy Granovsky stressed the importance of regularly checking one’s credit report.
Last year, the Federal Trade Commission received more than 685,000 complaints involving consumer fraud and identity theft, with reported losses from fraud exceeding $680 million. Granovsky, a family economics specialist with Texas Cooperative Extension, said monitoring credit reports is one way to detect signs of possible theft and avoid becoming a victim of what can be a costly problem, and one that can take years to correct (for more tips, see next article).
Aside from alerting people to signs of identity theft, Granovsky said regularly checking credit reports makes good financial sense.
“You may have incorrect information in your credit report and not realize it,” Granovsky said. “Up to 25 percent of all credit reports contain errors, and these errors can hurt you when you apply for credit. You need to be aware of any mistakes and have them corrected.”
Granovsky said you should request a credit report at least once a year, but she recommends requesting one report every four months. And, thanks to an amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act that passed in 2004, you can receive a credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once every 12 months free of charge. Granovsky recommends requesting reports from all three, but staggering them throughout the year.
“You’re entitled to one free credit report a year from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion,” Granovsky said. “If you request a report from one of these bureaus once every four months, in a year’s time you will have a record of any changes to your credit history that might have occurred during that year. This is especially important if you have attempted to correct wrong information.”
What happens if you find inaccurate information in your credit report? Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the consumer reporting company and the information provider (a person, company or organization that provides information about you to a consumer reporting company) are responsible for correcting inaccurate or incomplete information in your report. The law specifies the timeframe within which investigations must take place and what must be provided back to the consumer. If your dispute isn't resolved to your satisfaction, you can ask that a statement of the dispute be included in the file and in all future reports. You can also ask the reporting company to send your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past, but you can expect to pay a fee for this service.
If you are having difficulty resolving a dispute with a creditor over an item on your credit report, you can contact the Regional Dispute Resolution Center in your area for assistance. If your creditor is willing to let the center act as a mediator in the dispute, you may be able to resolve the situation for a nominal fee.
Credit reports do not include a credit score. If you want that, you will have to apply directly to one of the three bureaus and pay a fee. Credit scores are what creditors use when determining whether to give you credit and, if so, how much. Your score is not fixed, meaning it can change with your debt payment history, debt load and type of credit.
Granovsky said you can obtain your report free of charge only by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com, calling (877) 322-8228 or completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form, available online. You should mail the completed form to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
“To get the free reports, you must go through one of these channels,” Granovsky said. “Also, if you request your report online, make certain you use the correct web site. There are many copycat sites out there that will try to lure you in, but they’ll charge a fee.”
For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s credit web site.
The Federal Trade Commission offers the following tips to help prevent identity theft:
Brazos Valley Urgent Care in College Station (across from Wal-Mart on Texas Avenue) and Trinity Medical Center in Brenham recently joined the Scott & White network. Trinity serves people in the following counties: Washington, Burleson, Lee, Grimes, Austin and Waller.
I will soon be switching from a part-time position to a full-time position. How will this affect my benefits?
It depends on your current work effort. If your work effort is currently 50% to 99%, you will be eligible for the same benefits you had as a part-time employee, but you will now receive the full state contribution toward your benefit coverages. Your increase in effort will be considered a Change in Status, which means you will be able to make changes to your current benefit elections within the first 60 days after your increase in effort takes effect. To make changes, complete a Benefit Change Form (PDF) and submit it to your Human Resources office.
If your effort is increasing from 49% or less, you will be considered newly eligible for benefits. You will be able to enroll in and make changes to your benefits during your first 60 days in your new position. You will be eligible for the full state contribution, but you will not begin receiving it until after your first 90 days in your new position. Your Human Resources office will schedule a benefits orientation with you on the date your increase in effort takes effect.
For more information, contact your Human Resources office.