Protecting Our Military Personnel from Identity Theft

Whenever someone leaves the country - such as those who are serving for their country abroad - they are leaving behind all of their personal information in a seemingly dormant state. Whilst some credit reporting agencies do allow you to check the status of your credit report from offshore, many military or army personnel are based in areas where this is simply not possible.

Because there are hundreds of thousands of US citizens in this situation at any one time, the government has created a number of regulations which credit reporting agencies must follow - to accommodate the fact that these hard working individuals will not be able to check for identity theft or fraud whilst they are away.

The Solution to Military Personnel Identity Theft

The solution to the issue of offshore monitoring of identity theft is really quite simple. The answer is referred to as "active duty alerts" - and they can be put in place on a credit report of anyone who is actively serving in a military organisation.

How an Active Duty Alert is Placed?

Inserting an active duty alert on to your credit report is a very easy procedure. Simply follow these 3 steps:

• Collect your personal credit report information.
• Call one of the main 3 credit reporting agencies.
• Ask for an active duty alert to be placed on your report.

Once you go through a few of the technical details, the credit reporting agency will begin the process of placing the alert on your report. They are also responsible for contacting the other two credit reporting agencies to notify them of the request, hence you do not need to contact them all yourself.

Once in place, the alert will notify either yourself or a nominated person when any changes are made to your credit record whilst you are away. That person will then be able to take action to ensure that you haven't been the victim of identity theft - and if you have, they will also be able to work through with the credit reporting agency (and any other applicable institution) to clear up the case.

Duration of the Identity Theft Alert

Your active duty alert will remain in place for 1 year. You can remove or extend it at any time, so don't panic about this being only half or a quarter of the period you are set to serve.