How To Put A Hold On Your Credit Report When Travelling?

Did you know that it is possible to put a temporary hold on your credit report if you are travelling overseas for an extended period of time, or participating in active military duty? Indeed, this is generally a service provided by the credit reporting agencies directly - whereby any requests for new credit, additions to the file, changes, or disputes are automatically flagged and stored until your return.

The service can be extremely valuable for those who are vulnerable to credit fraud whilst they are away - especially if they have no way of checking their credit file whilst they are out of the country.

So how do you set something like this up, and what processes will you have to go through to have such an alert put on your credit report?

Initializing A Credit Report Fraud Alert

The service that we talked about above is commonly referred to as a "fraud alert" facility. There are three different types of fraud alert:

• 90 day fraud alert.
• Extended fraud alert.
• Active Duty Alert.

These terms are all fairly self explanatory, however to give you more details, we will go through each one individually.

The 90 day fraud alert is used by people who are temporarily going out of the country. Alternatively, it can be used if you are staying within the country, and think that you have already been the victim of identity theft which could then follow on to negatively affect your credit score.

The best way to use a 90 day fraud alert is to contact the credit reporting agencies directly, explain why you want one to put on your account, and then follow the identification steps to have this done.

Extended Fraud Alerts & Active Duty Alerts

An extended fraud alert is almost identical to the 90 day fraud alert, except for the fact that it can be applied to your credit file for up to 7 years. This provides lasting reassurance, and will prevent any long-term abuse of your credit report.

Alternatively, if you are going away on active military duty, you can apply for an active duty alert which will last for 12 months - and provide a heightened level of security and protection to your credit report and identity.