Fraud Protection Timing
Fraud Protection last based on the kind of fraud protection requested on the credit report:
- A fraud alert automatically expires after one year for initial and active duty alerts and expires after seven years for extended fraud alerts. Fraud alerts can be removed prematurely upon your request. Your request must be sent to all credit bureaus respectively.
- A credit freeze is permanent unless you request to remove or temporarily lift it on your credit report. Your credit report can be accessed again within one hour to three business days, depending on the request method. Request methods are also done online, by phone, or by mail.
Value of Fraud Protection Services
Yes, a fraud protection service is worth it because it protects businesses from fraudulent online activities. These fraudulent online activities are usually in the form of e-commerce fraud. E-commerce fraud’s global value of losses, according to Juniper Research, has increased to over $20 billion by 2021 from $17.5 billion last 2020. The increase in financial losses can harm both businesses and their customers. Customers can experience false declines, which can negatively impact their overall shopping experience if businesses do not have a fraud protection service.
Fraud protection services offer the following:
- Flexible options to meet business needs like full-service solutions, fraud management, or fraud risk assessment insights
- Zero fraud chargeback liability guarantee if any fraud gets through the system
- Easy-to-use, comprehensive, out-of-the-box solution with a simple application programming interface (API)
- Advanced machine learning with rules management, analysis, and pattern decision
- Device fingerprinting
- Complete chargeback management
- Onboarding and easy-made setup
- 24/7 processing and support plus a professional order investigations team
Protecting Credit From Fraud
To protect your credit from fraud, Forbes Advisor has enumerated five smart practices you can do:
- Request a credit freeze. A credit freeze prevents anyone other than you from doing a credit inquiry. A credit inquiry is where a lender or creditor requests a credit report from one of the three major credit bureaus. The three major credit bureaus like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, will require the creditor or lender to do an identity verification. The identity verification will find out if the person opening a credit account or borrowing money is really you. You can request a credit freeze if you suspect that someone stole your identity.
- Review your credit reports. Credit reports contain all the credit lines you hold, the types of credit lines you’ve taken out, and your credit score. Your credit score can be affected by a number of factors like the age of credit lines, diversity of accounts, and the borrowed amount versus the paid amount. These factors are all in the credit report, which you can request for free every 12 months. If your credit report reflects some suspicious activities like a new credit card account or a sudden change in your credit score, you can take measures like placing a credit freeze on your credit report. Placing a credit freeze on your credit report will prevent additional credit account openings while you are investigating possible identity theft.
- Use a multi-factor ID. A multi-factor ID is an added layer of authentication. This layer of authentication increases your account security by asking you to provide some valuable information that only you can know, can have, and you are. This valuable information can be like:
- Something only you can know, like a password, about your childhood best friend, high school GPA, favorite book, or pet
- Something only you can have like credit records, bank accounts, credit cards, or a security USB stick
- Something only you are like a fingerprint or retina scan biometrics
- Somewhere only you are like your preset location, so it alerts the creditor or lender if some account changes are done in another location.
- Use virtual card numbers. Virtual card numbers are limited-use tokens linked to your credit card account. These limited-use tokens are generated by an extension or app for a specified online purchase. Only on the specified online purchase the virtual card number will be valid and not anywhere else. The virtual card number will no longer be valid once your purchase is complete, so fraudsters won't be able to use it anywhere else in case they manage to intercept it.
- Enroll with ID theft protection. ID theft protection is a program that provides 24/7 credit monitoring. The 24/7 credit monitoring alerts you when there is a credit inquiry, a sudden credit score change, or a suspected fraudulent activity. Fraudulent activities, if not monitored, can cause you financial losses. Financial losses from fraud can be insured when you enroll in an ID theft protection service. An ID theft protection service can be purchased directly from the three major credit bureaus, insurance companies, or third-party providers.
For more information contact the professionals at iSoftpull today.
