Your landlord or a lender can file a suit against you in a court for unpaid rent and violation of the rental agreement. If he won a judgment for the amount owed, the debt will appear on your credit report as a public record, which will remain for seven years from the filing date.

A derogatory public record could affect your ability to qualify for a new rental agreement if they new landlord checks your credit history.

You should also be aware that many landlords check with tenant screening companies instead of, or in addition to, a credit report.  Tenant reports will almost certainly have a record of the eviction and cause new landlords to be reluctant to do business with you.

Immediately call the following telephone number:

888 397 3742

These services are available to everyone who is a victim at no charge.

Your first step is to add a temporary, initial security alert to your credit report. You can do so at www.experian.com/fraud. The alert is free and lasts for 90 days. That gives you time to get a copy of your credit report, which is also free, and ensure there is no credit fraud appearing on your report.

The alert is sent every time a lender or other business requests a copy of your credit report. It says:

Fraudulent applications may be submitted in my name or my identity may have been used without my consent to fraudulently obtain goods or services. Do not extend credit without first verifying the identity of the applicant. I can be reached at XXX-XXX-XXXXEXTXXXXX. This Security Alert will be maintained for 90 days beginning MM-DD-YY.

Initial security alerts are intended for people who know or have reason to believe they are at increased risk of credit fraud. For example, they may have lost their wallet or purse, or they may have received a notice that their identifying information was compromised as the result of a computer data breach.

For those individuals a temporary security alert may be all that is needed. If they find their wallet or purse, or the data is recovered and has not been accessed, they have no need to continue the alert because the threat no longer exists.

But when you know you are an identity theft victim and have a police report, you can take the next step and add a seven year fraud victim statement to your credit report. A fraud victim statement says:

Fraudulent applications may be submitted in my name or my identity may have been used without my consent to fraudulently obtain goods or services. Do not extend credit without first contacting me personally and verifying all application information at DAY XXX-XXX-XXXXEXTXXXXX or EVENING XXX-XXX-XXXXEXTXXXXX . This victim alert will be maintained for seven years beginning MM-DD-YY.

In order to add a victim statement you must first file a police report or valid identity theft report.

A victim statement lasts seven years, and like an initial security alert, is provided to every business that requests your credit report.

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) greatly strengthened the alerts by requiring that businesses respond to them in a reasonable manner. Ignoring the alerts is now a violation of federal law.

National credit reporting companies share initial security alerts and fraud victim statements when you request them. All you have to do is contact one of the credit reporting companies and the alert will be added automatically by the others.

The credit reporting companies implemented the one-call process a number of years ago. They recognized the importance of making it as easy as possible for people at high risk of identity theft or who already were victimized to add the alerts so that they could begin the recovery process.

Understanding Your Credit Report

• What information is included in your credit report?

• Your personal credit report contains:

  • Federal district bankruptcy records and state and county court records of tax liens and monetary judgments. This information comes from public records.
  • Specific information about each account, such as the date opened, credit limit or loan amount, balance, monthly payment and payment pattern during the past several years. This information comes from companies that do business with you.
  • The names of those who have obtained a copy of your credit report. (On your copy of your Experian credit report, addresses are included.) This information comes from the credit reporting agency.
  • Your name, current and previous addresses, phone number, Social Security number, date of birth, and current and previous employers. Your spouse’s name may appear on your version of the credit report, but it will not appear on the version that is provided to others. This information comes in part from your credit applications, so its accuracy depends on your filling out the forms clearly, completely and consistently each time you apply for credit.
  • Statements of dispute, which allow both consumers and creditors to report the factual history of an account. Statements of dispute are added after a consumer officially disputes the status of an account, the account has been reinvestigated, and the consumer and creditor cannot agree about the account status. Both the consumer’s and creditor’s statements of the account status will appear on the credit report.
  • Positive rental payment history from property management companies that provide their information to Experian’s RentBureau.

  Most of the data Experian has on file is positive, indicating that most people pay their bills on time.         (This information was provided by Experian)

There is nothing any credit repair clinic can legally do for you — including removing inaccurate credit information — which you can’t do for yourself for free. Their fees can be substantial, ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The Credit Repair Organizations Act, a federal law, prohibits credit repair clinics from taking consumers’ money until they fully complete the services they promise. It also requires such firms to provide consumers with a written contract stating all the services to be provided and the terms and conditions of payment. Under the law, consumers have three days to withdraw from the contract. The Act makes it illegal for a credit repair clinic to suggest that you mislead credit reporting companies about your accounts or alter your identity to change your credit history.

Despite the phenomenal claims made by most credit repair companies, all they do is dispute trade lines in the name of the consumer. The filing of a consumer dispute is the only method anyone other than the creditor, a credit reporting agency or the repository itself has to affect change in any repository file. A credit repair company cannot do anything the consumer cannot do themselves for free and faster, in fact – they cannot even obtain a copy of the consumers’ credit report as credit repair companies are prohibited access to Experian, Trans Union and Equifax.

Consumers can obtain free copies of all three repository files in minutes at www.annualcreditreport.com and if errors are found, dispute them online at no cost.  They are also provided a toll-free number to reach a live person that can answer questions and assist them with the process if needed, including facing documentation at all absolutely no cost.  Except for credit rescoring, this is fastest method possibly of updating a consumers credit file.

 
You can also go to the link below to run a report on yourself that offers monitoring. 

3-Bureau Credit Monitoring alerts you to changes on all 3 of your credit reports! Get a free 7-day trial!

Facts about the U.S. credit economy

• There are over one billion credit reports issued annually
• Two-thirds of the American economy is driven by consumer spending
• Outstanding consumer credit totals $1.7 trillion
• Credit reporting saves the average person 200 basis points on their mortgage loan
• On average, every U.S. household owns a car and one-third have a second car
• The average American has eight credit cards or loans
• There are 7000 credit card issuers in the U.S. offering more than 27,000 types of payment options

* Statistic issued by Experian.