Nationwide customers advised to check their free credit report for any ID fraud problems

The UK’s only free credit report subscription website is advising Nationwide customers to check their credit report to spot any of the tell tale signs of having become a victim of identity fraud, following the announcement by the leading building society that a laptop containing account details of its 11 million customers had been stolen.

Barry Stamp, Joint Managing Director of annualcreditreport.co.uk, says, “Any Nationwide customers worried that they may have become the victim of identity fraud because of the loss of the laptop computer should look at their credit report.

“One of the best ways of spotting if you have become a victim of the crime is to check your credit report for warning signs, such as newly opened credit accounts that you do not recognise, searches made against your report by lenders you did not make, and credit card balances that are much higher than you’d expect.

“We should take our hats off to Nationwide for coming clean over the loss of a laptop containing customer details, even though it has been three months since the computer was stolen. We suspect that some other banks and building societies may not have been so open.”

Stamp adds, “We set up annualcreditreport.co.uk to help raise consumer awareness of the dangers of ID theft, and to help consumers understand what they need to look for.

“Naturally, as well as being free, annualcreditreport.co.uk is the UK’s only credit report website that does not require consumers to enter a credit or debit card number to access their free report. This means people who don’t like to use their cards online can check their credit report, as well as people without a credit/debit card. Nationwide accounts will be shown on the free credit report, alongside many others.”

Also, consumers can access the website’s free online interactive lifestyle checker – the Identity Theft Expert System - to find out how vulnerable they are to joining the ranks of the 120,000 people who fall victim to the crime, annually. The free online lifestyle checker has been designed by identity theft expert, Barry Stamp, also author of the credit industry acclaimed handbook, ‘Identity Theft: Prevention and Victim Assistance’, and explains the simple steps people need to take to protect themselves and their family from fraudsters.

Barry Stamp says, “Identity theft is a real and growing crime, but consumers can quite easily protect themselves by making a few simple lifestyle changes, most of which cost nothing.”

“annualcreditreport.co.uk and our free online Identity Theft Expert System are powerful and unique free tools that raise consumer awareness of their personal information and the day to day risks, and gives advice relevant to their particular situation,” adds Mr Stamp.

Barry Stamp’s top ten tips on how to avoid Identity fraud are:

1. Don’t carry identity documents around with you unless you need to do so – you don’t need to carry your driving licence unless you’re hiring a car nor your passport unless you’re leaving the country or flying domestically.
2. Clean out your wallet or purse and only carry the cards you need. Do you really need your Gold Card for supermarket shopping? Don’t ever carry your address in your wallet. Simply put a note of your email address and mobile phone number instead.
3. Don’t use the same password everywhere. Don’t be one of the 6% of people who use ‘password’ or ‘letmein’ and leave themselves wide open to identity theft.
4. Don’t reveal your place of birth unless you really have to. It’s the one piece of the jigsaw that id thieves often can’t get when they want to get a copy of your birth certificate.
5. Ignore all phone calls and emails purporting to come from your bank. They’ll write to you if it’s important.
6. Go ex-directory, join the Mail Preference Service, Telephone Preference Service and apply to BT for ‘Anonymous Call Rejection’ – (sadly this will still not stop you receiving marketing calls from abroad).
7. If you travel to high identity theft risk countries like the US, Nigeria, Eastern Europe, Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia, consider using travel cheques rather than cards. If you still use cards, check your statements carefully for duplicate or spurious transactions.
8. When checking in to hotels at home and abroad, use your work address and work telephone number, or your mobile, rather than home address and phone number.
9. Check your credit reports regularly to ensure no suspicious activity.
10. If you have reason to believe your identity may have been stolen, apply for ‘Protective Registration’ at www.cifas.org.uk.

Editors notes:

Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) is behind annualcreditreport.co.uk, a website set up to provide the UK public with free access to credit report information. The new service will help the UK consumer understand their credit report, as well as provide a solid knowledge base for consumer credit education and help support victims of identity fraud.

In 2000 CRA launched checkmyfile.com, the first website to make credit reports available to consumers, and in 2003 the launch of givemecredit.com turned the tables on the credit application process by using a commercial scorecard to enable consumers to cherry pick lenders. The company was also the first in the World to provide consumers with free access to their credit score and was the first company in the UK to provide a range of identity theft prevention tools.

annualcreditreport.co.uk is being rolled out regionally. At present, consumers in London, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Westcountry, Yorkshire and Humberside, the Midlands and the North West of England have immediate access. The South East goes live on 1 December and the rest of the UK by early in the New Year.

The publication “Identity Theft – Prevention and Victim Assistance” is available for £4.99 from annualcreditreport.co.uk or from Amazon. ”A review in the Institute of Credit Management Journal described the book as “well structured, and leaves no stone unturned. It is invaluable to all of us who value our own identity.”
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For further information please do not hesitate to contact
Richard Goedegebuur or Barry Stamp on 0870 760 1515
or email richardg@annualcreditreport.co.uk or barry@annualcreditreport.co.uk