Fraud and debt are a few of the biggest problems your military clients will face.
When you own a credit repair company you will meet a variety of people with varying amounts of credit troubles. One of the biggest groups will be military personnel. Active military personnel are twice as likely to be victims of identity fraud than any other group. To ensure your military clients walk away with an improved score and more knowledgeable here is some information to keep his or her credit safe.
Prevent Identity theft. Your active duty military clients have a high chance of being victims of identity theft. They will have to take extra steps to ensure they have nothing to worry about when they return home. One step your military clients should take is to contact one of the credit reporting agencies, and add an active duty alert to his or her credit score. If they tell Equifax to put them on the alert then Equifax is required to inform both TransUnion and Experian. It is three for the price of one. This alert allows no new credit to be opened in the military personnel’s name unless it is thoroughly vetted. The freeze lasts up to one year unless otherwise informed. Another thing that your military clients should do is to remember to opt out of any junk mail so there is less mail with his or her information on it.
Ensure no new debt is acquired. Along with not receiving junk mail, make sure that your military clients have a trusted family member or friend to pick up your clients mail. Having large amounts of mail sitting around is an easy way for information to be stolen. Also remind your military clients to have all bills and balances fully paid before leaving. They should also set up automatic payments for any bills they can. Another useful tip is that under the Service-members Civil Relief Act, all military personnel are allowed to suspend cell service after informing their carrier about deployment. Having one less bill to worry about can be a huge relief. Your military clients should consider having that trusted family member or friend, who is collecting their mail and watering and then replacing the dead plants, to also have general power of attorney or specific power of attorney. With specific power of attorney military personnel can list the exact amount of power they give, such as just paying bills. Doing this ensures that while your client is overseas they have someone watching his or her six.
These simple ideas and tips will help lower your clients risk of identity theft and stop them from accumulating new debt.
