Consumer Credit History and a Credit Monitoring Service

An important prevention method from identity theft and credit fraud is the use of a credit monitoring service. A credit monitoring service will monitor all aspects of your credit report, but one of the more important ones is your credit history. An individual’s credit history consists of their payment history, accounts opened and closed, and basically the detailed history of a consumer’s credit. These reports can include history of bankruptcy or late payments as well.

When you use a credit monitoring service, they monitor your credit history closely. In the event your identity is stolen or someone commits credit fraud in your name, your credit monitoring service will pick up on the negative items posted to your credit report under your credit history section.

The Importance of Credit History
A consumer’s credit history will determine their overall worthiness for new credit or even existing credit. Many creditors will close accounts of those consumers whose credit falls less than favorable, even while already under their services. A consumer credit history can let a creditor know the chances that a consumer will pay back any debts within their company. If a consumer’s credit history shows late payments or even collections, they are less likely to not receive credit.

In the event your identity is stolen, an identity thief will typically not payback the debts that are accumulated in your name. Therefore late payments will be posted under your credit and your credit monitoring service can immediately report these findings to you. In addition, when accounts are opened up in your name, your credit monitoring service will notify you off these additions under your credit so that you can assess whether or not they are fraudulent.

A consumer’s credit history will also determine specifics when they are granted new credit. These specifics can include things like:
• To extend or not to extend credit to the consumer
• The determination of how much credit will actually be extended to the consumer
• The terms of repayment that should be given to the consumer upon extension of credit