The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Section 605(c), provides protection for active duty military personnel with the Active Duty Alert.  If you, or someone you know, is currently deployed or soon to be deployed, please pass this information on to them.

WHO CAN DO IT
The active duty consumer or their personal representative can place a specific alert on their credit file with the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.  The alert is good for at least twelve months and can be in place for a longer period of time based on the length of deployment.

WHAT IT DOES
The alert requires credit grantors to verify identity before issuing credit or loans in the consumer's name.  This can reduce the potential for identity theft and unauthorized opening of accounts in the active duty consumer's name.    It also takes their name off the marketing list at the credit bureaus that is sold to third parties wanting to send unsolicited credit offers to the consumer.

HOW TO DO IT
This article by the Federal Trade Commission lists the toll-free phone numbers for each of the credit bureaus.  We recommend contacting all three of them individually even though they are supposed to pass the alert on to the other two bureaus when you call one of them.  Make sure it gets done by doing it yourself. 
NOTE: You will use the same phone numbers to cancel the Active Duty Alert when you return home.

CHECK YOUR CREDIT AFTER DEPLOYMENT
When your deployment is completed and you've had some time to settle in and catch up with family and friends, be sure to check your credit report.  It is a good precaution just to verify that nothing unusual happened while you were gone and that no negative items were inadvertently added to your credit file.  If you find errors, contact all three credit bureaus for correction, not just the one that you reviewed and found the error on.

If you need further assistance, contact us.  We will waive the $25 credit report review fee for military personnel.  Thank you for serving our country.