Buying A Car? Make Sure That You Aren't A Victim of I.D. Fraud First!

If you are applying for a new car loan, you should run a credit check first. With about eight million Americans falling victim to identity theft annually, you'll want to make sure that thieves haven't been tampering with your credit.

You have been saving your money for more than a year and are ready to raid your new car fund to make a sizable down payment on your new ride. Between being eligible for a big cash rebate and low rate financing, you should be able to swing an affordable 48-month loan without a problem. After all, you've got excellent credit and you are contributing a good chunk of your own change for your new car.

Before your head off to your local dealership to strike up a deal, you may want to check your credit report and credit score to verify that your credit is, indeed, excellent. Because if you don't you could be in for a rude surprise – someone may have been tampering with your identity, stealing money and saddling you with that problem.

Yes, identity theft is a societal scourge, one that hits as many as eight million Americans every year. Thieves steal personal information from your mailbox, obtain a copy of a receipt or find some other way to gain important, yet proprietary information about you. Without an extra measure of caution on your part, you could be ripped off.

AAA, the roadside assistance people, offers ten tips on how you can avoid identity theft. These tips include protecting your credit card from fraudsters:

  --  Safeguard your credit by treating your cards like cash.  Keep them
      securely in your wallet or at home when not needed.

  --  Review your monthly statements in a timely manner to ensure all
      charges are accurate and check your account online frequently. This
      will also help victims of Skimming detect fraud immediately. Skimming
      often occurs in restaurants and bars where credit cards are out of
      sight of the cardholder. Secret copies of the magnetic strip are made
      in order to make a counterfeit card.

  --  Report billing errors and lost or stolen cards immediately to resolve
      problems in a timely manner and reduce possible fraudulent activity.

  --  Be skeptical of all email that direct to a website in which credit
      card or personal information is entered. One of the largest forms of
      fraud is "Phishing," in which victims receive an email that directs to
      a phony website that is an exact copy of a real website and requests
      users input personal and financial data supposedly verify accounts.

  --  Carry credit cards as needed, reducing the amount of cards you carry
      will decrease exposure to loss or theft.

  --  Keep credit card numbers secure - do not give out your information
      over the phone unless you are familiar with the merchant or you have
      initiated the call.

  --  Track your usage by keeping receipts for your ATM, credit and debit
      cards.

  --  Keep a list of your credit card account numbers, issuer contact
      information and the three credit reporting agencies in a safe place to
      allow for quick reporting if they are lost or stolen.

  --  Shred pre-approved offers, card receipts, and anything that displays
      your credit card information before putting them in the trash.

  --  It is wiser to use a credit card, rather than a debit card when making
      purchases over the Internet. When you use a debit card, it is your
      money at stake and not the bank's.

So before you make that new car purchase, you'll want to obtain copies of your credit report and credit score to confirm that you are the type of customer banks want to lend money too. If a problem is uncovered early enough, you can make corrections to your reports and get the auto loan you desire.

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