Fraud Alert

• Credit bureaus employ fraud alerts to prevent criminals from using your information fraudulently. The main credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) can add fraud alerts to an individual's credit report to notify her any time a lender requests a new hard inquiry.
  
  

Hard Inquiry

• A hard inquiry occurs when a lender requests a copy of a credit report in conjunction with opening an account. When a request for a credit report is made by a lender to a credit file with a fraud alert on it, the lender must call the consumer to make a reasonable attempt to verify that the new credit request is legitimate.
  
  

How to Place a Fraud Alert

• If you feel as though you may have been a victim of identity theft, alert the credit bureaus and have a fraud alert placed on your file. Notify all three bureaus, even though placing a fraud alert with one should alert the others to do the same.
  
  

When to Place a Fraud Alert

• You can place fraud alerts for free if you have been a victim of identity theft; otherwise, you can pay a small fee for this service.
  
  

When is a Fraud Alert Activated?

• Fraud alerts are generally active within 24 hours of the initial call to the credit reporting agency. However, you can pay a small fee to have the alert placed immediately. A fraud alert does not expire and can only be removed by the individual who places it.