Credit-challenged consumers will face even more of an uphill battle if they allow someone to steal their personal information.
Use your tax refund for a down payment
At Auto Credit Express we’ve spent the last 20 years working with consumers who have bad credit, slow pay and repossessions and helping these individuals raise their FICO scores and reestablish their car credit by filling out our bad credit auto loan application and financing a vehicle with a bad credit car loan. Unlike tote the note dealers, the lenders our dealers use will report your positive payment history to the credit bureaus. So with income tax season in full swing, there could be no better way to use a portion of that income tax refund check than on a vehicle down payment to begin the process of reestablishing your car credit and raising your credit score.
But at the same time, we’re also very concerned about protecting the identity of our applicants. Our auto loan application is SSL encrypted and, as a company, we even have a professional outside firm handle our document shredding. But as an individual, what can you do to ensure that your personal information is secure – especially during the tax season when you’re required to share this information with the IRS?
Do your part to fight identity theft
According to the Internal Revenue Service, there are a number of things that you can do to minimize the risk of someone stealing your identity:
• Identity thieves get your personal information by many different means, including stealing a wallet or purse or accessing information you provide to an unsecured Internet site. They even look for personal information in your trash. They also pose as someone who needs information through a phone call or e-mail.
• The IRS does not initiate contact with a taxpayer by e-mail.
• If you receive an e-mail scam, forward it to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
• If you receive a letter from the IRS leading you to believe your identity has been stolen, respond immediately to the name, address or phone number on the IRS notice.
• Your identity may be stolen if a letter from the IRS indicates more than one tax return was filed for you or the letter states you received wages from an employer you don’t know.
• If your Social Security number is stolen, it may be used by another individual to get a job. That person’s employer would report income earned to the IRS using your Social Security number, making it appear that you did not report all of your income on your tax return.
• If your tax records are not currently affected by identity theft, but you believe you may be at risk due to a lost wallet, questionable credit card activity, or credit report, you need to provide the IRS with proof of your identity. You should submit a copy of your valid government-issued identification – such as a Social Security card, driver’s license, or passport – along with a copy of a police report and/or a completed Form 14039, IRS Identity Theft Affidavit.
• Show your Social Security card to your employer when you start a job or to your financial institution for tax reporting purposes. Do not routinely carry your card or other documents that display your SSN.
• If you have previously been in contact with the IRS and have not achieved a resolution, please contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll-free at 1-800-908-4490.
• For more information about identity theft – including information about how to report identity theft, phishing and related fraudulent activity – visit the IRS Identity Theft Resource Page, which you can find by typing “Identity Theft” in the search box on the IRS.gov home page.
How we can help once you’ve received your refund
At Auto Credit Express we offer credit-challenged consumers an easy way to find a dealer that specializes in bad credit car loans.
By filling out a bad credit car loan application on our site, you can avoid driving around town searching for a dealer and possibly prevent the potential embarrassment of getting turned down for a loan.
We have helped literally thousands of people with bad, blemished, bruised and tarnished credit buy cars and reestablish their credit at the same time. Our web site, www.autocreditexpress.com, will help you determine how much car you can afford and unlike other sites, our toll free number is listed on every page, in case you have any additional questions.
So why not begin the process right now by filling out our secure online bad credit car loan application to see what we can do for you.
Tags: auto loan, auto loan application, bad credit, bad credit auto loan, bad credit car loan, car loan, car loan application, credit, credit bureau, credit score, fico, Fico Score, identity theft, internal revenue service, irs, repossession, tax refund, tote the note
This entry was posted
and is filed under Online Security Tips.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 25th, 2010 | 
Author: 
Posted in 
Tags: 
