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Brokers need to alert clients to the dangers of identity theft and the impact it can have on their borrowing power, according to a credit expert.
MyCra Lawyers chief executive Graham Doessel wrote in a blog for The Adviser that identity theft has been rising in Australia and causing damage to people’s credit ratings.
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That has resulted in some people being refused credit and having to resort to legal action to clear their debts and restore their reputation, he added.
“This isn’t an uncommon scenario. When someone loses their identity they can pay heavily, with many victims finding themselves locked out of mainstream credit for years,” Mr Doessel said.
“The key issue many victims of credit file misuse can have is proving they themselves didn’t initiate the credit in the first place.
“This process of proof can be painstaking, particularly if the fraud was committed a long time ago, or was unknown to the victim until they applied for credit and were refused.”
Mr Doessel said it was therefore vital for people to report all cases of identity theft to police, even if they seemed insignificant or embarrassing.
“In cases of identity theft, a police report is almost always required in order to validate the crime with creditors,” he said.
“It’s almost impossible to fight on grounds of ‘identity theft’ without it. The other advantage for clients to report identity theft is there are avenues of support available to victims from various government bodies.”
[Related: Broker pleads guilty to identity theft]
Click here to read Graham Doessel’s blog on the dangers of identity theft and how to prevent it.
