Can my brother access my free credit score online?

Your credit report is your personal property or document and you have every right to safeguard it – from everyone. It has a lot of sensitive information including your Social Security number. So, no one and absolutely no one is legally entitled to see your free credit score online – not even your brother- unless you share the login details and authorise him to do so or somehow he manages to get hold of them.

The best thing about credit reports is that the section that lists credit inquiries – who made them and when – are displayed and you will know if that person is authorised to do it or not.

• Authorising another person to your report:

Adding someone to a card account as an authorised user is a process initiated by the primary card-holder. In this case, either one of them or they both jointly bear the responsibility for all charges on the card. Having an authorised user to your credit card means you are allowing them to make purchases with it. But because you continue to be the primary cardholder, the onus of paying for those expenses lies on you.

• What to do in case your brother gets access to your credit report?

Committing a crime of this order isn’t easy for any family member and neither does it leave them feeling great about themselves. Remember, simply adding an authorized user won't affect your Credit scores, but if you do realise that your brother has been making unreasonable expenses like buying video games, etc., at the expense of your credit scores, he can be easily be removed from your credit reports any time.

• In case of illegal viewing: Illegal or unauthorised viewing of your free credit score online checks, it should be taken seriously. It is as if someone has broken into your house and looked through your cupboard and files. Credit reports systematically contain all your financial records.

If your brother has made an illegal inquiry it is important to report the matter. And this means you are in a tough situation. If you still decide not to go that far and not to take any legal action against your brother for unauthorised viewing of your credit scores, there still are certain steps that you could simply adapt to discourage your brother from running free credit score online checks in future. 

Let’s check them out

• Notify the bureaus 
• Place a fraud alert
• Change passwords 
• Place protection tools like trackers, simulators, etc:
• Place a freeze on the account
• Be cautious

• Review credit reports carefully

Log on to https://creditsscore.in for more information on the subject.