A young couple is ready to buy a house. You've poured your heart and soul into this sale, dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's. Your clients are happy, and you are, too, having helped a pleasant couple buy a home and take the first step toward financial security.

The time comes to apply for the mortgage. Everyone is confident. The couple has spent years building a strong credit record, paying every bill on time and taking care to keep its debt-to-income ratio in check.

The bank reaches a verdict. Much to the couple's surprise, an unknown individual has run up insurmountable debt in the husband's name. They do not qualify for the loan. It's a blind side. The deal falls through, and all your hard work is for naught.

Identity theft can be a heartbreaker, and it affects the Realtor's job every day. It comes as a surprise to most, but our lives and credit records are open books, meticulous and comprehensive in details just waiting to be read by criminals who will use the contents to unscrupulous ends.

Real estate agents are on the front lines in the battle against identity theft. It’s imperative every one of you becomes knowledgeable about this crime because when it affects your clients, there are thousands of dollars lost in commission and all of your time lost spent searching with them. In the past year I've presented "Identity Theft Awareness and Prevention at dozens of industry events. In every program I ask the question, "How many of you have lost a deal due to the fact your clients identity was stolen and their credit ruined." A year ago it was 1-3 percent of my audience, today 3-5. Next year, I'd bet 10 percent or more.

You are also a target because you have a job and have established credit. You work with the public and give out business cards with basic information. Be aware of who you are giving your card to. You are probably listed on more than one website. If someone was to type your name in a search engine what would they find?

There are dozens of ways your ID can be hijacked. Many of which are out of your immediate control. The main problem is with the people involved in your everyday transactions, such as banking, credit organizations, utility offices and medical establishment employees. They have access to your most pertinent documentation. Not everyone working for these organizations are credible. They take your information and use it to their advantage or sell it to someone who will.

First and foremost, the day you begin to work with your clients tell them to check their credit themselves at annualcreditreport.com, where they will have a choice of using 3 different bureaus to determine if everything is in order.

Tell them to look for unauthorized accounts and to close them immediately. Inform them that it is imperative they get pre-approval or pre-qualification immediately because there is always a possibility their identity may have been compromised along with the other 10 million people in the past year. But don't stop there. In the time it takes to search, make an offer and close the deal, their identities can still be stolen.

Make them aware of the various credit report monitoring services offered through the credit bureaus and other third party vendors. Kroll Worldwide a division of Marsh McLennan has a service available at idtheftsecurity.com or My Fico, a FairIssac company, are good options. Krolls offers full identity theft monitoring of their credit reports and full restoration in the event their identity is stolen. With monitoring, the moment someone accesses their credit files, they will receive notification and be able to shut down any attempts to open credit cards or attempts to get unauthorized loans.

The search process can take months or more, in that time frame dozens of credit cards can be opened and the bills not paid soiling the deal at the witching hour.

In this day and age with hundreds and thousands of names, addresses and social security numbers are being compromised from major breaches of data. Monitoring is absolutely essential. Especially when you are about to embark on a major decision like buying a home.

Explain to them that your office has policy in place (it should) to protect whatever data they communicate to you. We are in what I would consider an "identity theft pandemic." The virus is spreading and its cure isn’t in sight.

There are dozens of things you can do to make it difficult for a thief to copy you. For example:

• Check credit reports at least semi annually

• Check spouses, parents and children's credit reports

• Lock mailbox

• Shred all throwaway documents

• Secure all legal documents and account numbers; tax docs, cancelled checks

• Destroy pre-approved credit card offers

• Place mail in secure outgoing mailboxes or at the PO

• Call the post office if you go more than 4 days without mail

• Pay attention to delivery dates of all bills

• Pay close attention to bank and credit card statements

• Reconcile bills and statements diligently and timely

• Pay attention to the expiration date of credit cards and look for arrival of new cards

• Sign all new cards immediately

• Avoid using SS#s for accounts whenever possible

• Have bank ordered checks delivered to the bank and not your home

What it boils down to is knowing there is a major risk of your identity being compromised. As long as you are shredding, checking your credit, and getting involved in a monitoring service, you’ll have a much better chance of stopping an identity thief from ruining your credit.

Published: December 9, 2005

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Robert L. Siciliano is the author of The Safety Minute, Safety Zone Press, and a professional speaker on the topic of self defense and personal and property protection. He has been featured on CNN, Montel Williams, Sally Jesse, and the Howard Stern radio show. Robert is available to speak to brokers, associations, and to conduct seminars and workshops for industry events. Visit his Web site at www.realtysecurity.com or contact him at robert@realtysecurity.com