Free for all

annualcreditreport.co.uk, the provider of online credit report subscription services to consumers, has picked up the gauntlet laid down by the National Consumer Council to launch the UK's only free web based National Identity Theft Assistance Centre. The service:

* helps consumers to learn how

* helps consumers to monitor risks by helping to get and understand their credit report automatically and annually, using annualcreditreport.co.uk

* advises victims on the actions required to be taken using the 20 point victim assistance plan published by Credit Reporting Agency

* enables consumers to report all lost and stolen documents, so that banks and others may check the validity of personal documents as part of their authentication processes.

* helps consumers to take the necessary steps to prevent further fraud

* contacts all of the relevant service providers on victims' behalf

* keeps victims informed of progress; and

* offers an ongoing consumer education role.

The launch of this free service coincided with the website's completion of its regional roll out of free credit reports to all UK consumers, which started in June 2006. All UK residents can now enjoy free, annual access to online credit reports through annualcreditreport.co.uk

Barry Stamp, Joint Managing Director of annualcreditreport.co.uk, says, "UK consumers are continually fed fears about identity theft based on over-hyped statistics and where the only solutions marketed to them are subscription services costing around ?800 -?100 per annum.

"Helping consumers to understand the issues, to change their habits a little to reduce the risks of falling victim is a far better answer - and our credit file monitoring and victim assistance services are completely free."

Barry adds: "Although we have identified and reported many hundreds of identity theft cases to the police over the past six years, only one has been pursued to the point of prosecution. It's clear that, at present, identity theft is not a priority crime for the police and many police forces do not have resources to pursue reported cases.

"We decided in June to offer free credit reports to all, rather than wait for new law to be made, as happened in the USA. We have now decided to go the extra step and offer a national support centre, as time is of the essence, and we have real concerns that if we don't, consumer fears of identity theft are likely to be further commercially exploited."

The web based service can be found at www.annualcredit report.co.uk