What To Do If You Are, Or Think You Are or May Become,
a Victim of Identity Theft
• Report lost or stolen credit, debit or ATM cards to financial institutions immediately and then in writing.
• Report unauthorized card transactions that show up on your monthly statements immediately; however, you also must write to the creditor at the address given for "billing inquiries," not the address for sending your payments, and include your name, address, account number, and description of the billing error.
• Contact your or the pertinent financial institution if you find that a thief has taken over an existing account, like a checking account, or established new accounts in your name without your knowledge. Follow up the complaint in writing.
• Contact the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (i.e., credit bureaus) – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – to place a fraud alert in your file.
One call to any one of them will be sufficient. The company you call is required to contact the other two, which will place an alert in their versions of your file, as well.
• Obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies once you place the fraud alert. Check it carefully and dispute any errors or unauthorized accounts promptly.
• Keep good records of all of your communications and any evidence of identity theft that you obtain.
• Contact law enforcement and file a police report. You will be able to use the report to help clear up the record from the identity theft.
• Active duty military personnel deployed away from their regular duty station may place an Active Duty Alert in their file for 12 months (renewable). This signals lenders to take a little extra care before issuing credit to someone claiming to be the deployed service man or woman. One call to Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion is sufficient. The company you call is required to contact the other two, which will place an alert in their versions of your file, as well.
• Report the incident(s) to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which keeps track of reported crimes and shares the information with law enforcement throughout the country. The FTC also has information and materials that may help victims of identity theft in their efforts to restore their identity. www.consumer.gov/idtheft
bravenet.com