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Who to Contact if You Are a Victim of Identity Theft

Identity theft can happen very easily. Every day you make transactions that contain bits of your personal information. The slip you sign at the grocery store may contain your credit card number. Your gym contract may have your social security number. Once a thief gets his hand on your personal information, it's easy to use it without your knowledge to commit fraud and it can leave you with bad credit.

1. Contact Your Financial Institutions - The first thing you should do is contact the bank, creditor or lender associated with the account that has been used fraudulently. Work with these institutions to start an investigation.

2. Put a Fraud Alert in Your Credit File - You only need to call one of the credit bureaus if you want to place a fraud alert on your file. Once the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will be notified to also place fraud alerts on your file.

  • TransUnion
    To report fraud, call the Fraud Victim Assistance Division: 800-680-7289
    or write: P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634
    Website: http://www.tansunion.com
  • Equifax
    To report fraud, call: 800-525-6285
    or write: P.O. Box 740256, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
    Website: http://www.equifax.com
  • Experian
    To report fraud, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
    or write: P.O. Box 9532, Allen TX 75013
    Website: http://www.experian.com/fraud

3. The Federal Trade Commission - Call the FTC's Identity Theft Hotline toll-free at 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338).

4. The police - If your identity theft case is serious, you may want to file a police report to document the identity theft. You may need a copy of the report to submit to the credit reporting agencies or financial institutions as proof of the crime.

It is critical to monitor your credit report on an ongoing basis to look for any signs of identity theft that could be leaving you with bad credit. Consumers often don't find out that they're victims of identity theft until they go to make a major purchase, like a house or a car, and realize their credit score is suffering due to bad credit marks on their credit report. By making it a practice to order your credit report and review it once a year, you can ensure that your report is accurate, and that you'll catch mistakes and fraud early on, when it's easier to have them corrected.

There are several warning signs that may signal identity theft. If any of these happen, order a copy of our credit report and review it for errors:

  • You apply for a new credit card and are declined for no apparent reason (assuming that you had every reason to believe you'd be accepted.)
  • You receive a credit card you did not apply for
  • Creditors or debt collectors contact you for payment about merchandise or services you didn't purchase.

You are entitle to a free copy of your credit report, from each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, once every 12 months.

It is important to monitor your credit report for signs of Identity Theft. If you have been the victim of identity theft you should take steps to repair your credit as soon as possible. The Complete System to Repair Your Credit and Boost Your Credit Score will provide you all the tools necessary to solve your credit problems. Download Today!