The process for how to recover from identity theft is a long and difficult process. Discovering that you have become a victim of identity theft can be shattering. The frustration and rage you feel at the injustice and the inconvenience resulting from the crime need to be channeled into some positive action to overcome the devastation and chaos left behind by it.

The motivation for most identity theft crimes usually begins as a financial fraud crime and the money aspect of this needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. Fixing any credit report mistakes or errors or unauthorized accounts or charges opened in your creditworthy name has to be a priority and you must move quickly and practice the patience of a saint. The more quickly you can catch and dispute any errors, the easier will be the cleaning up. However, even when the errors are indeed caught early, the process of disputing any credit report entry takes some considerable time. You will need to be very, very patient.

Your Rights as a Consumer

In 1970, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) made it law that credit reporting agencies (CRAs)—also called credit bureaus— are obliged to investigate disputes regarding information contained in your credit report. Nobody said they had to be happy, or nice or fast about the process. [Perhaps something ought to be added to the act to state that disputes should be investigated in a fair and reasonable manner?] In fact, CRAs commonly claim disputes to be frivolous or that your dispute request is not legal. That’s not true and is why you have to understand your consumer rights.

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