If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, take action immediately! The sooner you act, the less damage an ID thief can wreak on your credit report, financial standing, and reputation.

Hopefully, you have taken the precautionary measures to protect your good name. If you have identity theft insurance or a credit monitoring service, call them first, and they will take care of most of the steps in minimizing the damage. It will be as simple as calling them to make a report of the identity theft, and they take care of the rest, with some services going as far as arranging and paying for attorneys to clear your financial name.

If you are not covered by any of those services, you will have to take action yourself. Do not waste any time – that identity thief could be racking up thousands of dollars in your name with each moment that passes.

• File with the FTC: Under the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act, the FTC has been made responsible for processing the complaints from any person who has reason to believe that he/she may be identity theft victims. First, you should fill out an “ID Theft Affidavit” form with the FTC. When you continue with the other steps and deal with additional companies, they may want a copy of it for their records. You may call the FTC toll free at 1-877-ID THEFT or contact them by mail: Consumer Response Center, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. You can also obtain further instructions and information by going to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s website

• File a police report with the local police department, and if the crime occurred in a different community, you should also contact those local authorities as well. Keep copies of the report after it has been filed.

• Close any accounts that have been affected by identity theft, such as credit cards and bank accounts. Contact your financial institution and report what has happened, place necessary stop payments on outstanding checks, and request a new ATM or credit card.

• Change all of your personal passwords and PINs to ensure no further crime can be committed.

Report to the fraud unit of one of the credit reporting companies.

Equifax: P.O. Box 740250, Atlanta, GA 30374-0250 or call (800) 525-6285.

Experian: Write to P.O. Box 1017, Allen, TX 75013 or call (888) EXPERIAN or (888) 397-3742, fax to (800) 301-7196. (Experian was formerly called TRW)

TransUnion: Write to P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634 or call (800) 680-7289.

• Review a current copy of your credit report to make a determination whether any other fraud may have occurred. Moving forward, you will always need to closely monitor your credit report because likely your personal information is being actively traded with other thieves.

• Contact other agencies for reporting identity theft:

Postal Inspection Service: If you suspect mail has been used to commit theft of your identity, or that there had possibly been a request for a change of address made, call (207) 871-8546 or (207) 871-8587.

Social Security Administration: If you think someone has used your Social Security Number fraudulently, call (800) 269-0271.

Internal Revenue Service: If you suspect that someone does have your social security number, they could use it in connection with your taxes, and you need to report this by calling (800) 829-0433.

U.S. Secret Service: If you think that your case may involve financial fraud or a fraud ring having an extreme dollar amount, call (207) 780-3493.

Follow up every one of your calls in writing, if you call them first. Send letters by certified postal mail, with a return receipt request. You can then document for your records what exactly the company had received and the date. Keep all of the copies for your personal files.

Take advantage of the Fair Credit Billing Act. The Fair Credit Billing Act was established to protect consumers, resolving billing errors and fraudulent charges that may be on your stolen credit card accounts. The law also limits liability for unauthorized charges to your credit card to $50 per card. To take immediate advantage of this law’s consumer protections, do the following: Send a certified letter to the “billing inquiries” address listed on your statement and include your information, along with the date and amount of the error on your account. Request a return receipt for proof that they received the letter. Be sure it arrives to the creditor within 60 days from the date the error appeared on your statement.

Include copies of police reports and any other documents that you may have to prove there was an identity theft. Keep copies of all the documents, including the dispute letter. The creditor is obligated to respond within a 30 day period, and it must be resolved before the end of two billing cycles after receiving your letter.

Are Credit Monitoring Services Worth It?

A credit monitoring service gives you early warning signs by notifying you of changes to your credit report. It does not prevent theft, but alerts you before further damage can be done. Unless you check your credit report regularly, identity thieves can pose as you for months. You may not know anything is wrong until you apply for a loan and are rejected due to unpaid bills in your name. A monitoring service will let you know immediately when your credit report is modified, so you can take action if you did not authorize it.

Some companies go further, scanning to see if your credit card numbers are being discussed or traded online. Others, instead of monitoring your credit, place and renew locks on your credit so thieves can not access your reports in the first place. If you are a victim, these companies will either offer assistance or even do the legwork for you, hiring attorneys if necessary, to fix your credit. Most offer insurance for costs associated with any fees and lost wages while you restore your good name.

With identity theft becoming such a huge concern, laws have been passed allowing you to place alerts and freezes on your credit reports to prevent unauthorized access. Fraud alerts were previously allowed only to victims of id theft, though this is now available to everybody. This is definitely a great security measure, though with the craftiness of thieves, it pays to remain vigilant and protect your financial information.

Chris is the editor of CreditIdentitySafe.com, a resource site with tips and articles on how to prevent identity theft We provide reviews and offer credit monitoring comparison tools to help guide you toward the service best for you.

Author: Chris Miller
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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