If you suspect someone has stolen your identity, prepare for a long haul through havoc caused from the identity theft fraud. Virtually anytime, anyone of us can lose our identity. The main thing to keep in mind is that you are the victim. Prepare to deal with many ignorant people who may treat you bad at times. Remember, they have no clue what you are going through. Mostly, report identity theft!
If you suspect someone has stolen your identity or violated your personal information, take action right away. Call the authorities first, get copies of the report, and start fixing your credit.
Where to begin, report identity theft:
Call the police first and give them any information you may have. Tell them who you gave your personal information to, or if you have thrown away personal information in the trash. Let them know of any way you think of that a thief would steal your identity. It helps the police to track criminals when they have an idea where the thief got the information.
If you have credit cards, call your providers right away and have them cancelled. Give the police report number so they can verify you are a victim of identity theft. Call the Social Security Office, the driver license bureau, and any financial institutions that know you and report the crime. Cancel your bank accounts and open new ones. Make sure that the financial institutes lock the criminals out of your systems that give them access to your information and money.
Ask your credit card lenders to send you a statement. Review the statements and make sure that they do not have charges that you did not incur. Work close with creditors, bureaus, agencies, banks, etc, to help them solve the problem.
Call TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian and report the crime. The bureaus will send you copies of your credit reports free. Review your reports once you receive them and if you notice, any errors or discrepancies dispute them right away.
Check to see if the addresses are accurate and to see if there is any identity theft fraud. Thieves will use other addresses to open accounts in your name.
If you notice any errors or discrepancies on your reports, you may be a victim of identity theft. If you notice errors on your credit reports dispute it with the main credit bureaus. The bureaus will investigate the situation. Call any credit agencies and dispute suspicious charges also.
Alert them by letting them know that someone may have stolen your identity.
Work with the creditors to clear up discrepancies and errors caused from identity theft fraud. It may come a time you will need a lawyer to help you especially if you fear taking on the battle to solve the crime committed against you. Recovering from identity theft can take 12 years or longer.
Finally, the best way to avoid identity theft is to learn ways to protect your identity.
