What To Do If Your Identity Is Stolen
Four Steps To Recover from Identity
Theft
Featured Writer: Barbara Woodcox
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Get a copy of your credit
report and gather evidence that your identity has been
stolen. Then file a police report that includes all of this
documentation. This is a strong measure of protection and
will help you resolve issues with bill collectors, creditors
and consumer reporting agencies. Once they receive a copy of
the identity theft police report the consumer reporting
agencies will be required to stop reporting the fraudulent
activity on your credit report.
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Contact your financial
institutions and credit card companies. Get new account
numbers, passwords and PIN's for the accounts you opened.
Close the fraudulent accounts opened by the identity thief.
Also, tell your bank and credit card companies to call you
before authorizing any changes or transactions on your
accounts.
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Contact the 3 major credit
bureaus and ask them to place a fraud alert on your credit
report so the identity thief can't open new accounts in your
name.
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Get a copy of your credit
report and dispute all fraudulent activity with the
creditors and consumer reporting agencies. The identity
theft police report described above will help with this
process.
As you follow the 4 steps outlined
above, document all correspondence and conversations. Keep a
record of names, dates and everything that was said. Save all
written communications. Setting up a file folder will make
this easier.
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