Victim Of Identity Theft? Here Are 3 Steps That Can Help
Author: PaulWilcox Total views: 9 Word Count: 441
You've always paid your credit card bills before they were due. Your rates on the few cards that you have are low as you've always been responsible for your actions etc.
Recently you've noticed that a few strange things have been going on and you're wondering if you've been an identity theft victim. You've been receiving some phone calls from debt collectors, a credit card has arrived in the mail that you didn't request or maybe you've even been turned down for a revolving charge card because you didn't make payments on something else.
All of these adverse situations may be an indicator that you have become the latest victim of identity theft. If in fact you think this may have occurred there are immediate actions you need to take. Those actions include notifying various fraud departments, monitoring your credit report and reporting your situation to law enforcement.
Report the Problem to Fraud Departments
The first action that victims of identity theft should take is to report the actuality or possibility of identity theft to the fraud department of the three credit bureaus. Those three credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Actually, when an individual reports identity theft to one of the credit bureaus, they in turn will notify the other two.
As soon as the credit bureau is notified of the identification theft, they will flag the accounts of the person. When accounts are flagged, the potential creditors will have to call the person applying for credit personally.
In addition, there are certain procedures that a victim of identity theft can expect when they report identity theft. Those additional procedures include the personal account being flagged for 90 days. Following this flagging process, the victim will be notified that this has been accomplished along with a listing of additional rights afforded to the victims of identity theft.
Once this notification has been received, the individual can request a free copy of their credit report. In addition, it is strongly suggested that a formal request be made to the three bureaus. That request should ask that their flagged account be extended from 90 days to 7 years.
After receiving the credit reports it is very important that the victim examines the reports closely to determine if any fraudulent activity has occurred. If it is determined that such actions exist, the victims of identity theft should writing the credit bureaus informing them of that activity. Once that activity has been reported, the credit bureaus are obligated under the law to suppress the reflection of this fraudulent activity to others who are authorized to look at the personal credit report.
Free Web Content Provider | My Articles Directory /
About the Author
Is your computer secure enough? Find out what you should be doing to keep it safe from spyware, viruses and other internet security threats at the Online Security Toolkit website. Visit http://www.onlinesecuritytoolkit.com for more information.
Copy and Paste Article Code.
Remember: The article body, title, author bio and links may not be changed or removed. By publishing this article, you agree to all the terms in our Terms of Service.