When you find that you have become the victim of identity theft immediate, timely action is a must. The worst thing you can do is delay action. The theft may have been going on for months and even years but don’t let it go on any longer.
Immediately upon discovering that you are the victim of identity theft get to a computer and visit www.annualcreditreport.com. This site has been established by the Federal Trade Commission to facilitate the goals of the FACT act, that is, allowing people to access a copy of their credit for free every year.
This is one of those times that you need to see your credit report. Settle down at the computer, you’ll be there for a while. First you’ll need to answer several questions for each of the reports. This may seem ironic, that in order to see how much of your information was compromised you will have to provide sensitive information. But this is the only way for the agencies to make certain they are releasing the report to the correct person.
When you do get the report go through it carefully. You’ll want to make note of anything that appears on your report that it not yours. Right on the website for these reports there is an option to dispute these entries that are not yours.
Dispute anything that you don’t recognize or that appears incorrect. Then contact the bureaus themselves and have them place an alert on the file.
Contact the companies directly that have entries on your report that are not yours. Dispute them directly with the company and see if they can do anything to help you in combating the entry. You do have some legal recourse here, but your time is limited.
At this point there should be very little persuasion needed to convince you of the need for a credit monitoring service. There are many such services out there and they can help you keep an eye on your credit report. These services include a copy of your credit report, notification of when your credit is affected, and some even include identity theft insurance.
Needless to tell a victim of identity theft, these services are worth the expense. They will help limit the damage and prevent future occurrences of identity theft.
When you find that you are the victim of identity theft inaction is simply not an option. The only appropriate response is immediate action to limit the damage and prevent future incidents of theft