Having your identity stolen can be a very gut-wrenching experience, and a very painstaking and time-consuming thing to take care of. If you’ve found out that your identity has been stolen, here is what you need to do in order to begin cleaning up the mess.

First, if someone is using your identity and making use of your credit cards are checks, you should immediately call the bank that you have the account with and report the situation. You might not be financially responsible for the charges since fraud is involved, but you do need to let them know about it so they can make sure that it does not continue to happen.

After you contact your bank, contact the three major credit bureaus and issue a fraud alert. You can call Equifax at 800-525-6285, Transunion at 800-680-0271, and Experian at 888-397-3742. Six months down the line, check your credit and make sure there aren’t any items that shouldn’t be there. You’ll need to talk to each agency’s fraud unit and provide them a copy of your driver’s license to have an affidavit completed. You’ll also want to contact the proper authorities in writing, and mail it via certified mail, return receipt requested. You’ll also want to contact all of your creditors, the Social Security Administration, and your local police department and let them know what’s occurring.

If someone has not used any of your accounts, but instead have created new accounts with your identity, call the three major credit reporting agency, and issue a fraud alert. You’re also allowed to put a note to any creditors on there, and on that make a statement saying that your identity has been stolen and that you should be contacted at your phone number to verify any and all applications. Take a look at your credit report and find items that you don’t recognize.

The next thing you’ll need to is call the police and get a police report done. Be sure to get a copy of the police report so that you can use it to show banks that think you owe them money that you are indeed a victim of identity theft. Keep a conversation of all of the calls you have with the police department, including the date, the name of the person you talk with, the phone number, and any information that you provided. You’ll also want to give a call to the FTC. They keep a database of identity theft occurrences. You can call them at (888) FTC-HELP.

After you get a police report, you’ll need to contact all of the banks and companies that have had fraudulent accounts opened with them and let them know what’s going on. Chances are they’re going to think you’re a deadbeat and just don’t want to pay your bill. You’ll have to provide them copies of the police report, and probably argue with them a bit, but eventually you’ll be able to clean it up and get it taken care of. Don’t let any creditor let you pay any or all of a bill that’s resulted from identity theft. You’re not liable for the debt, you didn’t open the account.



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