There is a right order to this, and doing it out of order costs you time. Freeze first, document second, dispute third. Here is the sequence we walk Arizona clients through.
Before anything else, stop new accounts from being opened. A security freeze is free by law at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, it does not affect your score, and you can lift it temporarily whenever you need to apply for something. Do all three, because a thief who is blocked at one will try another.
A fraud alert is a weaker version of the same idea and it is also free. Freezing is the stronger move.
You cannot fix what you have not found. Get all three reports and go through them account by account, then check the personal information section for addresses, employers and name variations that are not yours. Write down every fraudulent item with its account number, the company reporting it and the date it was opened. That list becomes your case file.
This is the federal government’s identity theft site, run by the Federal Trade Commission. Filing produces an FTC Identity Theft Report, and that document is what gives you access to the strongest remedies in the law. It is free and it takes about twenty minutes.
Be specific. List each fraudulent account with the detail you gathered in step two, because a vague report produces a vague remedy.
Take your FTC report and your documentation to your local police department. In the Valley that means Glendale PD, Phoenix PD, Scottsdale PD, Mesa PD or whichever department covers your address. Some departments will take the report over the phone or online, some want you in person, and some are more willing than others.
If you are told a report is not necessary, ask again and reference the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Certain creditors will not act without one. Arizona also has its own criminal statute covering taking the identity of another person, so this is a genuine police matter and not merely paperwork.
Here is where most people go wrong. They file an ordinary dispute, which asks the bureau to verify the account. The company that reported it confirms the account exists, the bureau comes back verified, and nothing changes.
The right tool is a block request under section 605B of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. When you send a bureau a valid identity theft report identifying information that resulted from the theft, the bureau must block that information from your file within four business days. It is a different legal standard and a much stronger one.
Send it to each bureau reporting the item, in writing, with your identity theft report attached, and keep proof of what you sent and when.
Blocking the item at the bureau does not tell the creditor to stop. Write to each lender and collection agency separately, tell them the account is the product of identity theft, attach your report, and instruct them not to re-report it or sell it on. Without this step the same account can resurface later under a different collector.
Keep monitoring for at least a year. Fraudulent accounts get sold between collection agencies and reappear under new names, and a thief who has your Social Security number still has it after the first round is cleaned up. Leave your freezes in place.
Nothing. Identity theft repair is free for Imperial Ethics Credit Repair clients, and where the lender or collector keeps reporting after being properly told, our partner FCRA attorneys pursue it at no out-of-pocket cost to you.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Imperial Ethics Credit Repair is not a law firm. Statutes and department procedures change, so verify current requirements.
You did not cause it, so we do not bill you for it. Send us your report and we will find every account that should not be there. Partner FCRA attorneys at no out-of-pocket cost where the law has been broken.
