What to do When Your Identity is Stolen

Identity theft can be devastating to your credit report and score, but only temporarily, if you take the right steps. Much of the potential damage can be limited if identity theft victims act promptly. Fortunately for victims, the United States Federal Trade Commission has recommended some steps to take if identity theft is underway or suspected.

1. Cancel Your Credit Cards and Inform Other Creditors

Contact all of the financial institutions responsible for your cards, including banks, credit unions, and credit card issuers. Tell them about your concerns and wait to be transferred to their security or fraud department. If possible, let them know which charges, if any, are fraudulent.

Even if there are no fraudulent charges yet, the company will issue a new card with new numbers, just in case. Your payment ability should transfer seamlessly so long as you inform each financial institution of the theft and update any others that automatically withdrawal from your accounts, relatively quickly.

2. File a Police Report

Filing a police report is crucial to removing unauthorized charges or new accounts that you did not open from your credit report. It’s not always necessary, but it often helps by providing documentation of the reported or suspected fraud, or stolen identity.

Unfortunately, some police officers might refuse to write a report for a crime they likely won’t investigate, due to the crime’s complexity. In this case, filing a report may require some insistence and explaining that you’ll need the police report later.

3. Place a Fraud Alert on Your Credit Report

Each of the major credit reporting agencies allows consumers to place a credit fraud alert on their account. A fraud alert is essentially a note on your credit report that requires a new lender to do a little more digging into one’s identity before approving a credit application.

There are different levels of fraud alerts, but the first level, an initial 90-day alert, is a starting point. You may also want to extend the alert to seven years once the 90 days are up. The extended alert is called just that: an extended fraud alert.

4. File a Complaint with the FTC

Filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commissionhelps the organization gather information about identity theft. Besides this, filing a police report and a complaint can constitute an Identity Theft Report. An Identity Theft Report does several things but mostly protects you from debt collectors who attempt to collect on an unauthorized transaction. It also helps prevent these items from making a permanent place on your credit report.

Final Thoughts on What to Do About Identity Theft

Keep in mind that most of these steps are appropriate for remedying identity theft or a crime that could lead to identity theft. For example, unauthorized credit card charges, no matter how small, or a stolen purse containing credit cards.

Though it depends on the circumstances, it’s generally not productive to file a police report just because someone stood too close at an ATM. However, it may be worth notifying security, changing your ATM pin, and placing a temporary fraud alert on your credit report, which can be done online.

Lastly, take steps to better prevent identity theft in the future. Shred sensitive documents, keep credit cards in your front jean pocket, and don’t give out usernames and passwords online. After all, and despite common beliefs otherwise, lightning can strike the same place twice.