My Financial Healthcheck

If you are interested in ways to preempt identity theft, we urge you to read our article on Steps to Prevent against Identity Theft.

But if you clicked on this article, it means that you are concerned that you might already be a victim of identity theft. If so, we are sorry to hear that. Identity theft is a major hassle, but can be resolved over time by following these steps:

Step 1: Contact the accounts that you think have been tampered with. The customer service rep should be able to run through all recent transactions, to validate if in fact they are all yours. If anything seems off, or if you tell them you are concerned about a breech in security, they will transfer you to their fraud department. If there has been a breech, they will immediately shut down your card and begin an investigation.

Step 2: Close any accounts that you believe have been opened illegally, or that you feel have been breached. You will want to contact the security department of each company. Write down the name of the person you spoke with, and their contact information. Then send them letters, with copies of any documents that would be material to their investigation. Important: DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS, and send everything by CERTIFIED MAIL. At this stage you can’t afford to loose evidence, or leave anything up to chance. Keep copies of all correspondence, and a written record of all your phone calls. Ask the account representatives to send you their “fraud dispute forms”, these should include the correct address to send all correspondence relative to the identity theft investigation. If they don’t provide “fraud dispute forms”, you should ask if they accept the FTC’s ID Theft Affidavit – available for download on the FTC.gov website.

If they do not provide these, be sure to send all written communication to their “billing inquiries” address. This is a different office (often in a completely different state) from where you send your bill. DO NOT send it to the same place where you send your payments, it will only get lost in the shuffle and cost you valuable time. You should also use the cover letter from the FTC.gov website.

For unauthorized accounts created in your name, you will want to file a police report with your local police department. You will need to bring:

1. A printed copy of your FTC ID Theft Complaint form
2. cover letter
3. supporting documentation

You will want the Police to attach copies of the above to official police report. If possible ask them to provide you a copy of the full police report, with copies (noted as received by the police) attached. In some areas they can’t do this, so ask them to at minimum ask them to sign your complaint and write the police report number in the “Law Enforcement Section”

You may also want to consider notifying your State’s Attorney General’s office. At the same time, you will want to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. They can also help coach you through the above steps as needed.

Their Hotline, toll-free: 1-877-ID-THEFT (438-4338); TTY: 1-866-653-4261.

And/Or write (remember, certified mail) to:

Identity Theft Clearinghouse
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580

Step 3: Once the issues have been resolved, request a letter from the company confirming that they have closed the account, and that they have “discharged the fraudulent debts”. This is very important, and almost definitely be something that you’ll need to show the various credit beuroaus. Should the errors pop up on you credit report at any time again in the future, you will want to be able to provide them with a COPY (not the original) of this letter.

Follow these steps, and you will get through it. It is worth noting that many credit card companies have improved their fraud protection services and catch illegal activity early, and often catch problems before any serious damage is done. But still, many times it does not get caught until the late stages. Just as fast as the Card companies improve protection, criminals are finding ways to beat the system. When it comes to Identity Theft, the best approach is to get educated before it happens, and take steps to actively prevent headaches before they happen.