So your identity has been stolen

Your first step should be to verify that someone else has used your personal or banking information without your permission/knowledge. Often, this will come in the form of a phone call, letter or court summons. It’s important to note here that you shouldn’t be giving up your full social security number to anyone who asks for it when it comes to accounts opened up by an identity thief. If someone calls and says you have some strange charges and they need your SSN to verify your identity, don’t give it to them, you could be feeding your chickens to the wolf. They should be able to confirm who you are by your name/address and possibly the last four of your SSN, not the full nine numbers. Ask them to verify the debt in writing and DON’T say a word about offering to pay anything on the debt. Ask them for the company name, account number, balance, address on the account, name on the account and date it was opened – write all of this down. Once you’ve verified that someone opened an account in your name:

Call the police

It’s a simple step that gets the ball rolling in order to clear yourself of any fraudulent debt. Use the non-emergency number for your local police department or sheriff’s department and let them know someone opened up accounts in your name. If you think you know who did it, save that for the in person meeting or the phone call with an officer. They will want to know if you have any proof, if your first contact is a phone call, use the info you gained above. If you have a letter or court summons, even better, take that with you. Again, important to note here if you get summoned to court, GO TO THE COURT DATE. Even if their attorney says you don’t have to show up, still go. Take with you the police report number to show that you are disputing the debt.

Dispute the accounts with the credit bureaus

Equifax, Experian and Transunion all have online portals for disputing charges. Google “Equifax/Experian/Transunion dispute” and it will take you straight to where you need to go. In the supporting documentation field, put in the report number for the police report and the department where it can be found. Or if you have a copy of the report, upload a copy. Dispute the accounts which aren’t yours as “Identity theft” or “I am not responsible for this account” – they change the exact wording every once in awhile. Once you’ve done that:

STOP IT FROM HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE

You can’t control what businesses do with your personal information and in a lot of cases, you can’t even control who gets it. If you want to live in your own dwelling, finance anything, have any credit cards, open utility accounts, hold a job requiring a background check, etc. you’re going to be giving up some of your personal information. That doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to prevent it from happening in the future, specifically:

Use a credit tracking service – that one lets you see what’s on your credit, allows you to see your credit scores from all three bureaus and it sends you an alert anytime something new pops up on your credit. 50 MILLION Americans on average get their personal information stolen every year, and that’s only what we know about. The past couple of years it’s been closer to pretty much every adult. The second something hits that you don’t recognize, you can start investigating and nip any problems in the bud before they turn into a bigger issue.

Freeze your credit – If you’d rather just completely shut down your credit, you can do that as well through the three credit bureaus. Google “Experian/Equifax/Transunion freeze” and you’ll get the current link to get that process started.

Make sure others haven’t been hit – This is more for family members who opened fraudulent accounts but it could be anyone who has a lot of peoples’ personal information. Bosses, landlords, HR reps, BUT ESPECIALLY FAMILY MEMBERS. See something on your credit and you think your mom did it? Tell your siblings to check their credit as well.

If you’re dealing with family members who opened up accounts in your name, things are going to get ugly. They’ll probably pull at every heart string they can to have you not report it. IMO they’ll get what they deserve. It might not end up with them going to jail, but you can just about bet any creditor is going to sue them or at least ding their credit with the account. Hope this helps!