Restoring

Once you realize that you are a fraud victim, you need to contact various government, banking, and credit agencies. With your help and patience, we can help you resolve your situation. To make the process as manageable as possible, we have prepared the following procedures to help you resolve any problems with your creditors, remove inaccurate information from your credit report and prevent any further fraud.

1. Protect your credit report
Add a fraud alert  to your credit file to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. 

Depending on your state of residence, you may be eligible for a Security Freeze, preventing anyone (with some exceptions) from accessing your credit report.

2. Obtain and review a copy of your credit report
Order your TransUnion credit report periodically and check for any unauthorized activity. Should any information not pertaining to you show up on your credit file, contact the creditors and question the account and/or inquiry. If you have questions, contact TransUnion and/or the other major credit reporting companies.

3. Report the fraud
Contact government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the fraudulent activity. It is recommended that you also contact your local law enforcement agency to file a report regarding the fraudulent activity.

4. Contact your credit financial institutions
Contact companies that you have relationships with and inform them that your accounts with those companies may be compromised.

Contact the companies on your credit report that you do not recognize. Verify with the company, the information they have in their records for the reported item.

Provide the creditor with a copy of your police report, notarized FTC Affidavit or other relevant documentation.

Keep a log of all related phone conversations, including names of people with whom you spoke.

5. Checks and Social Security number
Notify your bank to stop checks. You can also report stolen checks, file a complaint with the Social Security Administration and more.

6. Follow up
Follow up with companies and agencies that you have contacted to ensure that their investigation resulted in your favor. The FVAD helps you to the fullest extent possible, but remember that the victim has certain responsibilities. By working with credit grantors directly to identify all fraudulent accounts, you can greatly reduce this crime's effect on you.

Periodically review your credit report. Check for any new fraudulent activity.