Identity theft
If accounts you never opened are on your reports, treat it as identity theft until proven otherwise. Federal law gives theft victims a stronger tool than a dispute: the block, which takes fraudulent information off a report on a deadline measured in business days, not months.
The sequence
- Report at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC’s free site. Save the Identity Theft Report and the personal recovery plan it creates.
- Send each bureau the block packet: proof of your identity, a copy of the Identity Theft Report, your list of the fraudulent items, and your statement that they do not relate to any transaction you made. The block letter generator builds the letter and the checklist.
- Under FCRA Section 605B, the bureau must block the information no later than 4 business days after receiving a complete packet.
- Contact each company that opened a fraudulent account. Ask for the account to be closed and for reporting to stop, and keep notes of every conversation.
- Place a free credit freeze with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. A freeze blocks new accounts in your name and can be lifted temporarily when you apply for credit yourself.
- Follow the recovery plan, recheck all three reports, and log every packet in the tracker.
Block versus dispute
A dispute asks the bureau to investigate, generally within 30 days, and the item can come back verified. A block, backed by an Identity Theft Report, requires the bureau to keep the information off your report, and it may decline or undo a block only in narrow cases, such as an error or a material misrepresentation. For genuine theft, the block is the right first move, with disputes to the companies that reported the items as the second.
Common questions
- Do I need a police report?
- The FTC Identity Theft Report from IdentityTheft.gov is the document the bureaus work with for a block. You may also file a local police report if you wish, and some companies ask for one, but the federal report is the starting point.
- Does a freeze cost anything?
- No. Credit freezes are free by law, and so is lifting one.
- What if a blocked item reappears?
- Contact the bureau in writing immediately, refer to your earlier packet, and file a complaint with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov if it is not resolved.
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