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Dealing With Identity Theft

If you see any suspicious accounts or late payments you know you didn’t make, take a few
minutes to verify the account in question. Is it possible you forgot about a card you made

one charge on? Did you sign up for a recurring yearly payment for a service you don’t use
anymore?

Once you verify that the account or delinquency is indeed the result of identity theft,

you’ve got to take action.

My Own Experience With Identity Theft

A few years ago, I was the victim of identity theft. I was reading through my credit
reports and saw a medical account that was past due. The medical provider was located

in Marathon, Fl., which was about six hours away from where I lived. I’d never been to
Marathon, Fla.

So, I filed an identity theft report with my local police station. I requested copies of that

report, then sent it to the three credit bureaus along with a letter explaining what had
happened.

I then placed a credit freeze and fraud alert on all my accounts with the three bureaus.

This locks down your credit report and doesn’t allow anyone to open new accounts in your
name.

You can also file a fraud alert with the bureaus, which means anyone offering credit to you

under your name must contact you first before doing so. Fraud alerts last 90 days and you
can renew it for another 90 days.

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