How to Repair Credit

Having your identity stolen can be scary and confusing. If you have been victimized by someone you don’t even know, someone pretending to be you, it may be hard to get organized and on the road to recovery from having your identity stolen. However, with four simple steps, it doesn’t have to be a hopeless case. You can start picking up the pieces and get your credit back in order.

• The first thing to do if you have been a victim of identity theft is place a fraud report with any of the three consumer report companies.

• After you have placed a report, it will prevent any offender from repeatedly using your identity to create new accounts using your information and your name.

• Although there are three consumer report companies you only need to place your fraud report with one of them. By law a consumer report company must contact the other two companies and inform them of your identity theft.

• The three consumer report companies that are involved when you submit a fraud report are Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax.

• After this, it is the job of one of the three companies to send you a credit report to review. When you receive your credit report, it is important to closely look over it, and ensure there are no odd transactions could have been made from whoever stole your identity.

The second step to take when your identity have been stolen is to get in touch with your bank and or credit company, so they can review and cancel any accounts that may have been made illegally. Once you have closed your old accounts you should make a new one. However when a new account is made, it is important to make sure you set it up using a new password, identification number, and security question. If you do not set up your new account information wisely, the theft stealing your identity could easily continue to steal from your account.

• If a theft has created an account using your identity, it is important to report the matter to the police, who should right up a report.

The police should make a copy of the report for both themselves and a copy for you.

• Once a report has been made, all illegal accounts need to be closed. If the theft has made any illegally charges the bank should be happy to reimburse you.

• Once you have taken care of your accounts it can be important to file a complaint with the FTC. Filling out the extra information can help the authorities track down the individual who has stolen your identity and help them improve the ways in which they find them in the future.

• Filing a complaint with the FTC can be done both online and via their hotline.

Having someone steal your identity can be a terrible experience, but following rational and simple steps can help you solve the problem smoothly and quickly.