Identity Theft Recovery

If you are a victim of identity theft, you’re not alone. In any given year, the Federal Trade Commission receives more than 1.3 million identity theft and fraud consumer complaints. The federal agency expects that number to grow as the frequency of identity theft continues to rise. The road to recovery from identity theft is a long one, with victims spending an average of 600 hours over a period of years recovering from the crime, according to the ID Theft Center. Identity theft recovery is a process where you must RECOGNIZE the theft, take ACTION to stop it and REPAIR the damage.

Recognizing Fraudulent Activities

Any type of information made to your banking account, credit card statement, or your credit report without your knowledge should be handled as suspicious activity. With credit cards in particularly, identity theft crime experts report that often times thieves will make a small charge and if the cardholder does not report it as incorrect, they will go ahead and make other larger purchases. In many other cases, thieves will change your address on one bank or credit card statement. If you do business with numerous financial and credit card companies, you may not notice you are no longer receiving this statement. Because identity theft criminals constantly change their method of operation, it is important for consumers to monitor their personal and financial matters. Credit monitoring services can help in this regard, or consumers can frequently check their credit report on their own. Whether identity theft occurred online or offline, no matter how small the activity, always consider it suspicious until you prove otherwise.

Stopping Identity Theft

It’s important to act fast in notifying the proper channels so the process of repairing your credit begins immediately. There are several tools, including fraud alerts and a credit freeze, that consumers can use to stop any further damage from occurring to their credit. The Federal Trade Commission also recommends filing a complaint with them and your local police department. If you use a credit monitoring service, they typically help with the notification process, particularly to the consumer credit reporting agencies. Depending on the type of identity theft, you may need to close accounts, change your social security number, or submit fraudulent transaction records.

Repairing Your Credit

Perhaps the most time consuming part of recovering from identity theft is repairing your credit. You need to show proof to creditors and the consumer credit reporting agencies that the activity was fraudulent. This may require you to submit copies of records affected by the identity theft, or provide your signature for comparison. Even after proving that you were a victim of identity theft, it takes anywhere from several months to several years for your credit to be repaired, depending on the extent of the crime. During that time, you may not be able to open credit card accounts or take out a loan without providing documentation that you are currently repairing your credit as a result of identity theft.

We’ve created a website that lists out credit repair companies, or if you choose, you can do it yourself with our credit repair steps guide.

Recovery Resources