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Released: April 23, 2012

Help Desk FAQ

What should I do if someone uses my personal information to open credit accounts?

Your first step should be to obtain a police report. Next, fill out the ID Theft Affidavit offered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and send it, along with a copy of the police report, to each creditor with fraudulent accounts under your name. Using these same two documents (police report and affidavit), dispute the fraudulent accounts with the three major credit reporting agencies to get them taken off your credit reports.

To place a fraud alert on your credit reports, contact any one of the three agencies (Equifax: 800-525-6285; Experian: 888-397-3742; TransUnion: 800-680-7289) and that agency will notify the other two. A fraud alert notifies potential creditors that you have been a victim of fraud and that the creditor should take additional steps to verify the identity of anyone applying for credit in your name.

A credit freeze is a much more stringent measure of protection. It denies access to your credit file to anyone who does not have the access code or PIN. If a potential creditor cannot access your credit report or score, it typically will deny the credit application.

Read Consumer Action’s publications on freezing your credit and ID theft and account fraud for more information. The Identity Theft Resource Center has useful information for victims of ID theft.