You’ve just taken a look at your credit report and discovered that you are a victim of identity theft. Of course, identity thieves don’t pay their bills. So, you now have one (if you are lucky) or more accounts on your credit report that are showing in a default, charged off, collections or other derogatory status.
Here is what you need to do right away:
1. File a police report. Go to your local police station and make a report that you are the victim of identity theft. Make sure your give the officer taking the report the following information: The name of the financial institutions or merchants with whom the identity thief opened the fraudulent accounts and the account number(s).
2. Complete an identity theft affidavit. An affidavit is a sworn/notarized statement made in writing and signed by you in which you state the following:
My name is _______________. I am a victim of identity theft.
Without my knowledge, consent or authorization, a person or persons unknown to me opened account number _____________ at ________________.
I have not benefitted in any way from the account(s) listed above.
I first learned about the account(s) listed above ______________.
3. Send a written dispute to the credit bureaus via certified mail. Don’t waste your time trying to deal directly with the merchants, financial institutions and collection agencies. If you want an identity theft account off your credit report, go straight to the credit bureaus. You need to send them a certified letter in the following format:
My name is ____________. My address is __________________. My date of birth is _________________. The last 4 digits of my Social Security number are ____.
I am a victim of identity theft. Without my knowledge, consent or authorization, a person or persons unknown to me opened the following accounts: Account number _____________ at ________________; Account number _____________ at ________________.
I have not benefitted in any way from those accounts and the information regarding those accounts does not relate to any transaction by me.
Please remove these accounts from my credit report and provide me with a copy of my updated report showing that they have, in fact, been removed.
Also, please place a fraud alert on my credit file.
Enclosed with this letter are the following: a copy of my current driver's license, a police report that I made with respect to this matter and an identity theft affidavit.
Yes, it’s a lot of work, but if you want to have identity theft accounts removed from your credit reports, those are the hoops you’ll need to jump through. If the credit bureaus won’t remove the identity theft accounts from your credit reports, call us. 678.999.1102 or 678.999.1105. We sue credit reporting agencies and collection agencies.
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