Consumers dealing with ID Theft need to take quick action to protect their rights.
1. File a police report - need to get copy of the report or the report # and police department phone number.
2. Notify the creditor of the fraud, close all accounts that were opened or taken over. If you are a customer of the company ask for a new account number and add a pin # to protect the account.
3. Call all 3 credit reporting agencies and activate a fraud alert, you are entitled to 2 free credit reports per year.
Experian
888-397-3742
Equifax
800-685-1111
TransUnion
800-916-800
4. Visit the FTC web site and obtain a copy of the ID Theft Affidavit, fill this out keep the originals and send copies to the credit reporting agency, creditors, collection agencies, and the police department.
5. When you receive your credit reports call back the credit reporting agency and dispute all accounts affected by theft, these will immediately be removed until the creditor or collection agency can investigate.
6. Add a victim statement to the credit report. It should say something to the affect "Victim of ID Theft please contact before approving any new accounts" Be sure to add your cell phone number so you can respond to alerts as soon as possible.
7. You can opt out of unwanted credit card offers by calling Opt-Out: 1-888-567-8688. You can opt out for 5 year or indefinitely, if you change your mind you can always call back and reverse it later.
8. Visit the Federal Trade Commission web site for further companies needing to be contacted for different types of ID Theft. FTC.gov
9. Keep records of all communications with all companies. Need the name of the company, the address (follow with letters), the phone number, the name of the rep who helped you, outline the issues discussed, the time and date of the contact.
10. You may be asked to send documentation don't send originals only copies. Keep back copies of your credit report for your record so you can refer back to it if something is added back on that should not have been. Sometimes you need to provide proof of the data having previously been removed. If a credit reporting agency reinsert an item they legally have to notify you within 5 business days if they fail to do so, all you have to do is write back in pointing out the failure to notify of reinsertion, you can demand that the item be removed for good.
If I remember further information on this subject I will post back here.
This is awesome, someone just posted a question that this is the perfect answer to, hope they find this post.
I found the person you were referring to, she might have a simple case of Opt-in solicitation.
I thought I would add info here as well to explain solicitation lists obtained by creditors.
1. If a consumer sees a soft inquiry for solicitation it just means that a company ask the credit reporting agency for your name, address, maybe credit score. They might have also asked if the consumer was a home owner, or if they held an auto loan, there might be more areas they can ask about.
Anyway - once they have that info from the credit reporting agency they will send out solicitation to the consumer for service or product they are offering. IF the consumer replies to them with an application - they will contact the credit reporting agency to actually pull a full credit report. The initial inquiry did not give them a report, just the info I listed in #1.
Above is the OPT-OUT phone number, and of course later if you want to opt-back-in you can call the same number to reverse the ban on such offers.