Five Key Rights For Identity Theft Victims

If you are the victim of identity theft in Herndon, Virginia, you have five important rights afforded to you by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.  15 U.S.C. 1681g(d) states that identity theft victims have the following rights:

1.  The right to  place a fraud alert on their credit file.

As of the time of this post, the credit reporting agency fraud alert phone numbers were:

Experian fraud alert phone number (888) 397-3742

Equifax fraud alert phone number   (800) 525-6285

TransUnion fraud alert phone number (800) 680-7289

Remember an initial fraud alert stays on your credit file for 90 days and that you may request an extended fraud alert if you provide a valid identity theft report.

 2.    The right to receive free copies of their credit file.

The initial fraud alert  affords the consumer the chance to obtain a free copy of their credit file.  Consumers should review these copies to determine if the file has any items indicating identity theft including unauthorized accounts, unknown credit inquiries, or inaccurate address information.

3. The right to copies of documents relating to fraudulent transactions.

If a thief has used your personal information to open accounts, a creditor or other business must give you copies of applications and business records involving transactions related to the theft, provided that you ask them in writing.

4. The right to obtain information from a debt collector.

You can stop debt collectors when they improperly collect debts relating to inaccurate credit reporting or identity theft by requesting that the debt collector provide you with information related to the name of the original creditor and the debt.

5. The right to request that a credit reporting agency block identity theft information.

In order to invoke the identity theft blocking provisions under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you should identify the information to be blocked, state that you did not incur or authorize the charges, provide proof of your identity, and provide a copy of an identity theft police report.

Please review my previous post for more information about remedying identity  theft in Herndon as well as the FTC’s website.  If you need to speak to a credit report lawyer about an identity theft or inaccurate credit reports, please contact me at my Reston office, 703-390-9205.