Your rights as a victim of Identity Theft.

[Ansett]

From a great thread over on the Ebay forums - click here to read the original

ID Theft and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): The FCRA gives you specific rights when you are, or believe that you are about to become, the victim of ID theft. Some of the key rights for ID theft victims are below:

1. You have the right to ask the nationwide credit bureaus to place “fraud alerts” in your credit file. The fraud alerts let potential creditors and others know that you may be the victim of ID theft, and creditors must then follow certain procedures to protect you. You only have to call one of the three national credit bureaus to request the fraud alert. That agency will notify the other two, and all three must place fraud alerts in your files.

2. You have the right to free copies of your credit report. An initial fraud alert (90 days) entitles you to one free copy of all the information in your file from each of the three nationwide credit bureaus. An extended fraud alert (7 years) entitles you to two free credit reports in the 12-month period following placing the alert. Once a year, you have the right to a free copy of your credit report, even if you don’t think you are the victim of ID theft.

3. You have the right to obtain documents relating to fraudulent transactions made, or accounts opened, using your personal information from the creditor or business where the fraud was committed.

4. You have the right to block information in your file resulting from ID theft. You will have to ask the three credit bureaus and take certain steps to prove that the information you want blocked is the result of ID theft, such as providing the credit bureau with a police report.

To learn more about your rights as an ID theft victim, go to www.consumer.gov/idtheft

To contact the 3 Credit Bureaus when identity theft is involved, you can contact them at:

Equifax at 1-800-525-6285, Experian at 1-888-397-3742 and Trans Union at 1-800-680-7289.

You can place a fraud alert on your credit file by contacting any one of the three major credit bureaus. Under federal law, the credit bureau you contact must contact the other two agencies who must then put an alert on your credit file.

You will then receive a notice on how to receive the FREE copy of your credit report.

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