Chapter 4: Resources
Credit
Reporting Bureaus/Accessing Credit Reports
- EQUIFAX
To order a credit report call: (800) 685-1111
To report fraud
call: (888) 766-0008
Equifax Credit Information Services,
Inc.
P.O. Box 105069, Atlanta, GA 30374
www.equifax.com
- EXPERIAN
To
order a credit report and report fraud, call: (888) 524-3606
Experian, P.O. Box 2104, Allen, TX 75013-2104
www.experian.com
- TRANS
UNION CORPORATION
To order
a credit report call: (800) 888-4213
To report fraud call:
(800) 680-7289
TransUnion LLC, Consumer Disclosure Center
P.O. Box
1000, Chester, PA 19022
www.tuc.com
- ANNUAL CREDIT REPORT REQUEST SERVICE
P.O. Box 105281,
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
(877) 322-8228
www.annualcreditreport.com
Government Agencies
- U.S.
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
The FTC oversees the operation of credit bureaus and maintains
a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies
for investigations.
- U.S.
POSTAL SERVICE
Call the U.S. Post Office to obtain the phone number of the nearest
postal inspector: (800) 275-8777
www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect
- U.S.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
To report fraud call: (800) 269-0271. To order your free Personal Earnings
and Benefit Estimate Statement: (800) 772-1213
www.ssa.gov
Checking Account Fraud
- If you
are unable to open a checking account because of identity
theft, contact:
ChexSystems, (800) 428-9623
- TeleCheck,
(800) 710-9898
Miscellaneous
-
DIRECT
MARKETING ASSOCIATION
To remove your name from mail and phone lists:
Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735. Telephone Preference
Service, P.O. Box 9014, Farmingdale, NY 11735
www.the-dma.org/government/donotcalllists.shtml
-
CREDIT REPORTING
INDUSTRY PRE-SCREENING OPT-OUT
(888) 567-8688
Glossary of
Terms
Account
takeover – When
an identity thief uses your personal information to convince
a financial institution to give him or her full control of your
account.
Affidavit
of factual innocence – A legal document issued
by a court, stating that you’re innocent. You may need one
of these if you’ve been wrongfully arrested as a result
of identity theft.
Affidavit
of forgery – A
legal document that states that a certain signature is not yours,
but a forgery.
Check
washing – A
method identity thieves use to commit check fraud. They dip a
check in acetone, which washes the ink off so they can write
it for a higher amount.
Credit
repair agency – A company that offers “cleanup” services
to remove accurate information from your credit report. Often
illegal and expensive, they are sometimes called credit clinics.
Credit
reporting agency (CRA) – Commonly known as credit
bureaus, they keep track of credit records, and issue credit reports
to those who have a legitimate reason for accessing your credit
history.
DL
stop (driver license stop) – A DL stop is a system that
puts a flag on your driver license in the Department of Motor Vehicle’s
database, to show that your license has been lost or stolen.
Fraud
alert – A
fraud alert is put on your credit report at the CRAs if you become
an identity theft victim. It lets potential creditors know that
someone may be trying to obtain new credit in your name, so the
process will be very closely scrutinized.
Permissible
purposes – Guidelines set out in the FCRA that
outline the allowable reasons for requesting a copy of a credit
report. One of those reasons is if you’re a victim of identity
theft.
Truncated
credit card number – When all the digits of your
credit or debit card number, except for the last four or five,
are “x’d” out on a receipt or other document.
This is done to protect you from identity theft.
Victim’s statement – A
statement that is attached to your credit report when you think
you may be a victim of identity theft. It asks creditors to contact
you before opening any new credit accounts, or making any changes
to existing ones.
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