Managing The Fallout From Identity Theft with Payday Loans

The Defensive Side of Identity Theft. Part IV

Part III, “The FTC, LPD, & You | Pillars of Protection When Identity Theft Strikes“, we talked about the immediate procedures that need to be taken with the local and federal authorities, to protect yourself as well as to help nail your assailant.

Today we are going to focus more on addressing the specific damage that has been done to the various accounts which have been compromised.

Credit and Debit Accounts

All credit card and or debit accounts that have been affected need to be immediately notified. Notify first by a phone call to put a stop to any further transactions from taking place, but also you will need to follow up your phone request with a letter or statement explaining your circumstances. You will most likely be asked to include a copy of your fraud affidavit or identity theft report and explained in the part three of this series.

Be sure to send this to the appropriate mailing address as it will differ from the address that you send your monthly payments to.

You will also want want to request new cards be sent to you. Don’t forget to change the passwords to your accounts as well. Remember, these passwords should not be chosen after things such as birthdays, maiden names, pet names, social security numbers etc. Choose a password that is random and unrelated to you. This may be harder to remember but will be the most secure.

Dealing with Debt Collectors

Depending on the amount of time that elapses before you discover that you have become a victim of identity fraud, you may start receiving calls from debt collectors requesting payment on the debts that your opposition has acquired on your behalf.

Debt collectors can be relentless in their pursuit of delinquent funds and it is easy to become agitated and quickly frustrated with these individuals. What you will need to do is politely tell the collector that is calling, that you have become a victim of Identity fraud and collect any and all necessary information regarding the debt. This would include things such as the following,

1. Name and contact information for the issuer of the now delinquent account
2. The amount of the debt,
3. The account number
4. Dates of the the charges

Ask the debt collector if they will need a copy of your identity theft report or fraud affidavit. You will also want to follow up by writing to the debt collection agency explaining your situation in detail and ask that they confirm in writing that you do not owe the debt in question and that the account has been closed. Having this in writing is important if you need to clear up credit discrepancies on your report with new creditors before the bureaus remove the mark on your report.

Stolen Checks and Fraudulent Banking Activities

In the event that the identity thief has set up fraudulent bank accounts in your name and issued themselves checks to use at their leisure, you will want to be sure to have your bank report it to ChexSystems. ChexSystems is defined by Wikepedia as follows,

ChexSystems is a check verification service and consumer credit reporting agency like Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. While most credit reporting agencies broker data about how a consumer handles credit relationships, ChexSystems provides data related to how a consumer has handled deposit accounts at banking institutions.

Be sure to place a security alert on your ChexSystems file. The contact information is below. This works much like the security alert we spoke of placing on the Credit Bureaus earlier in this series. Close any and all banking accounts that you expect to be compromised or are compromised already. After stopping payments on all checks that you have not been able to account for you will once again have to set up new accounts and passwords. Here is the Check Systems contact information.

• Phone: (800) 428-9623. Fax: (602) 659-2197
• Web: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/index.htm
• To place a security alert on your ChexSystems report: https://www.consumerdebit.com/consumerinfo/us/en/chexsystems/theftaffidavit/index.htm Write: ChexSystems Inc., Attn: Consumer Relations, 7805 Hudson Rd., Suite 100, Woodbury, MN 55125.

Many times victims of identity theft don’t realize that they have become victims until the stores where they shop begin refusing there checks. This usually means that Chexsystems and the other major check verification companies have your account flagged for fraudulent activity.

Fortunately under new federal law, you as a consumer can obtain a free report once a year from each of these check verification companies just as with the credit bureaus. The information for each of the major verifications services is listed below.

Fidelity National Information Services

(was Certegy)(800) 437-5120
www.fidelityinfoservices.com

SCAN

(800) 262-7771
www.consumerdebit.com

TeleCheck

For annual file disclosure
Fraud, id theft department
(800) 366-2425
(800) 835-3243
(800) 710-9898
www.telecheck.com

CrossCheck

(800) 843-0760
www.cross-check.com

Although, you can’t eliminate your risk of identity theft completely, you can substantially reduce the damage resulting from identity theft by keeping a close eye on your credit and check service reports. This will allow you to identify fraudulent activity earlier and limit your liability.