Detect Credit Identity Theft

Warning signs

• •Mail or e-mail you don't recognize — account statements, welcome letters, change-of-address confirmations, debt-collection notices, "your application has been approved" letters from lenders you never applied to.
• •Collection calls for debts you didn't incur. Pay particular attention to medical debt and old utility/cell-phone bills — those are common ID-theft markers.
• •Adverse-action letters — a credit denial, an insurance refusal, an employment background-check rejection, an apartment turn-down. The letter must tell you which consumer reporting agency was used (FCRA § 615); pull that report.
• •A drop in your credit score for no reason you can identify, or a sudden change in the credit-mix or utilization figures.
• •IRS notice CP01E, CP01A, CP01F, CP504, CP2000, or 5071C — the IRS suspects your SSN has been used for employment or a fraudulent return.
• •SSA earnings statement showing employers you've never worked for.
• •Medical bills, Explanation of Benefits forms, or insurance "maximum reached" notices for care you didn't receive.
• •A data-breach notice from a company that held your personal information. The notice doesn't prove identity theft, but it tells you to act before someone tries.
• •Refused at the bank or refused tax refund — common when someone has filed a return in your name first.

Pull all three reports — the safe way

By federal law, you can request a free copy of your consumer report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once every 12 months — and the bureaus, by their own commitment after COVID, currently allow weekly free pulls. There is only one official source:

www.annualcreditreport.com — or call 1-877-322-8228 to order by phone, or print and mail the Annual Credit Report Request Form to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

What to look at, line by line

1. 1.Personal information section. Look for unknown names, aliases, employers, addresses, phone numbers, or Social Security number variants.
2. 2.Open accounts. Compare to the list of accounts you actually have. Note any tradeline you don't recognize.
3. 3.Closed accounts. Same review. Identity-theft tradelines sometimes appear as closed/charged-off.
4. 4.Collections. Each collection account should match a debt you recognize.
5. 5.Public records. Look for unfamiliar bankruptcies, civil judgments, or tax liens.
6. 6.Inquiries. "Hard" inquiries reflect applications for credit. Each one should match an application you made.

Don't forget the specialty consumer reporting agencies

The Big 3 are not the only consumer reporting agencies. Federal law gives you one free report a year from each of the major specialty bureaus too:

If you find something wrong

Don't panic and don't click. Go to the Protect Yourself page next to freeze your credit, then to Dispute the right way to draft the letter. Save the original credit report — the actual report you pulled when you first noticed the problem is your foundational piece of evidence.