Robert Hatfield ⋅ Louisville, KY UPS ⋅ 23 years experience

Having your identity stolen is an extremely stressful event. I also had my identity stolen and was not aware it had occurred until I received a notice from a collection agency for the debt. In order to clear it up, it takes weeks of hard work by you, which doesn't seem fair, but is the reality of the world we live in. When this happens, you are in fact guilty until you prove your innocence. Here is a list of things I had to do in order to get my credit report repaired.
1. Contact the credit reporting agencies and place a hold and fraud alert on your credit.
2. Contact the credit issuing company and advise them your identity has been stolen.
3. Contact the Secret Service and report a fraud claim. The SS gets involved because typical identity theft is accomplished over the internet and interstate fraud.
4. Contact the US Postal Inspection Service. When fraud occurs and the US mail service was involved, they launch an investigation as well.
5. Contact the Federal Trade Commission, as most identity thefts happen through wire or mail fraud and this is the branch of the government that will issue warrants if needed.
6. Contact the agency where the theft occurred, such as the credit card company, financial institution, etc. Have them cancel the line of credit and report to them that your identity was stolen. They will launch an investigation and once you prove your identity was stolen they will issue the award letter and reverse the damage to your credit report.
7. Last, contact your local police department and file a police report.

This entire process took me well over 90 days to clear the mess up and another 4 months to get it off my credit report. Ultimately, my credit was restored, but I had to do all the leg work and part of the investigation to get my life back. Keep all of the documents and reports you file as you will need them to get the 3 main credit reporting agencies to remove the negative complaints from your credit report.

And the most important thing, get a subscription to Life Lock. If it ever happens again, they do all the hard work for you and are 99.9% successful in preventing it from happening in the first place.

Bob Abrams ⋅ Buffalo Grove, IL Hewlett Packard ⋅ 20 years experience

Caveat emptor! Depending on where you live, I would look for a reputable business that guarantees that they can repair your credit. They have helped improve my credit score in the past. Be careful because some of them will make promises, collect your money, and in the end nothing changes. I also visited the business to ensure that they were not scammers, and have been in business for many years.

Stan Hines ⋅ Fort Worth, TX IBM ⋅ 33 years experience

They are closed now but did you try
1-800-983-0937

E benefits are at https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/contact

I don't know how easy they will be able to reach on Monday. Have you tried them?