How Identity Theft Can Affect You

How long can the effects of identity theft last?

It's difficult to predict how long the effects of identity theft may linger. That's because it depends on many factors including the type of theft, whether the thief sold or passed your information on to other thieves, whether the thief is caught, and problems related to correcting your credit report.

Victims of identity theft should monitor financial records for several months after they discover the crime. Victims should review their credit reports once every three months in the first year of the theft, and once a year thereafter. Stay alert for other signs of identity theft.

Don't delay in correcting your records and contacting all companies that opened fraudulent accounts. Make the initial contact by phone, even though you will normally need to follow up in writing. The longer the inaccurate information goes uncorrected, the longer it will take to resolve the problem. Federal Trade Commission Report

Some of the things that you will need to do if it does happen to you.

Call your bank and/or credit card company
Contact the three major credit repositories
Go through the helpful but expensive steps recommended by the Federal Trade Commission in its 30-page consumer support publication
Fill out and submit the affidavit form supplied by the FTC to dispute new, unauthorized accounts
Spend on average $1,200 in out-of-pocket expenses and an average of 175 hours in your efforts to resolve the many problems caused by identity thieves
OR

You can find a protection service that will protect you