Making Sure You've Covered all your Important Bases

If you have ever before needed to be exact, this would be the time. It is important to leave no stone uncovered. Make a check list of all of those who you deal with where credit and your personal identity is concerned. For help, go through all of your personal papers, filed away for safe keeping, and using a check list, make up a list of people to contact, immediately. Lastly, when you feel happy with your list, go back and start all over again!

Think about it this way. Forgetting even one solitary contact name could mean thousands of dollars -- even millions of dollars and this could literally bankrupt you if not taken care of immediately and properly! This is the one time when making even a simple error can just not be allowed.

When you are completely satisfied with the work that you have done, bundle up all of your documents, list in tow, and ask someone you trust to go over the whole process again! You will be glad that you did when you find out that you covered all of your ground well, rather than being told you left something out and are now, as the result, are in the poor house! Remember, when caught quickly, you can even reverse the crime committed against you!

Contact all creditors with whom your name or identifying data have been fraudulently used. For example, you may need to contact your long-distance telephone company if your long-distance calling card has been stolen or you find fraudulent charges on your bill.

Contact all financial institutions where you have accounts that an identity thief has taken over or that have been created in your name but without your knowledge. You may need to cancel those accounts, place stop-payment orders on any outstanding checks that may not have cleared, and change your Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card, account, and Personal Identification Number (PIN). Most of all, be diligent to account for all accounts and institutions involved and contact them, immediately. Do not waste a minute. In one minute thousands of dollars can be charged against your name, unlawfully!

Contact the major check verification companies when you have had checks stolen or bank accounts set up in your name, unlawfully. Keep in mind that when you know that a particular merchant has received a check stolen from you, contact the verification company that the merchant uses, in particular:

CheckRite -- (800) 766-2748
ChexSystems -- (800) 428-9623 (closed checking accounts) CrossCheck -- (800) 552-1900
Equifax -- (800) 437-5120
National Processing Co. (NPC) -- (800) 526-5380
SCAN -- (800) 262-7771
TeleCheck -- (800) 710-9898

There simply cannot be enough stress placed on the fact that when you act quickly to take care of the matter of identity fraud, identity theft and stolen identity, much, if not ALL of the damage done against your name, unlawfully, can be taken care of successfully and even reversed. This is good news considering this is a timely and costly process to engage in to combat the problem in the first place.

Safeguard your personal identity information. This is your best plan of attack, and failing that, you do have recourse. Unfortunately, identification theft is a huge business today and not one that will vanish anytime soon. There are, though, seasoned authorities and veteran professionals, well trained and available to assist you every step of the way when you have been violated. These are dedicated individuals who are, daily, making very certain that the criminal element attracted to this particularly popular crime, will use a good amount of forethought prior to engaging in such illegal activity. As consumers, we must be vigilant and at the same time, we can be assured.