Your identity has been stolen and debts are being opened in your name and charges are being made on your credit card, now what?! Don’t worry, removing your association with these accounts/charges doesn’t require a law degree or even a lot of money. All that is required for a creditor to remove fraudulently opened accounts from being associated with you is a dispute letter putting the creditor on sufficient notice that the account/charges were the result of identity theft.
Below are the legal steps you must take to put an entity on notice that they need to disassociate a debt from you.
Step 1 – File a Police Report
For a dispute letter to be sufficient under California Identity Theft Act (“CITA”), a police report must be included. To get a police report, call your local police department and have an officer come out to your home. Once the officer is there, explain which accounts or charges are fraudulent. Give the police any new evidence you collect to add to your report and be sure to get a copy of your police report. You will need to give copies of the police report to creditors and the credit bureaus.
Step 2 – Write a Dispute Letter
For the substance of your dispute letter, open up a word document and tell your story. Chronologically say when and how you discovered the fraudulent accounts/charges. See sample letters HERE.
Step 3 – Reinforce Your Dispute Letter (Optional)
Steps 1 and 2 are the only required content for a dispute to be valid under CITA. However, I suggest that you go above and beyond the base requirements so that the creditor/debtor has no excuse for upholding the account. We suggest that you also include a photocopy of your driver’s license, social security card, and signature samples for them to compare. Lastly, we suggest that you also fill out an FTC Identity Affidavit, which can be found at https://www.identitytheft.gov/. Although these steps are not required, the more strength you give supporting your dispute, the more likely you are to have your identity theft issues resolved just based on this dispute letter alone.
Step 4 – Mail Via Certified Mail
When mailing your dispute letter to the entity, make sure the address you have is the appropriate address for the entity. Furthermore, when sending the letter, make sure to mail it certified mail with return receipt. This allows you to unilaterally prove that the entity received the letter.
Step 5 – Check Back in After 30 days
After 30 days, the entity should remove your association with the fraudulent account/charges. Unfortunately, some people use identity theft as a means to escape liability on their underlying valid debts. Therefore, it is not unusual for an entity to reject your claim that the account/charges are fraudulent.
If you need help fighting a fraudulent account/charge, we have the experience required to help you get the fraudulent account/charge removed.
Give us a call today for a FREE consultation or contact us online.
SAMPLE LETTER TO CREDITOR ON EXISTING ACCOUNT
Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State Zip Code
Your Account Number
Name of Creditor
Billing Inquiries
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to dispute a fraudulent (charge or debit) attributed to my account in the amount of $_____. I am a victim of identity theft, and I did not make this (charge or debit). I am requesting that the (charge be removed or the debit reinstated), that any finance and other charges related to the fraudulent amount be credited as well, and that I receive an accurate statement.
Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence to describe any enclosed information, such as police report) supporting my position. Please investigate this matter and correct the fraudulent (charge or debit) as soon as possible.
Yours truly,
Your name
Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)
SAMPLE LETTER TO CREDITOR ON NEW ACCOUNT
Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State Zip Code
Name of Creditor
Fraud Department
Address
City, State, Zip Code
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to dispute an account opened fraudulently in my name. I am a victim of identity theft, and I did not open account number (give number of fraudulent account). I am not responsible for any charges made to this account.
Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence to describe any enclosed information, such as police report, ID Theft Affidavit, Request for Fraudulent Account Information forms) supporting my position. I am also requesting copies of any documentation, such as applications and transaction records, showing the transactions on this (these) fraudulent account(s).
Yours truly,
Your name
Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)
SAMPLE LETTER TO CREDIT BUREAU
Date
Your Name
Your Address
Your City, State Zip Code
Complaint Department
Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
OR
National Consumer Assistance Center
Experian
P.O. Box 9532
Allen, TX 75013
OR
Fraud Victim Assistance Department
TransUnion LLC
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to dispute the following information in my file. The items I dispute also are circled on the attached copy of the report I received. (Identify item(s) disputed by name of source, such as creditors or tax court, and identify type of item, such as credit account, judgment, etc.)
I am a victim of identity theft, and did not make the charge(s). I am requesting that the item(s) be blocked to correct my credit report.
Enclosed are copies of (describe any enclosed documents) supporting my position. Please investigate this (these) matter(s) and block the disputed item(s) as soon as possible.
Yours truly,
Your name
Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)
