Identity theft is fast becoming the most preferred way to take out money from other people's accounts. Identity thieves use your personal identifying information (PII) to steal money. There are various ways in which identity theft can occur. So it's better to use one's credit cards and especially the debit cards cautiously. However, there are ways to recover your credit after identity theft.
The ways to repair credit after identity theft are:
1. Pull your credit report: Pull a copy of your credit report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Check if all the information on the report is correct.
2. Dispute improper listings: Note all the improper listings that you think has appeared as a result of identity theft. Dispute these items with the credit bureaus.
3. Close accounts: Close all those accounts which you think the thieves may have used or tampered with.
4. Keep track of transactions: Keep a track of all the new transactions. Check the statements on these accounts every month.
5. Re-open old accounts with new safeguards: Close and re-open all the old accounts with new names and numbers. In addition have a discussion with the fraud divisions of the credit card companies to make sure that they know what actually happened.
6. Sending letters: Send follow-up letters to the credit card companies through certified mail, requesting a return receipt. These letters are the follow-ups of the calls made in the fraud divisions of the companies.
7. Take help from attorney: You can take advice from an attorney to deal with your creditors which will also speed up the whole process.
8. Maintain payment history: Make on-time payments, and thus maintain a good payment history. Making on-time payments is the best measure in developing a good credit score.
9. Be cautious in future: In future you need to be much more cautious while handling credit cards. To fight identity theft, you need to know the risks of id theft.