Identity Theft - Report ID Theft (Page 5)
What is an Identity Theft Report? (Part 2)
Creating an Identity Theft Report may require two steps:
Step One is obtaining a copy of a report filed with a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency, like your local police department, your State Attorney General, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the FTC, or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. There is no federal law requiring a federal agency to take a report about identity theft; however, some state laws require local police departments to take reports. The law requires the report to provide as much information as you can about the crime, including anything you know about the dates of the identity theft, the fraudulent accounts opened and the alleged identity thief. If you do not provide detailed information, it may be impossible for consumer reporting companies and creditors to comply with your requests. We suggest that you file an online Complaint form with the FTC, and then ask your local police department to incorporate a copy of the printed ID Theft Complaint into the police report. By following this procedure, the consumer reporting company and the information provider may require less additional information and/or documentation under Step Two, below.
Step Two of an Identity Theft Report depends on the policies of the consumer reporting company and the information provider (the business that sent the information to the consumer reporting company). That is, they may ask you to provide information or documentation in addition to that included in the law enforcement report which is reasonably intended to verify your identity theft. They must make their request within 15 days of receiving your law enforcement report, or, if you already obtained an extended fraud alert on your credit report, the date you submit your request to the credit reporting company for information blocking. The consumer reporting company and information provider then have 15 more days to work with you to make sure your Identity Theft Report contains everything they need. They are entitled to take five days to review any information you give them. For example, if you give them information 11 days after they request it, they do not have to make a final decision until 16 days after they asked you for that information. If you give them any information after the 15-day deadline, they can reject your Identity Theft Report as incomplete; you will have to resubmit your Identity Theft Report with the correct information.
You may find that most federal and state agencies, and some local police departments, offer only "automated" reports, reports that do not require a face-to-face meeting with a law enforcement officer. Automated reports may be submitted online, or by telephone or mail. If you have a choice, do not use an automated report. The reason? It's more difficult for the consumer reporting company or information provider to verify the information. Unless you are asking a consumer reporting company to place an extended fraud alert on your credit report, if you use an automated report the consumer reporting company or information provider will probably ask you to provide additional information or documentation.
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