If someone steals your identity

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, July, 1998

RECLAIMING AND CLEANSING your identity after it has been used to open fraudulent accounts can be a nuisance, as it was for most of the Cullens' targets. Or it can be a never-ending nightmare. Beverly Reed's bad dream began when her purse was stolen in 1991. She dismissed a couple of calls from collection agencies in 1992 as mix-ups. But an application in 1993 to refinance the mortgage on her Riverside, Cal., home was denied because her TRW (now Experian) credit report was tainted by reports of $36,000 in unpaid bills.

For six months she fended off more creditors' calls and tried to straighten out her credit history with TRW--without success. An inquiry on her credit report from a rental agency enabled her to track down the "other" Beverly Reed to an apartment in Hawthorne, Cal. She called local police but was told they could do nothing, probably because it was out of their jurisdiction.

Five years passed without incident. But early this year she received a rejection letter from Household Finance for a loan for which she hadn't applied. "I got on the phone and learned she was trying to mortgage my home," Reed says. This time, her credit report revealed that the thief had leased a $46,000 Ford Expedition in her name, co-signed a note for a Ford Mustang, opened a cellular-phone account and applied for six credit cards. Reed is certain it's the same perpetrator because the thief's addresses, dutifully reported in Reed's credit file, are the same as before.

Since January, Reed has been trying to clear her credit history with the three major credit bureaus; but so far only Equifax has purged the fraudulent, accounts.

Short of hiring a lawyer, persistence is the only weapon you have to use against intransigent credit bureaus and creditors. Clearing your name after an identity theft can be "emotionally trying and takes a lot of time," says Angie Farleigh, a CalPIRG representative who assists fraud victims. Some tips:

* Deal directly with the fraud units at Equifax (800-525-6285), Experian (888-397-3742) and Trans Union (800-680-7289). Also contact each creditor connected with fraudulent accounts on your report.

* Put a "fraud alert" on your credit file. It warns creditors not to open an account in your name until they call you to verify the legitimacy of the application.

* Check your social security record for unexplained earnings by calling 800-537-7005. If your number has been used fraudulently, call the agency's fraud hotline at 800-269-0271.

* Get a copy of your file with local check-verification services if you believe bad checks have been written in your name. Local merchants should be able to tell you which ones operate locally.

* Consider changing your driver's license number if someone has used yours to write bad checks.

* Report identity-theft crimes to police and sheriff's departments with jurisdiction in the case--that is, where the crime took place, and not necessarily where you live. You may have to be persistent, as "some police departments have refused to write reports on such crimes," notes the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

Beverly Reed tried to file reports in four jurisdictions but succeeded only with the Los Angeles police department, where she was accompanied by a representative of the Ford dealership that took a loss on the vehicles. (Los Angeles has since filed two felony fraud charges against the impostor Beverly Reed.) Get a copy of the police report; it may help clear your name with credit-reporting agencies.

For more detailed help, con tact the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at 619-298-3396, or www.privacyrights.org; and CalPIRG at 310-397-3404, or www.pirg.org/calpirg.

PROTECTING YOURSELF. Short of dropping out of the financial system, there's no foolproof way to protect your identity from being ripped off. Even if you refuse to supply your social security number every time you are asked for it unnecessarily, the number is still accessible in employee, bank and credit files, credit reports, and government records-all of which are vulnerable to theft.

Still, you should limit the circulation of your social security number by keeping it off your checks and out of your wallet (most states let you request an alternative number on your driver's license). Ask to be identified by another number when your social security number isn't required for tax-reporting purposes, such as when you give blood or open a video-store account.

Also, don't ignore unexplained calls from creditors or unknown entries on your credit report (which you check annually, right?). They're often the first tip-off that someone is using your name to open accounts--and your acting quickly can prevent further damage.