How Does Experian Help Victims of Identity Theft? (2024)

FAQs

How Does Experian Help Victims of Identity Theft? ›

Experian will work with you to investigate the fraudulent information on your credit report. Also known as an extended fraud victim alert, a 7-year fraud victim alert requires that you must be a victim and provide a police report.

Our full service identity theft protection includes access to your Experian credit report, 3 bureau credit monitoring with email alerts, and immediate access to our fraud resolution professionals. Inform the Creditor – Contact each creditor with the fraud account and inform them that the account is fraudulent.

Call or email the fraud department of the companies, banks or credit unions where accounts have been compromised. Explain that someone stole your identity and ask them to close or freeze the compromised account.

Identity theft happens when someone uses your personal or financial information without your permission. It can damage your credit status and cost you time and money.

At their simplest, credit monitoring services will look for potentially suspicious changes in your credit reports based on your prior activity and send you an alert if they detect an issue. These could include a new hard inquiry (when you apply for credit and a creditor checks your report) or a new account.

If you suspect you are a victim of identity theft, here are some important contact information that can help you: Experian Fraud Division: 888-397-3742. Equifax Fraud Division: 800-525-6285. TransUnion Fraud Division: 800-680-7289.

Monitor your Experian Credit Report

Credit monitoring can help you detect possible identity fraud sooner, and can prevent surprises when you apply for credit. Get daily notifications when updates are detected.

The first step of your recovery plan is to call the credit bureaus. Ask the credit bureau for an initial fraud alert. It is free and lasts for 90 days. The fraud alert makes it harder for thieves to open accounts in your name.

Contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at 1-800-908-4490 or visit them online, if you believe someone is using your SSN to work, get your tax refund, or other abuses involving taxes. Order free credit reports annually from the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).

How long does it take to fix credit after identity theft? ›

How long it takes to repair your credit score depends on what happened to it. If your credit score is low as a result of errors or identity theft, the process could take a couple of months. If you've had financial difficulties leading to late or missed payments, it could take much longer.

A security freeze, also known as a credit freeze, is one way you can help protect your personal information against fraud or identity theft. While you may know that, and may even have a security freeze on your credit reports, here are some facts you may not know about security freezes.

Identity theft protection services include credit monitoring but add other services like social media scanning, change-of-address alerts, sex offender registry reports, file-sharing network searches, medical identity monitoring, and computer antivirus protection.

You should then follow up with the credit bureaus to file a fraud alert. This will warn lenders that they should check with you to verify your identity before opening new accounts or increasing credit lines on existing accounts, for instance.

Is Your Information Secure with Experian? Experian prides itself on providing exceptional service without compromising the personal information of its customers. The privacy policy outlines how information is used and how the credit reporting agency complies with both legal requirements and consumers' expectations.

The main disadvantage of Experian is that, unlike FICO, it is rarely used as a stand-alone tool to make credit decisions. Even lenders that review credit reports in detail rather than go off a borrower's numerical score often look at results from all three bureaus, not just Experian.

LifeLock offers better customer support options, while Experian offers monitoring and alerts on your FICO score, which can be accessed even from its free plan.

The types of records appearing on your credit report, such as mortgages, student loans, auto loans, credit cards, charge cards and service accounts. For revolving accounts, this will indicate the current credit limit on the account. If the account is an installment loan, this will show the original amount of the loan.