Place a fraud alert to protect against identity theft

21. September 2009 by admin.

If your wallet or credit card is stolen, call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. The alert means any company that checks your credit has to contact you to authorize new credit.

Here are numbers you always need to contact if your wallet, etc., has been stolen:

1. Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
2. Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
3. Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289
4. Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

You can get a free credit report once a year from each of the three credit reporting agencies. They have set up a web site for this: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

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