An individual becomes the victim of identity theft, when someone else obtains their personal information, uses it to establish a new identity and sometimes opens new lines of credit for fraudulent use. The federal and state governments have worked together over the past few years to create a number of identity theft laws for protecting individuals, like you. These identity theft laws hold individuals who’ve stolen another person’s information against certain punishments for committing this type of crime.

Individuals who’ve fallen prey to identity theft helped paved the way for a more rigorous weeding routine, which helps government officials uncover cases of identity theft and report the situation in due time.

Factual Details about the FCRA

Your credit report serves as the number one way to protect yourself against identity theft. The Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA was created among many identity theft laws to allow an individual to receive one copy of his or her credit report, free on an annual basis. Almost every individual should take advantage of these types of identity theft laws, as they were created to help people identify when their personal information was used without the proper authorization.

If you suspect someone has acquired your personal information from the trash you put out, you can ask the credit card company whether or not they’ve had an inquiry based on your credit information. Once you’ve discovered if someone has had access to your personal information, you may find out you’ve been the victim of identity theft. Newly created identity theft laws allow you to obtain a free copy of your personal credit history report in the event your credit bureaus have placed a fraud alert as your status.

The FCRA works to protect your creditworthiness by allowing you to obtain creditor documentation at no charge, if you suspect you’ve been the victim of identity theft. Looking over these types of documents will allow you to assess whether or not someone else has forged your signature. You’ll need to provide the credit card company with an affidavit or similar documentation within 30 days in order to review the initial application.

Identity theft laws were created to protect each and every individual from falling prey to identity theft criminals, as no one ever wants to be in the tough position of sorting out the aftermath.

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