Contacting the three credit bureaus

If you are the victim of identity theft, responding quickly is crucial and saves you a lot of hassle in the long run.


This page:

    • Explains why it's important to contact the credit bureaus immediately

    • Lists each credit bureau's fraud department phone number

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What the credit bureaus can do to help you

if you suspect ID theft, your first concern will be to mitigate the damage done to your good credit. The key action here is preventing more fraudulent accounts from being opened under your name or from having your accounts accessed by someone else.

Since some unsavory individual already has access to your personal information - including your social security number, address, birth-date, and mother's maiden name - this can be difficult. However, credit bureaus can offer significant help.


    • Notifying just one of the credit bureaus means that they all get notified, as they are required by law to share fraud information with one another

    • Get a free copy of your credit report from each bureau - you are entitled to one every year.

    • Get the contact information of all creditors - not just the ones that are on your report fraudulently. You will want to call them next.

    • Ask each bureau to place a fraud alert on your account, which will require all new creditors to contact you directly before establishing new accounts

    • Subscribe to a credit monitoring service, which will allow you to be notified of all changes even after fraud alerts have expired.

Credit bureau contact information

Contact the fraud departments for each of the three credit bureaus as soon as you can to eliminate the extra annoyance of closing multiple false accounts. They can be reached at the following numbers:

Equifax: 800-525-6285
TransUnion: 800-680-7289
Experian: 888-397-3742


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