What to do if your identity is stolen. A woman sits on the couch, holding a credit card and gasping at the computer.Photo byvoronaman via Shutterstock

Would you know what to do if your identity is stolen?

Over a third of all Americans will encounter identity theft, so if you haven’t thought about it, now is the time.

Despite our best efforts to protect ourselves, nefarious players can find ways to steal our information and wreak havoc on our lives.

Stolen Identity: What Exactly is Identity Theft?

Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personally identifiable information (PII), like your social security number or address, and uses it to commit fraud.

They drain your bank account or open new lines of credit in your name. You discover the problem when you attempt to use the account or check your credit report.

What To Do if Your Identity is Stolen

If you’re a victim of identity theft, don’t despair. Most banks, credit card companies, and financial institutions have insurance to protect their customers from total loss.

You should get most of your money back if you follow the proper steps as soon as possible.

Here’s what to do if you’re a victim of identity theft.

Take Immediate Action

The quicker you discover the problem, the easier it will be to resolve.

Don’t take a “wait and see” approach. The situation may be stressful, but the longer you wait, the worse it will be.

Make the Phone Calls

Millennials hate talking on the phone, but calling all the impacted companies is what to do if your identity is stolen.

It’s crucial.

Use the number on the back of the card to ensure you’re calling the right institution. Explain what happened. Each institution may have a different process for filing a claim and getting your money back. Follow whatever guidance they provide.

Cancel Your Cards

Regardless of how the fraudsters accessed your money, you must assume that your card information was exposed. Cancel all the affected cards. Your bank can send you new ones within days.

You may also want to cancel your unaffected cards. You don’t know how much information the hackers stole. They may have access to other cards they haven't used yet, and you don't know how much information they obtained or where they got it from.

Change Your Passwords

It’s best practice to change your password every three months, but unfortunately, that’s a lot of effort for most of us.

Getting your identity stolen should be the boost you need to change them all. Your new passwords should be complex, combining upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters.

Consider changing all your email and subscription service passwords, as you don’t know which account may have been compromised.

Turn on Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication forces you to connect your online accounts with your phone or an authentication app.

The extra layer of security prevents people from getting into your account.

Review your Credit Report

You must review your credit report whenever even a tiny piece of your identity gets stolen. The thieves may have opened additional accounts in your name, and you don’t want to deal with this again in three months when you discover them.

Set up Fraud Alerts

Some fraudulent activity may not appear on your credit report for months. You don’t have to monitor your credit, constantly watching for nefarious activity.

Companies can do that for you.

You’ll get alerted whenever something new appears on your credit report.

Freeze Your Credit

If you don’t need to access credit for a while, consider freezing it. Freezing your credit prevents everyone, even you, from accessing new lines of credit.

Freezing your credit is like super-charging your identity theft protection. When you need to open a new line, you must call to have the freeze lifted.

Call the Credit Agencies

If you discover fraudulent activity on your credit report, call the credit reporting agencies and ask them to remove it.

The credit reporting agencies can also help you freeze your credit. To properly freeze everything, you must call all three: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, and then call them all back again when you want to lift the freeze.

Report the Identity Theft

When you’re a victim of identity theft, you must report the crime to the authorities.

Report the identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Federal Agency set up a website, making it easy for victims to create online reports. Head to identitytheft.gov to get started.

Next, call the police, who will help you file a police report, which you can provide to your bank. Calling the police is also the only chance to catch the criminals. Though identity theft is notoriously hard to track down or prosecute, reporting the crime gives the authorities a fighting chance.

Protect Yourself

If you haven’t already, now is the time to protect yourself against future attacks. We’ve already covered some protective measures, like freezing your credit and setting up fraud alerts, but there’s more you can do to prevent future harm.

Discover all the steps you can take to protect yourself against identity theft.

How Long Does it Take to Recover from Identity Theft?

After asking what to do if your identity is stolen, you might ask how long it will take to get your money back.

It depends.

If they only got to one credit card, it shouldn’t take more than a day to freeze the card, a week to reverse the charges, and two weeks to get a new card.

However, the process can take longer if they access your bank accounts or open new lines of credit in your name. When my identity was stolen, it took about two weeks to get my money back from Bank of America, and they were incredibly supportive.

Catching it early also ensures a speedy recovery. The sooner you discover a problem, the less money they will get, making it easier to resolve.

What To Do if Your Identity is Stolen

When your identity is stolen, it feels like your whole world is falling apart. All your hard-earned money is gone, and the credit you worked so hard to build is destroyed in an instant.

Take a deep breath. It will be okay. Follow our steps, and you’ll get through it.

This article was produced and syndicated by Partners in Fire.