Financial Recovery
Someone used your identity, and now there are accounts, charges, or debts that are not yours. This is the full cleanup: the report that gives you legal standing, the disputes that clear your file, and the follow-through that closes it out for good.
If You Just Discovered This
If the discovery is hours old and money may still be moving, start with our first-days guide: bank calls, wire recalls, and the immediate freeze. This page is the longer arc, the weeks of disputes and follow-up that restore your file. Report at IdentityTheft.gov to generate your recovery plan and Identity Theft Report; if a federal portal is temporarily offline, file at ic3.gov and with your state attorney general now and return for the FTC report when service resumes.
IdentityTheft.govAction Checklist
Your key document
Most of identity theft recovery is asking companies and bureaus to do things they are legally required to do. The Identity Theft Report from IdentityTheft.gov is what triggers those requirements. It is an official affidavit, and attaching it changes your letters from requests into claims with federal law behind them.
With the report, credit bureaus must block fraudulent accounts, charges, and inquiries from your file. Businesses must give you the records related to the fraudulent transactions, which is how you learn what the thief actually did. Debt collectors must stop collection on disputed fraud debts. Without the report, each of those becomes a negotiation.
Make several copies. Nearly every dispute letter, bureau request, and collector response you send will include one, and the original stays in your folder.
The dispute process
Work bureau by bureau, in writing. Each dispute letter identifies the fraudulent items by account number and name, states that they resulted from identity theft, and includes a copy of your Identity Theft Report and proof of identity. Federal law requires the bureaus to block information resulting from identity theft, generally within four business days of receiving a complete request.
Dispute with the companies too, not just the bureaus. The furnisher, the card issuer or lender reporting the account, has its own obligation to stop reporting information it knows resulted from fraud. A dispute at both ends closes the loop, and written confirmation from the furnisher is the document you keep.
Track every letter with dates, and calendar the response deadlines. Bureaus generally have 30 days to investigate a standard dispute. If a deadline passes quietly, a short written follow-up citing your original letter usually restarts movement. Persistence in writing is the entire method.
One caution: credit repair companies that promise to remove accurate negative information or build you a new credit identity are selling something that is either impossible or illegal. Everything a legitimate repair company can do, this page's process does for free.
Special situations
If a return was filed in your name or the IRS rejects your e-file as a duplicate, complete IRS Form 14039, the Identity Theft Affidavit, and request an Identity Protection PIN at irs.gov/ippin so no return can be filed without it. Respond promptly to any IRS letter, and know the IRS initiates contact by mail, not by phone or text.
Report misuse to the SSA Office of the Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov or 800-269-0271. Create your my Social Security account and review the earnings record for work you did not perform. If you receive benefits, ask about the eServices and Direct Deposit Fraud Prevention blocks so payments cannot be redirected.
Request the child's credit report from each bureau; a file existing at all is often the first sign. Dispute as parent or guardian with the Identity Theft Report filed on the child's behalf, then freeze the child's file at all three bureaus and leave it frozen until adulthood.
If a thief received care under your name, errors can enter your medical record and your insurance history. Read every explanation of benefits, request your records from any provider involved, and ask both the provider and insurer to correct the file. Report Medicare fraud at 800-MEDICARE.
When collectors call
Sooner or later a fraud debt may be sold to a collector, and the calls begin. You are not obligated to pay debts a thief created, but the collector does not know your story until you tell it in writing.
When a collector first contacts you, they must send a validation notice describing the debt. Respond in writing within 30 days: state that the debt resulted from identity theft, include a copy of your Identity Theft Report, and ask for the name of the original creditor. Then dispute with the original creditor as well, so the debt is contested at its source and not just at the collection layer.
Keep copies of every letter and send anything important with tracking. If a collector continues after receiving your documentation, or threatens you, report them to the FTC and your state attorney general. Collection on known fraud debts is a violation, not a negotiation you have to win.
The long arc
A single fraudulent charge often resolves in weeks. A cluster of new accounts usually takes two or three months of disputes and follow-ups. Cases involving tax fraud or SSN misuse run longer, and a stray item can resurface a year later, which is why the folder never gets thrown away.
The work is not difficult, but it is administrative, and it rewards systems over urgency. One folder, one running timeline, response deadlines on the calendar, and a standing habit of following up in writing the week a deadline passes. Households that treat it like a filing project, an hour a week until done, finish faster than households that sprint and stall.
When the last dispute closes, keep the freezes on, keep the alerts on, and file the folder with your household records. Recovery ends; the defenses stay.
While you recover
Recovery scams
Identity theft victims land on lists that scam operations trade, and the follow-up call offers to recover your losses for an upfront fee, sometimes while impersonating the FBI or IC3. The real IC3 never contacts victims and never partners with recovery firms. The people who can help are the ones you call, never the ones who call you.
Credit repair and new-identity offers
Companies promising to erase accurate information, dispute everything indiscriminately, or set you up with a new credit profile number are selling violations of federal law with your name on them. The free process on this page is the legitimate version of everything they advertise.
After recovery
The experience you just cleaned up is also the best argument for the defenses that prevent a repeat. Our household security guide covers permanent freezes, account alerts, the family verification word, and the safeguards to set up with older family members.
Fresh discovery, money possibly still moving? Start with When You've Been Scammed, the first-days triage guide, then return here for the full cleanup.
Sources
Last verified: July 2026. Dispute procedures, deadlines, and agency contact details can change, and federal reporting portals are occasionally unavailable during government funding lapses. Verify current processes at IdentityTheft.gov and with your state attorney general before acting.