Fraud Alerts

A fraud alert is a statement that a credit reporting agency adds to an individual’s credit file at the individual’s request. It alerts creditors that the individual may be a victim of fraud.

The fraud alert statement requires creditors to take certain steps to verify the individual’s identity before establishing any new credit accounts in his or her name, issuing a new card on an existing account, or increasing the credit limit on an existing account.

All three credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) have fraud reporting services. The individual only needs to contact one of them. The agency initially contacted will notify the other two.

An individual can place a fraud alert on his or her credit file by contacting:

Equifax at 800-525-6285, or by accessing the Equifax website

Experian at 888-397-3742, or by accessing the Experian website

TransUnion at 800-680-7289, or by accessing the TransUnion website