As the fastest growing crime in the USA, identity theft is sure to affect you or someone you know. Once you’re a victim, you’re left with a nightmare to fix and, in the eyes of the credit reporting agencies and financial institutions, are often guilty until proven innocent. In order to get your life back after identity theft has stolen it, there are many steps you have to take. Here are a few to get you started on the road to recovery.

One step you need to take after identity theft is to notify all of your financial institutions. You’ll need to put a freeze on any and all activity on your checking and savings accounts, cancel all of your credit cards or have new cards with new numbers issued to you, and check your account statements for any fraudulent charges and withdraws. You’ll have to work with your financial institutions to get your monies back, your accounts corrected and up and running again. Most financial institutions have policies for identity theft, so if you’re able to prove the monies were stolen, most will be returned to you over time.

Another step toward recovering your identity is to contact the Social Security Office and your local drivers licensing office to make sure that those aspects of your identity are safe. If you find that the identity thief got copies of your drivers license and Social Security card issued to them, you’ll need to have those nullified and apply for a new Social Security number and drivers license number. This step is very important as they ARE your identity in the eyes of the law.

Finally, a step you can take to help repair your credit after an identity theft crime, is to contact all four of the credit reporting agencies and get copies of your credit report from each. You’ll need to see what damage the thief has truly done to your credit and begin the repair process with each agency. Each agency has their own rules on reporting and fixing mistakes on your credit report, and they’re notorious for making it difficult for the individual to fix.

It may take years before your credit report is where it should be, but its unfortunately something you must take care of yourself. If you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way to recovering your credit and no longer being a victim.