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Blocking Information from Your Credit Report

This article is part of a series: Repairing Your Credit After Identity Theft

If errors on your credit report result from identity theft and you have an Identity Theft Report, ask the credit reporting companies and business to block the disputed information from appearing on your credit reports. The credit reporting companies must block transactions and accounts if you are an identity theft victim.

Blocking fraudulent information from your credit report is different from disputing fraudulent information. The blocking process is for identity theft victims. All consumers can dispute errors or inaccuracies on their credit reports.

How to Ask Credit Reporting Companies to Block Information
How to Ask a Business to Block Information

How to Ask Credit Reporting Companies to Block Information

Consumer reporting companies will block fraudulent information from appearing on your credit report if you take the following steps:

Write to each of the three credit reporting companies. Our sample letter can help.
1. Send a copy of your Identity Theft Report.
2. Include proof of your identity including your name, address, and Social Security number.
3. Explain which information on your report resulted from identity theft and that the information didn’t come from a transaction you made or approved.
4. Ask the company to block the fraudulent information.
Update your files.
1. Record the dates you made calls or sent letters.
2. Keep copies of letters in your files.

If the credit reporting company accepts your Identity Theft Report, it must block the fraudulent information from your credit report within four business days after accepting your Report, and tell the business that sent the fraudulent information about the block.

If the credit reporting company rejects your Identity Theft Report, it can take five days to ask you for more proof of the identity theft. It has 15 more days to work with you to get the information, and five days to review any information you sent. It may reject any information you send after 15 days. It must tell you if it won’t block information. You can re-submit your Report.

After a business has been notified about a block of fraudulent information, it must:

stop reporting that information to all the credit reporting companies.
not sell or transfer a debt for collection.

How to Ask a Business to Block Information

A business must stop reporting inaccurate information to the three nationwide credit reporting companies if you take the steps outline here. However, the business still can try to collect a debt, and sell or transfer the debt to a collection company.

To prevent a business from collecting, selling or transferring a debt to a collection agency, you must contact the credit reporting companies and ask them to block fraudulent information.

Write to the business that has records of the fraudulent transactions. Our sample letters can help you ask a business to block information on an existing account or on a new account.
1. Include a copy of your Identity Theft Report.
2. Include proof of your identity, including your name, address, and Social Security number.
3. Include a copy of your credit report.
4. Explain which information on the credit report resulted from identity theft, and that it didn’t come from a transaction you made or approved.
  The business must stop reporting the inaccurate information to the 3 nationwide credit reporting companies. The business can continue to try to collect the debt, and sell or transfer the debt to a collection company.
  To prevent a business from collecting, selling or transferring a debt, follow the steps above to ask credit reporting companies to block information.
Update your files.
1. Record the dates you made calls or sent letters.
2. Keep copies of letters in your files.