How does one clear up identity theft w/o a police report?

Question

Three or four years back my new bank checks were stolen in route to my house and they were used by someone pretending to be me (and bouncing checks all over the state). I swore I got a police report when this occurred but upon recently checking up on the issue, I've found that perhaps I was mistaken and absentmindedly forgot to get a report filed. Did I screw myself on this one or would there be no problem in filing a report now?

An additional problem is that the bank I used when this happened told me to file certain paperwork and so I did and asked them to close the account...apparently they didnt give me all the paperwork and therefore nothing was done with the case.

so they wrote me off as someone filing a false claim of fraud and a few years down the line (this year) I tried to open an account and was told my name is on the fraud list...this time for someone else using my ss# and opening up an account under my name. The confusion all of this created seems neverending so I dont know where to start to clear it all up.

Answer 1

Contact the major credit bereaus. They can provide you tools to correct it without involving the law.

Answer 2

The smartest thing you can do now is contact the police and file the report. The longer you wait the greater the chance that your identity will be used in other ways than just bouncing checks and the more it will look like you are making up the identity theft just to get out of your problems. (im not saying thats what youre doing, I just think it would be awful if someone accused you of that when you are the victim- but trust me, the police are good at that so be careful)

Answer 3

Your first step is to tell your bank so they can put that on record for you. Then contact the credit bureau's.