Im a victim of ID theft should I close all my accounts? and would that affect my FICO score if I cancel them.?

Answer 1

Yes Close Them! And have it reported IMMEDIATELY ... Not sure if it would affect your FICO score, most likely not.. Best of Luck

Answer 2

Close the accounts that you know, or believe, have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.

Your FICO score is partially based on the amount of time you have had credit. This applies to **open** accounts. If you close all your accounts, then your credit history will only show brand new accounts. You'll lose all all those 'aged' ones.

If you close ALL of your accounts including the ones that weren't affected by ID Theft, your credit score very likely would be affected in a negative way.

Request a new account number for accounts that weren't affected by the ID Theft. That way, you'll be able to keep them active and still have peace of mind knowing you're the only one with the new numbers.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has a very good pdf file that tells you what to do if you're a victim of identity theft - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt04.pdf

Answer 3

Did they steal your identity or steal your credit cards?

Identity theft usually refers to someone obtaining credit using your name. It usually does not effect the accounts you actually own.

I would inform your creditors that you are a victim of ID theft, call the police and get a police report, and then start fighting the fraud accounts.

You need to leave the accounts you have open, because your credit is probably trashed until you get this streightened out.

Answer 4

No, if you call your creditors and report the account as lost or stolen, they will close the account, it will report to your credit bureau as lost/stolen and you will be assigned a new account number. This will not effect your credit score. Also, you may want to contact each of the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Truansunion and Experian and put a fraud alert on your credit file. This will mean that no one can open new credit for you without contacting you first and there is no charge for this service.

If you report your accounts as lost or stolen to your creditors, you may also want to add a password to your account. If anyone calls in about the account, they will need the password to get information.

Answer 5

Getting pre-qualified is not going to help your situation at all. The damage is already done. Here's a suggestion for you.
Buy yourself Identity Theft insurance. This will work to your benefit because there are companies that will not allow anyone to mess with your credit history. It's a lot easier to stop Identity Theft than it is to try to repair your credit from it. You have to be diligent when selecting a company because there are a lot of institutions who sell shabby policies and don't cover very much.

Answer 6

Closing them won't affect your score nearly as much as having someone max them out will.