Checklists, action logs, and plain-English guides for U.S. consumers who see warning signs on a credit report and want to organize their next steps. This kit does not investigate fraud for you and is not legal or financial advice.
Use it alongside official recovery tools — especially IdentityTheft.gov.
- Unfamiliar open accounts or collections on your report
- Hard inquiries you did not authorize
- Addresses or employers you do not recognize, especially with other strange items
- You already filed a police report or IdentityTheft.gov report and need to track credit-related follow-up
If you only see a single old address with no other issues, start with the credit-report-error-checklist-kit instead.
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
checklists/identity-theft-report-review-checklist.md |
Focused report review when fraud is a concern |
templates/action-log.md |
Track calls, disputes, freezes, and dates |
docs/warning-signs-on-a-credit-report.md |
Patterns that warrant urgent attention |
docs/identity-theft-vs-credit-report-error.md |
Theft vs typo vs mixed file |
docs/fraud-alerts-freezes-and-disputes.md |
How tools fit together (official sources first) |
data/identity-theft-link-map.json |
Curated links |
- Pull fresh reports — AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Work through the identity theft report review checklist.
- Start an action log.
- Open IdentityTheft.gov for a personalized recovery plan.
- Read fraud alerts, freezes, and disputes using FTC/CFPB instructions for current phone numbers and rules.
- Dispute inaccurate report data — see Credit Plainly’s dispute guide and CFPB disputes.
- Identity theft on a credit report
- Wrong address on a credit report
- Common credit report errors
- Credit report error checklist
- How to dispute credit report errors
- Credit monitoring hub — how monitoring relates to report review (not a product list)
| Resource | URL |
|---|---|
| IdentityTheft.gov | https://www.identitytheft.gov |
| FTC identity theft | https://consumer.ftc.gov/features/identity-theft |
| FTC credit freezes and fraud alerts | https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/credit-freezes-and-fraud-alerts |
| CFPB credit reports hub | https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/credit-reports-and-scores/ |
| AnnualCreditReport.com | https://www.annualcreditreport.com |
- Recovery timelines vary; no outcome is guaranteed.
- Use the linked Credit Plainly guides and official sources that match your situation. This kit focuses on credit report review, identity theft warning signs, and practical next steps.
- For current freeze/fraud-alert steps, trust FTC/CFPB pages over any summary here.
MIT — see LICENSE.
Maintained by Credit Plainly, an independent educational site about U.S. credit reports and scores.