House was broken into

[Anonymous]

My house was just broken into today, from what we can tell they did not take anything. But they went through our drawers and some paperwork. We believe we have it all, but I thought they may have taken pictures so they think we do not worry. How do I protect myself and get alerts from the major 3 companies to block any requests until I say it is ok?

Any help or advice would help greatly!

Kyle

[SBR249]

I assume you've taken care of the immediate things such as filing a police report. On the CRA side, you would want to put freezes with all three bureaus for every member of your family. With a police report, you can likely get the freezes placed for free. 

If you are worried about identity theft, a good resource might be the FTC's identity theft webpage: www.identitytheft.gov

 Edit: this board also has a pinned thread about what to do if you are a victim of identity theft

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Victim-of-Identity-Theft-What-To-Do-to-Protect...

[RobertEG]

You can also place an initial fraud alert in your credit file under FCRA 605A, which lasts for 90 days and only requires your assertion of potential identity theft.

It does not require any police report that asserts an actual identity theft has occured.

That is separate from a freeze, which is imposed under CRA policy or state law, rather than under the FCRA.

If you obtain information showing that an actual incident of use of your identity has occured, you can then file  a police report and submit to the CRA, placing an extended fraud alert in your file, or you can elect to place a freeze.

[Anonymous]

How dreadful.

And how strange. Why on earth would they break in and not take anything after all that? Have any enemies or anyone who knows you have large credit cards/savings/something?

If not, I would be careful about them breaking in once as a test run. Perhaps they got spooked by a siren, passing car, noisy dog. Get new locks (Kwikset is cheap), easy to DIY install- and a security system. Or a cheap WiFi camera by each exterior door. 

I would freeze your credit reports- free in some states. And alternate getting your annual free credit reports between the big 3 every few months. Equifax TrustedID might still be free for you if you sign up this month.

Good luck. I’m sure that’s very unsettling.