An extended fraud alert is a free, seven-year notice placed on your credit file that tells any lender pulling your report to verify your identity before opening a new account in your name. It’s available only to confirmed identity theft victims, and you place one by contacting a single credit bureau, which is then required by law to notify the other two.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 Identity Theft Prevention Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts
Who Qualifies
The extended alert is not for suspected fraud or exposure in a data breach. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you qualify only if you submit an identity theft report to a credit bureau along with proof of your identity.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 Identity Theft Prevention Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts That report requirement is the line between this alert and the one-year initial fraud alert, which anyone can request on a good-faith suspicion and without documentation.2Federal Trade Commission. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts
The alert is free at all three nationwide bureaus.3Equifax. Place a Fraud Alert or Active Duty Alert Along with the seven-year flag, it removes you from marketing lists for pre-screened credit and insurance offers for five years unless you opt back in, and it entitles you to two free credit reports from each bureau during the 12 months after placement — on top of your usual annual free report.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 Identity Theft Prevention Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts
Documents You’ll Need
The central document is an identity theft report. You can produce one in either of two ways:
- File at IdentityTheft.gov. The FTC’s system asks about what happened and generates an Identity Theft Affidavit. Combined with a police report, this becomes your Identity Theft Report, and the FTC filing carries the same legal weight as a police report — filing false information triggers criminal penalties.4Federal Trade Commission. Stolen Identity Get Help at IdentityTheft.gov
- File a police report with any federal, state, or local law enforcement agency documenting the identity theft. That report can serve as the required documentation on its own.5Experian. Place a Fraud Alert
You’ll also need to verify yourself. Expect to provide your Social Security number and a government-issued photo ID. If you submit by mail, the bureau may ask for proof of your current address, such as a utility bill. Names and addresses must match what the bureau already has on file; small discrepancies can slow processing.
How to Place the Alert
Contact one of the three nationwide bureaus: Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. The bureau you contact is legally required to pass the alert along to the other two, so a single submission covers all three files.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 Identity Theft Prevention Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts
You can submit online through the bureau’s portal or by mail. Extended alerts require the bureau to review your identity theft report, so processing takes longer than the near-real-time placement available for initial alerts.5Experian. Place a Fraud Alert If you mail your request, sending it certified with return receipt gives you a record of when the bureau received it. You’ll get confirmation once the alert is active.
When you place the alert, you designate a phone number or other contact method that lenders must use to reach you. Pick a number you actually answer. The entire protection turns on whether the lender can reach you.
What the Alert Does When a Lender Pulls Your Report
The extended alert doesn’t block lenders from viewing your file. It notifies any business that pulls your report that you haven’t authorized new credit and that the lender must take specific steps to verify your identity before opening an account.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c-1 Identity Theft Prevention Fraud Alerts and Active Duty Alerts Your contact information is attached to the alert, and the lender is expected to reach you through it.
In practice, if a thief applies for credit in your name, you should get a call or message. Say it wasn’t you and the application is denied. If the lender can’t reach you, the responsible course is to hold the application rather than approve it.
Existing accounts are unaffected. Your current credit cards, loans, and mortgage keep operating normally. A fraud alert also has no effect on your credit score.2Federal Trade Commission. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts
How Long It Lasts, and How to Remove or Renew It
The alert expires automatically after seven years. If you want it off sooner, you can request early removal — but here the process flips: while placement takes one call, removal has to go to each bureau separately. Bureaus notify each other when an alert is added, not when it is lifted.5Experian. Place a Fraud Alert
Each bureau will verify your identity before processing a removal, so plan to submit a copy of your government-issued ID. Once verified, that bureau lifts the alert from its file.
If seven years pass and identity theft is still causing you problems, you have the right to place a new extended alert.5Experian. Place a Fraud Alert You’ll need a current identity theft report to do it.
Extended Fraud Alert vs. Credit Freeze
These tools overlap but work differently. A credit freeze blocks access to your credit file entirely, so no one — including you — can open new accounts without lifting it. A fraud alert leaves the file accessible but flags it, requiring lenders to verify your identity first.2Federal Trade Commission. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts
- Eligibility: anyone can place a freeze; an extended alert requires proof of identity theft.
- Placement: a freeze means contacting all three bureaus separately; an extended alert means contacting only one.
- Duration: a freeze lasts until you lift it; an extended alert expires after seven years.
- Applying for credit: with a freeze, you have to temporarily lift it before a lender can pull your report; with an alert, you apply normally and the lender should contact you.
- Cost: both are free under federal law.6Federal Trade Commission. Free Credit Freezes Are Here
You can use both. Many identity theft victims place a freeze for hard blocking and add an extended alert for the pre-screened-offer removal and the extra free credit reports, keeping the alert as a backup if the freeze is ever temporarily lifted.
If a Lender Opens an Account Anyway
If a business opens an account without verifying you despite the alert, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you a claim. For negligent violations, you can recover actual damages plus attorney fees and court costs.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance For willful violations, you can recover actual damages or statutory damages between $100 and $1,000, whichever is greater, and the court may award punitive damages and attorney fees as well.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance
Document everything if this happens: when you found out, the account details, and every communication with the lender. That record is the starting point for any dispute or claim.