Identity theft: blocking information

What you must submit

Section 1681c-2(a) requires a consumer reporting agency to block the reporting of any information in a consumer's file that the consumer identifies as information that resulted from an alleged identity theft, not later than 4 business days after the date of receipt of all four of the following:

1. "appropriate proof of the identity of the consumer";
2. "a copy of an identity theft report";
3. "the identification of such information by the consumer"; and
4. "a statement by the consumer that the information is not information relating to any transaction by the consumer."

Quoted from § 1681c-2(a)(1)–(4).

All four. The 4-business-day period runs from receipt of the complete set, so an incomplete submission does not start it. Send them together, in one envelope, and list them in the letter.

The identity theft report is the hard part

This is the element that most often stops people. An identity theft report is a defined term under the FCRA, and not every document a consumer thinks of as "a report" satisfies it. In practice consumers commonly obtain one through the Federal Trade Commission's IdentityTheft.gov process, a police report, or both.

An external federal government resource. We receive nothing from it and cannot see what you do there.

Because the statutory definition controls and the consequences of getting it wrong are real, this is one of the points where talking to a lawyer before you send anything is worth considering.

The rest of the section matters too

Section 1681c-2 also addresses notification to the furnisher of the blocked information, and it sets out circumstances in which an agency may decline to block or may rescind a block — including where the block was requested on a material misrepresentation of the facts. Read the whole section before you submit, and do not assert that something is fraudulent unless you know that it is.

Do these at the same time

• Place a security freeze at each of the three bureaus. It is free, and it is what actually stops the next fraudulent account from being opened.
• Notify the furnishers directly as well as the bureaus. The bureau block addresses what appears in your file; the furnisher is still holding an account in your name.
• Keep a timeline. Date of discovery, date of each report, date of each letter, date of each response. Identity theft matters live or die on the timeline.

Editable letter templates →

Sources

• 15 U.S.C. § 1681c-2 — block of information resulting from identity theft.uscode.house.gov
• Federal Trade Commission, IdentityTheft.gov.identitytheft.gov

Verified against the primary source August 4, 2026.