If you reported identity theft to a credit bureau and it refused to block the fraudulent information, the first thing to understand is that the rejection does not necessarily mean the bureau proved the account belongs to you.
There are several different things that may be happening.
Federal law gives identity theft victims a special procedure for blocking information resulting from identity theft. Generally, you must provide proof of your identity, an identity theft report, identify the fraudulent information, and state that the information does not relate to a transaction by you. The credit bureau can also decline or rescind a block if it reasonably determines that certain statutory grounds exist—for example, that the request was made in error, involved a material misrepresentation, or that the consumer actually received the goods, services, or money involved.
Sometimes there really is a problem with what was submitted.
But that is not the only possibility.
Federal regulators have found credit reporting companies using overbroad criteria to automatically reject identity theft blocks without making the individualized determination required by law.
So if you received a rejection, don't automatically translate it into:
“They investigated and proved I'm wrong.”
A better question is:
“Why exactly did they reject me, and what process produced that decision?”
Maybe you already sent everything and the denial makes no sense. Maybe you have no idea whether you sent the right things in the first place. Either way, you do not have to become an expert on credit reporting law before asking for help.
For the deeper story behind these denials, see my article:
https://www.cardozalawcorp.com/blog/i-reported-identity-theft-do-they-think-i-m-lying-.cfm
