How long should I wait to change my social security number?

Two days ago an identity thief used my social security number as well as the rest of my personal information to attempt to wire all the money out of my savings account. They didn%26#039;t get my money and don%26#039;t seem to have given me any bad credit (since I shouldn%26#039;t have ANY right now), but they still have my social security number and all my personal information, including my signature. I%26#039;ll probably have to change my ssn, but should I wait for more fraudulant activity with my information after I put a fraud alert on my number, or should I go ASAP to get my ssn changed?|||Let%26#039;s look at it another way. If your car was stolen, would you wait to see if the perpetrators come back for something else before reporting it to the police?





Losing your identify is much worse than the car. With your SSN and personal information, they can sign up for credit cards or loans that you will be responsible for. Depending on who it was that stole your social, they can use it for employment using your name.





People who have an established credit history can spend 10 years trying to restore their credit after an identify theft. If you don%26#039;t have any credit, it will be that much more difficult in the future once it has been compromised.





My suggestion would be to register a fraud alert with the credit bureaus. With the alert in place, a potential creditor is to verify your identity prior to issuing credit. If however, the perpetrators have enough information to create a fake ID, then the alert will not have its full weight.





Theoretically, if you issue a fraud alert with one of the bureaus, the information would be shared with the other bureaus. For your protection, I would suggest contacting all three.





Experian: https://www.experian.com/consumer/cac/In鈥?/a>





Equifax:


https://www.alerts.equifax.com/AutoFraud鈥?/a>





TransUnion:


http://www.transunion.com/corporate/pers鈥?/a>





If, as you mention, you can get a new Social Security Number, by all means do so. Protect yourself now in order to save yourself a lifetime of headaches.|||It takes a long time to get a new SSN, so I dont see what the problem would be with doing it right away.|||Wow, I didn%26#039;t know that you could change your ss#...can you? You may look into that.|||Get LIFELOCK!


I think it%26#039;s http://lifelock.com


It%26#039;s only $10 a month, and your ssn is safer than you could imagine.


I have it, and it%26#039;s like having nothing to worry about!


You could give your SSN to anyone, and they can%26#039;t do anything with it if you have lifelock!|||To the best of my knowledge, you cannot change your social security number, it is yours for life. The only people who get a new SSN are those needing witness protection, etc. Look on the Social Security Administration%26#039;s website for more detailed information.


http://www.ssa.gov|||First, call one of the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Trans Union, Equifax) RIGHT NOW and have a fraud alert put on your credit report. That way no one can establish credit in your name without calling the phone number you give the credit reporting agencies. I believe that once you call one they%26#039;ll share the fraud alert with the others.





Now, regarding your SSN. You won%26#039;t be able to change it. They don%26#039;t change them for this type of problem. Think about it, wouldn%26#039;t this be a great way to wipe the credit score slate clean if you could claim this type of attempted fraud and just get a new ssn?