If You're A Natural Disaster Victim

Identity Disaster Response

In a natural disaster, your first priority is survival — keeping yourself and your loved ones out of harm's way. But many victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, and floods face another crisis as they begin putting their lives back together: the urgent need to establish their identities when documents and records are lost or inaccessible — and the need to safeguard their personal information to keep identity theft and fraud from making their problems even worse.

IDR911 (Identity Disaster Response) provides relief from this burden. IDR911 gives disaster victims a single point of assistance to help them navigate the complexities of the credit and financial networks, government bureaucracies, and other essential interactions. We can help you deal with such personal identity issues as:

• Emergency authentication and verification
• Access to financial institutions and records
• Other notification and coordination assistance
• The need for proactive tools and information
• Identity theft and fraud victim resolution

Emergency authentication and verification

One of the most frustrating tasks for disaster victims as they pick up the pieces is finding a way to prove that they really are who they say they are. We'll work with the relevant agencies to help you replace lost documents and obtain other necessary instruments and proofs of identity, including:

• Driver's licenses and/or state identification cards
• Social Security cards and benefit statements
• Birth certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, and other legal documents
• Credit cards (as well as adding additional protective measures to credit and bank accounts)
• Change of address forms
• Passports and visas
• Immigration and naturalization documents

Access to financial institutions and records

Lost credit cards and checks, closed or inaccessible bank branches, and interrupted mail, telephone, and Internet service can put funds out of reach just when you need them most. We'll help you re-establish and protect your financial, credit, employment, and personal information, assisting you in dealing with financial institutions and businesses, including:

• Credit card companies (account documentation, replacement, and protection)
• Banks and credit unions (account documentation, replacement and protection)
• Credit bureaus (placing fraud alerts on your credit files)

Other notification and coordination assistance

We also help disaster victims manage other essential relationships that must be kept current:

• We notify current and former employers and help manage issues related to benefits, wages, unemployment, disability, and retirement
• We notify insurance companies and their agents of your circumstances
• We work on victims' behalf with relief organizations such Red Cross and FEMA
• We assist victims in obtaining IRS and state tax documentation
• We assist victims in replacing passports.

Proactive tools and information

We provide proactive anti-fraud tools and notifications as appropriate, including:

• Credit alerts placed on credit files with the three national credit bureaus
• Notification to the FTC and law enforcement through the Consumer Sentinel database
• Notification to and interface with identity theft passport programs in states where such programs are available
• Removing disaster victims from marketing lists
• Electronic credit and fraud monitoring services (where appropriate)

Identity theft and fraud victim resolution

In the event that you become a victim of identity theft, full victim resolution services will be provided. In addition, we follow up on every case after three months to review the status of the victim's documentation and credit.