Telling the company itself that the account was identity theft

Identity theft advice concentrates on the credit bureaus. There is a parallel duty running directly at the company that reported the account, and it addresses the failure mode that frustrates victims most: the item comes off, then comes back.

Two duties in one paragraph

15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(a)(6) does two separate things.

First — procedures to stop refurnishing after a block.

A person that furnishes information to any consumer reporting agency shall have in place reasonable procedures to respond to any notification that it receives from a consumer reporting agency under section 1681c–2 of this title relating to information resulting from identity theft, to prevent that person from refurnishing such blocked information.

Recall that under § 1681c-2(b), when a bureau blocks information it must promptly notify the furnisher — that the information may be a result of identity theft, that an identity theft report has been filed, that a block has been requested, and of the effective dates. Paragraph (a)(6) is the other end of that notification: the furnisher must have procedures so that the blocked information does not simply flow back in on the next monthly data feed.

That is the mechanism behind the reappearing item. It is addressed, explicitly, as a furnisher obligation.

Second — a direct route that does not involve the bureaus at all.

If a consumer submits an identity theft report to a person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency at the address specified by that person for receiving such reports stating that information maintained by such person that purports to relate to the consumer resulted from identity theft, the person may not furnish such information that purports to relate to the consumer to any consumer reporting agency, unless the person subsequently knows or is informed by the consumer that the information is correct.

Note what triggers it: an identity theft report, submitted to the furnisher, at the address that furnisher specified for receiving such reports. Then the furnisher may not furnish that information — to any agency — unless it subsequently knows or is told by you that the information is correct.

The address requirement is not a formality

“At the address specified by that person for receiving such reports” is a real condition. A report sent to the payment remittance address, or to general customer service, may not engage the provision.

Find the designated address. It is typically published in the company’s identity theft or fraud materials, and it is worth a phone call to confirm before sending — asking where to send an identity theft report is a question any furnisher can answer.

How this fits with everything else

Three distinct routes, and they are complementary rather than alternative:

	What it does	Where it goes
§ 1681c-2 block	Blocks the reporting of the item in your file	Consumer reporting agency
§ 1681s-2(a)(6)	Stops the furnisher furnishing it at all	The furnisher’s designated address
§ 1681g(e)	Gets you the application and transaction records	The business entity

The block addresses the file. The (a)(6) route addresses the source. The records request gets you the evidence — see the records an identity theft victim can demand.

Doing the block alone is what leaves the tap running. That is why items come back.

Practical sequence

1. Assemble the identity theft report — the same package the block needs. See the four-business-day identity theft block.
2. Send the block request to each bureau.
3. Send the identity theft report to each furnisher’s designated address, in writing, with proof of delivery.
4. Request the underlying records under § 1681g(e).
5. Pull your reports again in 60 days, and again after that, to confirm nothing returned. See when a deleted item comes back.

The same caution

This route, like the block, means making formal written assertions that specific transactions were not yours — in a document that may go to law enforcement and will go to the company. Section 1681c-2(c) permits a block to be declined or rescinded on a material misrepresentation of fact, and the consequences of a false identity theft report are not confined to a credit file.

Where an account is plainly not yours, these provisions were written for exactly that. Where the facts are complicated — a relative, a former partner, a business you had some involvement in — whether this is the right route is a genuine legal question, and one worth asking before sending anything.

Note also that § 1681s-2(a) violations are enforced by the agencies identified in § 1681s rather than by private action, under § 1681s-2(c) and (d). The provision is a duty to invoke, not a claim to bring.