<prompt> Human: I noticed last week that my credit score was terrible, and long story short, found out someone has been using my information to try to open up over 20 different types of credit cardstore cards ranging from chase, capital one, Kohls, staples, and even Hot Topic. I realized my social security card was missing as well this week. They were successfully able to open 3 credit cards with three different banks. Two have late payments the other nothing yet. I hired Lexington Law to fight the 3 accounts opened and to help with preventing further accounts being opened. But they cannot dispute inquiries. I called and froze my credit with all 3 TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. And have disputed the inquiries for both Equifax and Experian. TransUnion claims I have to mail in a removal letter acquired by the actual creditors themselves in order to dispute it. Does anyone have experience working with TransUnion, and what other steps do I need to take to protect myself? How long will it take for my credit to bounce back? I feel a little hopeless as I wanted to buy a house in the next 5 years. I live in California and am 24 if that helps. I have never missedbeen late for any payment that actually belongs to me and I have multiple student loans and only 1 credit card.  <response>: It isnt usually necessary to hire a lawyer to dispute fraudulent accountsinquiries. Most people simply file a police report, contact the fraud departments of the credit cards that were opened, and dispute the inquiriesaccounts on their credit reports sending a copy of the police report to support the removal. Hopefully Lexington Law will get this taken care of for you quickly, but if things progress too slowly, theres no reason you cant do this.Transunion, Equifax, and Experian all allow you to submit disputes online; your dispute can be supported by your providing them a copy of the police report. You can also file complaints with the CFPB if they dont cooperate with removing fraudulent accountinquiry info.In addition to freezing your those three credit reports, there are four others you should freeze: SageStream Innovis ARS and Chexsystems SageStream is increasingly being used by banks, often in conjunction with other credit reports. Comenity, for example, is the bank behind 163 store credit cards and they use SageStream. Innovis is one of the most used credit reporting agencies after the big three we all know, and SageStream actually uses some info from them. ARS is used by US Bank. They have a crap website, but if you look at the bottom of the page I linked, theres an address and brief instructions to request a freeze. And Chexsystems is typically used by banks for things like checking accounts -- a lot of which can be applied for online, which is why this one is so important. While these 4 other credit reporting agencies may seem small-time, and many people have never heard of them, theyre pretty big players for banks that check multiple reports and banks that issue store credit cards and such.As for your credit score bouncing back, youll see that happening as false accountsinquiries are removed from your credit reports. Each one that disappears should make a difference, and once theyre all removed, your score will be back to what it was. 