If someone has stolen your identity, do you get the money back?

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April 14th, 2009 - Posted by Caitlin

The following post in our Reader Question series is an actual user submitted question. To maintain the integrity of the original question, we do not edit or change reader questions in any way.

Q: If someone has stolen your identity, and taken money out of your checking account or charged something using your bank account, do you get the money back?

A: Most of the identity theft protection services reviewed on NextAdvisor.com guarantee a certain amount of money, usually up to $1,000,000, to cover the costs associated with restoring your identity. These guarantees do not, however, cover money that is stolen from your checking account.

It is up to your bank or financial institution to restore money that has been stolen from your accounts. Many banks voluntarily offer zero-liability policies, which means that they are effectively promising to replace any stolen funds. Visa and MasterCard also offer zero-liability policies, which extend to debit cards as well as credit cards. The money in your bank account is also federally protected, to an extent. If your debit card is lost or stolen, your liability is limited to $50.00 in losses, as long as you report the loss to your bank within 2 business days. If you report the loss within 60 calendar days from the time your bank statement is mailed, your liability is limited to $500.00. Federal protections are a bit more generous in the event that your debit card number is stolen, as opposed to the card itself.