 TITLE: Does Credit Card Fraud Affect Your Credit? CONTENT: How Do Credit Card Issuers Help?\n--------------------------------\nOnce you report the fraud, the credit card company may cancel the card and send you a replacement. Or, simply close the account if it was fraudulently opened. The card issuer will also investigate your allegation.\nUnless the credit card company concludes that you authorized the purchases, you generally won't pay for unauthorized transactions because all four major card networks (American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa) offer zero-liability protection on fraudulent purchases. Your card issuer may even refund the amount while it conducts its investigation.\nAfter the credit card issuer completes its investigation, it may also update the information it sends to the credit bureaus. As a result, high balances, late payments, accounts you didn't open and other negative information that resulted from the fraud could be taken off your credit report and will no longer affect your credit scores.\nYou can also file a dispute directly with the credit bureaus if you see inaccurate information in your credit reports. But you'll need to send separate disputes to each of the three bureaus that the creditor reports to. END