Im being asked to verify my identity because someone else is supposedly trying to get into my emailI dont know if its a scam or not???

I sign into Hotmail as normal with my email and password and then I receive a screen saying we need to verify your account because someone else may be trying to use it... it gives me an alternate account to choose and I click submit... I then log into the other account to receive the email that has meant to have just been sent and there is nothinggggg there (and its been 4 days and Ive tried numerous times to re-send) the other alternative that it gives me says " I can not verify my identity" and I have also tried this option to.... it sends you to a page saying "that's okay fill out this form and the windows team will get back to you in 24hours" or something like that. So I'm filling out the form as best as possible and then at the bottom its asking for credit card details!?!? As if Im going to provide my credit card details!.... please tell me whether this is a scam or not? and how I can get back into my account,t its really important!! please help!! (Ive also tried resetting my password but it comes up with the same screen so that's not helpful)

thanks