Latest Victim Of Idenity Theft: ME!

[Gemini Cricket]

My identity got stolen from a guy who robbed my storage unit with his family. They actually lived in their unit. They stole my receipt box that I kept for tax purposes. From there he opened a credit account with Dell and bought a laptop. The APR for the account was 26%! I had to sign a legal form saying it wasn't me and then it was removed from my credit report. The cop wouldn't tell me if he was caught or not. They said it would have violated his privacy if they told me. (!!!)
Sheesh.
I know exactly what kind of frustration zappp's going through. It ain't fun.

Let's all check our credit reports, shall we?

[blueerica]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

My identity got stolen from a guy who robbed my storage unit with his family. They actually lived in their unit. They stole my receipt box that I kept for tax purposes. From there he opened a credit account with Dell and bought a laptop. The APR for the account was 26%! I had to sign a legal form saying it wasn't me and then it was removed from my credit report. The cop wouldn't tell me if he was caught or not. They said it would have violated his privacy if they told me. (!!!)
Sheesh.
I know exactly what kind of frustration zappp's going through. It ain't fun.

Let's all check our credit reports, shall we?

Ho-lee cow!

[blueerica]

Haha! I forgot about the flag! I put one on myself the last time I had "identity theft issues." (It's happened twice - once because I had my purse stolen out from next to the chair I was sitting in *years* ago, and just a handful of years ago someone busted into my car when I thought I was hiding my purse enough... never, ever again.)

The best part about my flag was that I'd bought my Exploder three days before someone took a screwdriver to my door, ripping out the lock and electronics in the door. Because all the paperwork hadn't gone through, it got caught up in a "red flag" and I was contacted a handful of times over that one, having to provide additional proof of who I was.

Worth it though, and I was happy to know it actually worked. I red flagged myself!

[MickeyD]

Originally Posted by blueerica

Worth it though, and I was happy to know it actually worked. I red flagged myself!

That reminds me I need call the credit agencies to have them place another fraud alert on my accounts. IIRC, they're only good for a year or so.... The last time I had two experiences opening accounts. One time it was really difficult (which was a relief to me, I thought it was proof it was working.) The second bank (BofA, again) didn't even notice it or care...

[Not Afraid]

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Anyone know if that is the proper site? I'm not just typing my SS# into any ole web site.

[MickeyD]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Anyone know if that is the proper site? I'm not just typing my SS# into any ole web site.

Yep, that's legit....

[MickeyD]

Damn that *really* sucks.

I've had a few incidents involving identity theft. The last two have involved Cingular. The first time they called me to tell me they were shutting off my phone since I hadn't paid my "other" bill. The second time, they didn't even call me, and I only found out because the account went to collections and the collection was reported on my Equifax report. After the first time it happened I bought myfico.com's "Score Watch" service, which monitors your Equifax & sends you an e-mail when your score rises or drops.

Also, http://annualcreditreport.com
lets you check your report from each of the three credit reporting agencies for free once a year....personally I use it to check one report per quarter.

The irony is that I found out about the latest fraudulent account going to collections the day before I bought a new car. So BofA denied my car loan (even though they financed my last car) and the place that gave me a loan charged me a ridiculous interest rate (and except for the fraudulent account, I have pristine credit.)

I understand how frustrating it is....and it *always* seems to happen to me during the most inconvenient times possible....exactly when I *don't* have hours to spare dealing with all the sh*t.

[blueerica]

Well, when I had to do it about 5 years ago, they didn't have a single site you could go to. I had to call them individually. It was fast, though.

This one looks good, but I've never been comfortable with the idea of submitting my SSN online.

[blueerica]

I probably should do it - I've had something pop up recently with a creditor that called (no letter) about something I didn't know about. After I said I had no idea what he was talking about and asked him to send me something in the mail. I looked them up online and there was some fishy things about them from other people who wrote about them on the Internet. But since I never heard back, I just forgot about it these last two weeks.

I should check up on it.

[Betty]

Originally Posted by blueerica

I probably should do it - I've had something pop up recently with a creditor that called (no letter) about something I didn't know about. After I said I had no idea what he was talking about and asked him to send me something in the mail. I looked them up online and there was some fishy things about them from other people who wrote about them on the Internet. But since I never heard back, I just forgot about it these last two weeks.

I should check up on it.

Same with my husband. We got a letter from a collection place saying he owed MCI about $300 from a long time ago.

1. We never had MCI that we can recall.
2. It's been so long - why are they just contacting us about it now. It's not like we're in hiding or haven't applied for credit for things before.


So - I called the place up (mistake!) and asked them about it. Every sentance ended in "how would you like to pay for that?". Round and around - asked them for proof - they told they wouldn't be providing it but they'd just send it along to another credit agency they were related to and they would just continue to do that, wrecking our credit in the process. I was so pissed off I hung up on them.

Did some research online and we are clearly not the only ones. What I learned is to never call them. Don't accept calls from them.

Do everything in writing. Ask for proof that you owe this debt. Which we did and rec'd a letter, if you could call it that. It was more of a piece of paper that said: You owe us $x amount of money because you owed MCI. Nothing else. No account number. No dates of service. Nothing.

About a week later we rec'd another letter saying they were investigating. (Why they sent that after the first - I have no idea.) Haven't heard a thing since and that was several months ago. Just the same, we signed up through our credit card for a credit monitoring service.

Other things I read to ask for is proof you agreed to pay the debt, proof of debits and credits made to the account, proof the collection agency is a licensed to collect debts in the state they are in, and proof that they are licensed to collect debts in the state I am in.

Another strange thing recently happened - my husband got notice through work that he had a point on his driver's license. Called the DMV and they told him the date - which was the same day he was in an accident on the 91 fast track when someone pulled in front of the car in front of him and they all collided. WE're thinking - did the cop put the wrong violation number on it? He never signed anything - never got a notice to appear in court. Nothing. The DMV woudn't tell us anything but the court it was out of - in Northern California! Which can't be right. Turns out - someone with the same middle and last names and a similar first name got mistaken at some point for my husband. They were able to correct it at the court level pretty easily but the DMV isn't nearly as quick or responsive.