Identity Theft, Parrt 3

As far as the folks who stole my debit card, conned the bank into a new PIN, and went on a spree... they (apparently) wound up using a fixed address that belonged to 'em, and also used the card on camera in a local big-box store. Not sure whether the bank will continue to press on that one, or what's going on, but I'm interested to hear back.

Credit Update

So, I think I've gotten personally about as far as I'm getting, for the time being.

I'm down to one negative account with Equifax and Experian, and no negatives at Transunion. The account hits "seven years since last missed payment" this winter, and I'm not planning on using the credit for anything until next year at the soonest, so I'm waiting instead of pestering at the moment.

This site's had 3000 hits at this point, which makes me pretty happy. I'm hoping that someone who's taken a look at it has at least gotten inspired to move in the right direction. I'd love to hear feedback, if anyone's tried any or part of the strategy.

That said, I'm debating spinning this blog into a few related topics; personal finance, possibly focusing on credit and relatively low-income investment. If anyone's interested, let me know.

Credit cards

Every now and again, someone asks me: "how did you fix your credit?" Not my credit score, which is the primary focus of the site that accompanies this blog, but my credit itself. How did I get things paid?

In my case, I took an envelope, wrote "do not open" on it, put all my credit cards inside, and taped it to the inside of the apartment door. Every day when I left, I saw a visual reminder of my debt. I didn't take them out of the envelope, so I couldn't spend on 'em, either.

As I closed each card, either by eventually paying it off, or by negotiating with debt collectors, I took that card out, and cut it up. Victory! In the process, I very much learned to live on less, and realized that keeping up with the Joneses is a recipe for disaster, unless your last name is Jones.

(And again, as a side note; when negotiating with credit card companies, *always* get them to state, in writing, that once you pay, they'll remove all the negative things they've said about you from your credit reports.)

Experian on Identity Theft

So, the identity theft involved a bank card.  I checked all of my credit reports, and have done so once a week since then (no additional cost per report with the $15/month plan from Equifax).  Apparently, the bank also notified the credit reporting agencies that I may be the victim of identity theft.  

I know this because Experian sent me a letter, letting me know that they had been warned by a third party that I might be a victim of identity theft, and letting me know the last time my credit had been run.  Thank you, Experian!

At some point, I need to cancel the $15/month to Equifax, because that's going to pile up fast.

Identity theft

So, two weeks ago, someone decided to borrow my identity and go on a shopping spree... for plywood.

I had put a change of address in on a bank account I rarely use, as it's in Pittsburgh, and I'm in DC. There's no maintenance charge on the account, so I've never closed it. The change of address never went through, but I have online billing, so I never noticed the problem. Forward to early June, when my debit card was about to expire, and they sent me a new one. To my old address.

Whomever received that debit card called pretty much immediately, claiming they were me and that they forgot their PIN. When that was mailed to them, they went on a quick shopping trip to the local hardware store. Again, and again, and again.

The quick way to respond to this:

1. Call the bank, and cancel the account. Be calm and friendly, they're there to help.
2. Call the State Police. They'll be glad to help. Local police departments don't handle this often enough to be all that pro-active at it, as I learned to my dismay.
3. Check your credit report, to confirm it's not identity theft. If you think it might be, Equifax has a feature that can "lock" all three of your credit reporting agency accounts to all new inquiries, effectively stopping you (or your doppelganger) from opening new accounts until you manually unlock the credit reports.

I've temporarily signed up for Equifax's 3-in-1 Credit Monitoring until this has blown over, as well. Being able to check the credit report weekly (or daily!) at no additional charge has given me some peace of mind on this one.