ID Theft
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:16 pmAt Sparkle's suggestion, I'm throwing in my sage of ID theft. It is a very long story which I shall try to pare down a bit. Keep in mind that I have almost always operated on a pay as you go system; no big credit debts ever.
The year following my husbands unexpected death was a difficult one in more ways than just the emotional upheaval. During those first few months I had noticed but paid little attention to problems with missing mail.
About 9 months after loosing him I decided to quit work. I sold his full size van and bought myself a mini van. Shortly thereafter my grandnephew turned 12. I wanted to go somewhere so I offered him a trip to destination of his choice as b'day gift. He selected DC; we loaded up new van, drove to Petersburg, VA where his grandmother was living at the time. She joined us for DC trip. Not wanting to drive in DC and knowing we could get around on Metro, we took AMRAC to DC. A great adventure until I returned home.
My house had been ransacked. Already discontent, I grew increasingly uncomfortable being there. Decided to look for bigger house where family could visit without sleeping on floor and I just wanted to experience more elbow room after living in a small house for 34 years.
Found a house, applied for loan. Bank informed me that while my payment history was excellent they were reluctant to make loan as I had too many credit cards (CC). I was shocked as I had only one CC. I rushed to local credit bureau thinking they had made a mistake. To my horror, there were 9 CCs in my name but with other addresses. Was informed there was an increasing problem with thieves opening up cards, paying off small balances to get limits raised then making a giant purchase and disappearing. I was lucky to have caught it relatively early. They were very helpful and after mountains of paperwork, I thought the matter was resolved. The house loan was approved.
A few months later, I received a whopping bill in excess of $10,000.00 on a joint card where my husband was primary card holder. By then our local credit bureau was closed so had to deal with this one via phone and written correspondence. This card had been opened after my husbands death. Another nightmare of paperwork but finally convinced the CC company it was a fraud. As part of process copies of death certificate were provided to CC company and the 3 national credit reporting agencies.
Fast forward a bit, mortgage interest rates dropped dramatically and I decided to refinance house. Made full disclosure of ID theft problems on application and did not expect any difficulty with new loan. WRONG! Was turned down with only explanation being that there was a problem with my credit score. I was unsuccessful in getting any of the national agencies to give me my credit score. Finally had my insurance agent pull credit reports for me. Another shock, it was not that I had a bad score; I had no score as I was deceased. Apparently when my husbands death was recorded it spilled over to include my untimely demise. There is no way to tell you how difficult it is to prove you are alive once something like this happens. I am still dealing with it in some areas but did finally manage to get house refinanced.
I do not know if problem started with the missing mail, the break-in at house, or some combination of events. To my knowledge, the thieves have never been caught.
The year following my husbands unexpected death was a difficult one in more ways than just the emotional upheaval. During those first few months I had noticed but paid little attention to problems with missing mail.
About 9 months after loosing him I decided to quit work. I sold his full size van and bought myself a mini van. Shortly thereafter my grandnephew turned 12. I wanted to go somewhere so I offered him a trip to destination of his choice as b'day gift. He selected DC; we loaded up new van, drove to Petersburg, VA where his grandmother was living at the time. She joined us for DC trip. Not wanting to drive in DC and knowing we could get around on Metro, we took AMRAC to DC. A great adventure until I returned home.
My house had been ransacked. Already discontent, I grew increasingly uncomfortable being there. Decided to look for bigger house where family could visit without sleeping on floor and I just wanted to experience more elbow room after living in a small house for 34 years.
Found a house, applied for loan. Bank informed me that while my payment history was excellent they were reluctant to make loan as I had too many credit cards (CC). I was shocked as I had only one CC. I rushed to local credit bureau thinking they had made a mistake. To my horror, there were 9 CCs in my name but with other addresses. Was informed there was an increasing problem with thieves opening up cards, paying off small balances to get limits raised then making a giant purchase and disappearing. I was lucky to have caught it relatively early. They were very helpful and after mountains of paperwork, I thought the matter was resolved. The house loan was approved.
A few months later, I received a whopping bill in excess of $10,000.00 on a joint card where my husband was primary card holder. By then our local credit bureau was closed so had to deal with this one via phone and written correspondence. This card had been opened after my husbands death. Another nightmare of paperwork but finally convinced the CC company it was a fraud. As part of process copies of death certificate were provided to CC company and the 3 national credit reporting agencies.
Fast forward a bit, mortgage interest rates dropped dramatically and I decided to refinance house. Made full disclosure of ID theft problems on application and did not expect any difficulty with new loan. WRONG! Was turned down with only explanation being that there was a problem with my credit score. I was unsuccessful in getting any of the national agencies to give me my credit score. Finally had my insurance agent pull credit reports for me. Another shock, it was not that I had a bad score; I had no score as I was deceased. Apparently when my husbands death was recorded it spilled over to include my untimely demise. There is no way to tell you how difficult it is to prove you are alive once something like this happens. I am still dealing with it in some areas but did finally manage to get house refinanced.
I do not know if problem started with the missing mail, the break-in at house, or some combination of events. To my knowledge, the thieves have never been caught.
It truly is not like when we were in high school.
