Credit Card Identity Theft
Identity theft is the awful business of taking a person’s personal information and gaining access to their credit. This information is then often used to get credit cards, checking/savings accounts, loans, rent, mortgage, etc. One way criminals access your personal information is the old fashioned way – stealing your purse or wallet. Another mode of criminals is “dumpster diving.” This occurs when someone goes through the garbage of homes & businesses to find personal information. Perpetrators of identity theft have also been known to steal mail, watch over your shoulder to get your pin number, make phone calls pretending to be representatives from banks, credit card companies, etc., and online maneuvers to gain your personal information.
What are credit card companies doing to assist in the epidemic?
Most credit card companies now come with some sort of guarantee regarding stolen cards & unauthorized purchases. If your card has been stolen, you should call your credit card company immediately to cancel the card. Usually, the card company will not hold you responsible for purchases made after the card was stolen (after you made the phone call generally). It is very important that you call as soon as you realize your card has been stolen.
Many credit cards also offer identity theft protection for an extra fee. They promise to monitor your purchases and alert you to any suspicious activity. Information regarding the effectiveness of these programs is relatively scarce. If you would like to see a very eye opening experience regarding this topic, see www.zug.com. The man frequently gains access to credit cards in order to monitor the response of the credit card companies. I am just hoping his experience is not indicative of most credit card company responses.
If someone has been given a credit card in your name and uses it fraudulently, it can be an ugly story. After I was divorced, my ex-husband used my social security number to get three different credit cards in my name. I was completely unaware of this situation until I received a bill from a collection agency. It took over 2 years from the time the card was issued and then charged up, before I heard from the collections agency.
Due to the fact that the address given when the card was received was not an address that I ever lived at, it made it difficult for the collection agency to find me. I was a college student, raising a daughter by myself – I had very little money at the time. I immediately called the collection agency and told them that I had never had any of these cards. I was told that they could not verify this and if I didn’t pay the balance, it would show poorly on my credit report. I was young and didn’t know any better. I started paying the balances. Four years later I got remarried and when my current husband found out the problem, he was outraged. He told me that I should never have had to pay the company. We started making phone calls. At every turn we got the run around – they didn’t have signature cards on file anymore because it had been more than five years, I could not prove that I didn’t ask for and use the cards, I had been making payments and thus accepted legal responsibility for the debt, and on and on. In the end, I paid off the balances completely.
- The key to avoiding this type of situation – take preventative measures!
- Always shred important documents with personal information on them before discarding.
- Carefully guard pin numbers and passwords to accounts.
- Keep mail in a locked mail box and stop mail when going on vacation.
- Store vital papers and information in a locked box in your home.
- Never carry social security cards or pin numbers with you.
- If your wallet is stolen, take immediate action to call all the credit companies you deal with, as well as any other id in your wallet.
- Regularly monitor your account statements, and credit reports for suspicious activity.
Take the time to contact your credit card companies and bank to speak with them personally regarding their policies on fraudulent activity. This could save you a great deal of heartache down the road. Trust me on this one!
