This is Good Information....

Bob and I are in the process of refinancing. Our current rate is pretty good but our new rate is going to be a full point lower. Wahoo!!! So in the process of getting this new loan we filled out the big packet that has all of our personal finance information in it. I call it the "Credit Theft Packet." That information could sink us in a couple of days in the wrong hands. I took it to Gary Boyer of Guarantee Mortgage Company . Gary submitted our information to the appropriate credit checking places and came up with some interesting stuff. Apparently Bob has another mortgage out there opened in 2003 for $115,000. The good news is that it is current.

So I get a call from Gary a few days ago and he says something like, "Do you have another house?" And I say, "No." And then Gary asks, jokingly, "Does Bob have another family?" And I say something like, "I sure hope not because Bob has a weekly allowance for lunch and gas only. If he has another wife she needs help because he isn't supporting her like she should be. If he has another wife I am on her side!" Of course Bob doesn't have another wife but there is someone out there that has sneaked onto Bob's credit. SCARY!!!! Gary talked to the credit gods and got that mortgage thing straightened out.

Today I went on line and put a fraud alert on Experian for both Bob and my accounts. It's free and you can do it every 90 days. DO IT! When you do that you can look at your credit report. It doesn't show your score but you can see all the accounts and make sure that all your information is.... well..... yours. On Bob's account there is a Robert Lee all his credit information. I had his address, social security number, home phone number, work phone number, work address etc.... I had everything! So I called Bob Lee and told him he needed to call Experian as well. I didn't give him any information on my Bob other then the fact that their identities have become intertwined. I told him that he needed to make sure that his stuff was separate. Luckily all his credit cards were current. Can you imagine what it would do if they weren't? Robert seemed like a decent guy and was at the ready with a pen when I gave him Experian's phone number.

So next I called Experian and started to go through the push this, push that menus to correct the bad information one by one. When I got to the one about a disputed social sec # it connected me to a person! I have never been connected to a person at one of those places. I think there is really only one person that works there and everything else is computers. Any whooooo.... I pretended to be Bob and lowered my voice as much as I could. I was on the phone for about 10 minutes and was just sure that one of my boys would come in and start yelling, "Mom, MOOOOM!" but it didn't happen. Feeeyoueeeee!! The guy said that he would get it all sorted out tomorrow and send me an email. He needed to wait until some of the stuff that I updated in the pushing buttons part changed in the system before he could make more changes. Then when he was hanging up he said, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" and I said, "No thank you." and he said, "Thank you ma'am." So I guess I didn't fool him but what's he going to say? "Hey dude, you have an effeminate voice." No he just had to think it and help me....me the dude, Bob.

So we were lucky because Robert is an upstanding guy who pays his bills. He wasn't trying to steal Bob's identity it was an accident. But the fact that it happened by accident is pretty scary too. And if someone got on there and had bad intentions it could be devastating to our family.

So I am here to tell you to put a fraud alert on your account. You can do it on line at Experian or you can call at (800) 204-1410. If you do it on line you can look at your credit report immediately. You can also contact Trans Union or Equifax. Once you contact one they will automatically contact the others for you.

So there is my advice for the day. Don't mess with this one. Add a fraud alert and do it every 90 days. If you think losing all your money in your 401K in a poor economy is bad try adding identity theft to that. If you have questions or need advice on this call me and I would be happy to help.