In January of 2005 I had
my purse stolen in a downtown Nashville parking lot while attending a show at
the Grand Ole Opry. With all the horror stories told of people who have had
their identities stolen I naturally and immediately
reported a fraud alert to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. I guess the
culprit took only my cash and threw my purse away because nothing was ever
reported against my credit. I should have left it at that and considered myself
fortunate.
Over six years later I am
still dealing with the fraud alert that was posted with these three agencies. Every
time I try to get credit, the fraud alert pops up and interferes with the
process and my credit is delayed, if not totally denied.
The final straw was when I
applied for a Chase Credit Card through Southwest Airlines. Part of the package
deal was to receive two free travel tickets when opening an account. I thought
that was an excellent offer because I travel to CA quite often and could
definitely take advantage of those free tickets. Soon I received a letter from
JPMorgan Chase Bank saying, DENIED—UNABLE TO VERIFY FRAUD ALERT IN CREDIT BUREAU!
No more! I decided to
remove the fraud alert and take my life back. I went online . . . nothing was
user friendly and there were no options to remove
a fraud alert. I called the 800 numbers and was left on hold for hours (well,
not hours but it seemed like it), until I finally decided to just write them
all a letter (8/19/10). Their replies gave me specific instructions on what
information was needed for them to comply with my request.
Date of Birth
Social Security Number
One copy of a government issued
identification card with picture
One copy of a recent utility bill
displaying name and current mailing address
I received a nice email
(8/26/10) from Experian saying that the fraud alert had been removed from their
agency but that I would have to contact Equifax and TransUnion directly, which
I had already done. I never heard from either of them. I guess I was lulled
into a false sense of security that all had been done when I received
Experian’s email.
Last week I had a Sears
representative, Thomas, give me a quote to replace the windows in my home. He
hauled in samples of windows, samples of cut out corners of windows, brochures,
and made an excellent sales pitch which included an offer of eighteen months
interest free. Not bad . . . I like to pay for things over time on their dime.
So Thomas called in for my
credit report on his cell phone. Citibank then called me on my house phone to
ask a few questions because there was a FRAUD
ALERT on my credit. I thought, been
there, done that . . . so I said, “No problem; ask me some questions!”
“What was your license
plate on your 1997 Diamonte?” and she gave me four choices.
“WHAT!!! THAT WAS FOURTEEN
YEARS AGO — I DON’T REMEMBER FOURTEEN YEARS AGO!”
“I’m sorry we can’t
continue because you answered incorrectly.”
“Wait, ask me another
question?”
“I’m sorry we can’t
continue. We’ll be sending you something in the mail. It will tell you what to
do and then we can proceed with your application.”
I looked at Thomas. He was
downtrodden that his three hours spent with me did not bring fruition. I showed
him my credit file where I had tried to remove the fraud alert. He just shook
his head.
I showed him a copy of my
excellent credit score. He shook his head and started packing up his window
samples.
“Well, now what?” I waited
for the letter from Sears, which came in the mail one week later. Equifax was
the culprit who had never removed the fraud alert from my report. The letter
gave an 800 number to call and a notice that if Sears did not hear from me
within 10-14 business days, my application would be declined.
I do understand that these
precautions are for my own protection but what is so hard about removing a fraud alert? Is this an
invasion of my privacy, too?
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