Let’s face it, we’ve all had our moments where we close our eyes and wish our lives upon someone else. Maybe not every day, or even every month, but we’ve all hit that wall, where forcing someone else into our shoes (low budget Payless brand shoes that they are) seems all too appealing. Someone else to tackle our insurmountable mountain of bills. Someone else to sub in for our never-ending “who gets paid now and who has the lowest late fee” game. Someone else to worry about rent, car payments, electric, student loans, credit scores, and the possibility of EVER seeing a light at the end of the financial tunnel. Most of the time, those thoughts are fleeting. We wake up and remember that everyone is fighting that same battle and we move on with our day. But for 16.6 million Americans a year, those thoughts become reality, and the end result is far from what we dreamed.
Throughout the process of putting my identity back together and proving to the government that I really am who I say I am, I’ve learned five really important things that I wish I had known going into all this:
2) Put a fraud alert on your credit immediately. It literally takes about 6 minutes. Call one and the alert is automatically transferred to all three. It’s all an automated process, so no cranky call center reps (see item 1) to give you lectures.
3) Get your free credit reports and go over them with a fine tooth comb. You get one free credit report per year with each credit bureau, this is the time to use them! Be sure to look through each one for accounts opened or reactivated that you didn’t authorize. You can also check to see if your credit has been checked by financial institutions in conjunction with a loan or credit application. If it has, and you’re not buying a mansion in the Cayman’s, call them immediately.
4) Save the FTC for last. You will want to file a report with the FTC, but all of the information they want from you are things you will find out by working with the IRS and credit bureaus. Why this step is always listed as #2 I do not understand.
5) Shout it from the rooftops! Seriously, this is one time where ranting and raving on Facebook is allowed and even a good thing. I never knew so many people were dealing with the same thing until I put my troubles out there. If your venting helps a friend become a little more guarded, you owe it to them to let it all out.
At the end of the day, no one should have to fight to prove who they are or to rightfully claim what is theirs. Unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in, but we can have each other’s backs in the meantime.