Griz Bear : Checking a credit report produces surprises
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I've heard people recommend checking one's credit score regularly, but I'd never done it. I was always hesitant to give personal information to any of the companies out there offering to run my credit score because I feared that, if my credit score wasn't already bad, it would be after I gave out enough information for someone to steal my identity and ruin it for me.
My social security card even says it's not to be used for identification, but only for tax and Social Security purposes. Yet, that number is the first number asked of me for identification purposes when it comes to financial matters and credit scores. I hate to give it out to anyone.
Well, I had opportunity to review my credit report and, perhaps, I should have looked at it sooner. Not only did it reveal some problems I had keeping up with past medical bills for kids, it revealed some damaging credit indicators of which I was not aware. It even reported that I lived in a town where I've never lived before.
Now, I'm sending off letters from a creditor proving that I paid in full a bill – not even my own – five years ago. Why it says I didn't pay, I don't know.
I'm trying to figure out how to prove I didn't live in a town where I never lived. I know how to prove where I did live, but how do you prove where you didn't ?
There's also a past-due bill which isn't mine. It appears that a cellular phone service didn't shut off phones and close my account when I requested it do so and sent off necessary documentation to prove I moved out of its service area. I believed the company representative to whom I spoke on the telephone when she told me all was done. I received no bill from the company afterward, so I didn't worry about a mistake.
Now it appears that my account was not closed, or perhaps the numbers were transferred to another without removing my name – a possible explanation for a billing address where I've never lived – and maybe someone simply charged me instead of someone else. It's hard to know what happened with no bills.
I tried to call the company to find out what happened, and their representatives couldn't find the account. Then, after being transferred numerous times, I was told the account had been turned over to a collection agency and I would have to talk to a representative from that agency to find out about the charges. I called the collection agency, and its representatives said they didn't know any details about the charges and referred me back to the wireless company. The wireless company, even though it advertises a large network of support, couldn't or wouldn't tell me what the charges were for and referred me back to the collection agency. After an hour and a half on the phone between the wireless company and the collection agency, I still don't know for what I'm being charged, why I was never billed, or whether or not someone else at the town where I never lived is really the responsible party.
Someone at the collection agency suggested I contact the attorney general's office about the mysterious bill to find out what it's for and get it cleared up – I suspect the collection agency has run into this before with that particular wireless company.
I thought, perhaps, I could bill the wireless company for all my time on the phone trying to find out about the charges and then turn it over to a collection agency when I don't receive payment. Who knows ? As mixed up as the company appears to be in its billing, I might get a check in the mail which I could use to pay the collection agency for the company's mysterious charges against my name. But, then again, someone may call the attorney general about me.
The whole experience makes me wonder about the safety of anyone's good name and reputation. It appears anyone can bill anyone for charges – real, mistaken or fraudulent – and then report them to the credit bureau if they don't pay up.
One can even be reported to the credit bureau for bills he's paid, for bills which are not his and for bills of which he has no knowledge. And that's kind of scary in today's credit-run economy.
With enough information about you, someone else can buy goods and services in your name and even empty a bank account of all the electronic credits you have stored there. And, when it happens, what can you do ? How can you prove your innocence when you have no records of what occurred ?
Even a simple mistake – whether in accounting or other business practices – can be costly and ruin credit. An unscrupulous company can ruin credit, which can, in turn, be costly if one must use credit.
I remember once buying a couple of plumbing parts to repair a toilet. My bill, which I paid with a debit card, was about $ 10. When my bank account overdrafted, I became suspicious and found out my card was charged for more than $ 500 – a mighty expensive toilet repair kit ! Fortunately for me, the company found its mistake and returned the efunds to my account. My smalltown banker was even courteous enough to remove the over-draft fees.
But things may not always work out so well. Who will put back money I didn't spend if I cannot prove I didn't spend it. And, no one seems to give out receipts to prove you bought nothing.
Oh, the dangers of unreal money ! If someone steals real money from you, you're likely to know it because of the gun in your face. If they steal your e-money, you may not know it until you check your bank balance or run your credit report, and then how do you prove you didn't swipe your card ?
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