Fixing Your Credit Report

A while back I found an error on my Transunion credit report, but it wasn't on the Equifax or Experian reports. Dummy that I am, I didn't fix it right away.

Ugh.

So, it was an account that I did not recognize from a bank that I have had an account with. More suspicious, it was an installment account for an amount that didn't make any sense to me. I'm pretty good about knowing about my accounts, so I knew this wasn't mine. It was on my list of things to do, but dang it, it just fell clean off one day for no good reason.

I have an old credit card with Providian, now Washington Mutual. I never use it, but I keep it open because they provide my Transunion credit score for free. One day I check it and see that my 800 score has dropped by 100 points.

UGH!!!

So, I got my 3 credit reports and saw that Transunion and Equifax now had this unknown account, and it has become delinquent. I contact the bank and ask them about it. But I only had a partial account number as provided on the credit reports. I provided my name, address, and social security number, but they still couldn't find anything. So I had to submit an inquiry, which takes about one month to complete. I kept calling to get an update from the bank, and I ended up having to submit my inquiry twice. Eventually, I got someone really helpful on the phone who suggested I submit another inquiry with them, and one with Transunion and Equifax. The credit reporting agencies, she told me, are required to provide information on the item on my credit report or, if they can't, remove it. Better yet, they have to do one or the other within 30 days.

So within 30 days, I got a notice from both agencies telling me that the item was removed from my credit report.

Woo Hoo!!

My Transunion credit score is now back to the 800 range.

Lessons learned:

• If you see an error on your credit report, fix it right away.
• The longer you take in fixing the problem, the wider it spreads. The wider it spreads, the more tedious it is to fix.
• Don't just call the bank that the erroneous credit item is with. Call the reporting agencies as well, which unlike banks, are required to resolve the disputed item in a set amount of time.
• If you see an unexpected dip in your credit score, something bad has happened.

Want some fore info on credit scores? Check out PBS. More info than you knew existed on credit scores, including it's rather biased history.

Did Robin Hood Steal Your Credit Card?

Keeping tabs on your credit rating is hard. You pay your bills on time and take tedious steps to keep your profile looking good. But what about the stuff you have no control over? After some research, I signed up to Triple Alert because for $5 per month, it monitors activity that might impact my credit reports on a daily basis and emails me in the event of any key changes (e.g., someone checked my credit report). I was already checking my credit reports annually, but I felt that with the speed of techonology these days, and the ease in which identities can be stolen, the sooner I knew about a problem the better. If I noticed a problem on my credit report one year after the fact, what kind of impact would that cause? I don't want to find out.

My husband is equally concerned about such safety issues. He frequently checks our credit card activity online and has even caught theft activity before our credit card company. We don't know how someone got our credit card information, but at least we were able to stop it from being used extravagantly. And for that, we certainly don't thank Citibank.

A Newsday article reported on another technique thieves have been using which is just as effective, but less likely to be detected. Your credit card is used to make a small charitable donation, serving to verify the card. They can charge more for a stolen card if it's been verified, so they're inclined to test them. "The verification method has become popular because the monitoring software at credit-card companies may not question donations to charities." Apparently, the Red Cross refunded 700 fraudulent credit-card transactions last month. "That figure doesn't include the transactions the charity blocked because they appeared fraudulent."

So check your credit card activity often, and scrutinize every charge, especially the ones you don't recognize. There's no such thing as being too cautious.

Via Slashdot

Unsolicated Credit Card Offers - Any End in Sight?

Have you ever gotten an unsolicted credit card offer in the mail? Though we Opted Out, we still receive solicitations from organizations that we have relationships with (e.g., alumni groups) and non-profit organizations. Worse still, sometimes we get offers that simply don't make any sense.

American Express was sending credit card offers to "X." Not in my name, not in my husbands name, but "X." We called to get them to stop sending it, but they didn't. So we tried a sneakier trick that we'd heard about, though it requires a bit of patience. Every time we got an offer, we used the prepaid return envelope and filled it with weighty material (e.g., fliers, cardboard). After doing this a few times, they got the message and stopped sending the offers.

On a similar note, thanks to Get Rich Slowly, I recently found out about the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) where one can opt-out from receiving mass mailings. Sounds like it could help reduce our junk mail.

How does the Mail Preference Service work?
When you register with DMA's Mail Preference Service, your name and home address are placed on a "do-not-mail" file. DMA members are required to run their list of prospective customers against the file and remove individuals who registered so that they do not send their mailings to these individuals. MPS is also available to non-DMA members, so that all marketers may take advantage of this service, and remove the names of individuals who have already indicated they don't wish to receive unsolicited mail at their homes. If you are receiving mail for a previous occupant at your address you may register them for MPS in the same way as you would register yourself.

The "do-not-mail" file is updated monthly and distributed four times a year (January, April, July, and October), though some mailers choose to receive the file monthly. Your name remains on MPS for five years, after which time you may register again. Typically, you will see the amount of mail you receive begin to decrease approximately three months after your name is entered onto the quarterly file (a little longer if you use the mail-in option).

Does this service include mail from charitable organizations?
Yes. DMA nonprofit member organizations are also required to remove prospective donors who have indicated they wish to receive less mail.

Sounds good overall, but it might require a bit more research.

Watch Your Credit Card Activity Online

So much talk of credit cards reminds me of an incident that happened to us recently. My husband is religious about checking our credit card bill online. In doing so with our Citibank American Airlines Mastercard, he noted some small charges made in New York. RED FLAG!! Besides not living in New York, these were small charges at a McDonald's and a 7-11 (i.e., $5 and $2, respectively). Not much, but that's the whole point. People who use stolen credit cards have to test them out first to see if they work. Once that's established with small charges, they can start using it on seirous purchases.

My husband called Citibank. They canceled it and issued a new one, but if we were to avoid being held liable for the charges, we had to fill out an affidavit that needed notarized. This, I remind you, is for charges netting less than $10, which is less than the cost of the notary. In the end, we filled out the form and sent it back, not notarized. We also canceled the credit card because there are other companies (i.e., American Express) that in our experience, are much more vigilant in watching for suspiciuos activity, and that's the kind of surveillance you want with your credit.

Most annoying was that Citibank was running ads about identity theft and patting themselves on the back for their efforts in keeping their customers' credit safe.

101 Financial Tips

Ask Mr Credit Card has a great list of personal financial tips. From insurance to real estate to college funds, there are lots of tips and reminders on how to maximize your savings.

American Airlines Changes the Rules

My husband and I love to travel. Over the years, we've been pretty faithful to American Airlines, and we've accrued a good few miles by:
-always trying to fly AA or a carrier in the One World Alliance
-having an AA miles credit card
-using it for business travel (my husbands employers preferred carrier)

However, some recent changes have changed our mile accrual pattern:
-since having a child we don't travel as much as we used to
-we changed credit cards because research on the benefits of credit cards that accrue miles reflected a loss of benefits over the past few years. We got a Starwood card instead which offers us more options on spending our accrued points.
-my husband's employer recently changed preferred carriers

As a result of these 3 changes, we haven't used our account much lately. And while the points used to expire after 3 years, they now expire after 18 months. This does not improve our image of the airline industry. We still fly a few times a year, and that will only increase again as our son gets older, but I can't say we'll be very faithful to AA any more. The cost of cutbacks, I suppose.