tstein

Bump

Hi, I was recently an identity theft victim and followed the steps in the sticky which has which worked very well at getting things resolved for now. I've basically blocked and added a identity thefty security fraud alert and freeze on Transunion, Equifax, Experian, and Chexsystems. I'm still awaiting the process at Innova. I was recently asked "identity verification questions" which must be accessed from another bureau that I'm not aware of since the questions are asking about addresses and phone numbers that were used by the identity thief. Does anyone know where that database resides and how a consumer can get that corrected with an identity theft report?

Thanks so much for that post. Going through it now. That helps a ton and gives me a framework to work from. What a pain....I especially hate the fact that even if the information is blocked, this may very likely come back up years later as junk debt. I've got the 90 day fraud alert generated and requested the police report online. I'll call the lender's fraud department tomorrow and see if the FTC form will suffice and then get that ball rolling.

Ok, thanks for the advice. I'll continue down the path generally and take your advice to phone and ask for a supervisor in the fraud department. Do these kinds of situations generally get resolved and how soon? Frankly, I worked very hard to bring my score above 800 with over 500k in tradelines with a house purchase planned in a few months. *sigh*

Looking for some advice on how best to handle an account that popped up on my perfect credit report that I worked so hard for. Here is generally what happened: 1) On 9/20, I got an alert that a new account was added to my report. After checking each report, sure enough, a bank called "Suntrust Bank" popped up of whom I've never had a relationship with. The credit account had a small balance but no negative. An address was also added to the report in Brooklyn, NY. Mind you they have no branches where I live in Texas and I've never been to NY. 2) I disputed the account with all three bureaus. 3) I called the bank and alerted them on or around 9/20 and they verified my identity and took a few notes and provided me with a "tracker number". Awesome. 4) Yesterday, two of the credit bureaus have so far "investigated" and "Verified" the account. 5) I checked my experian today and the account is now past due. 6) I called Suntrust again and talked with someone. She was trying to help, but could not nor could she find that I called before. She says she will talk with supervisors and call me within two days. So, I'm looking for advice, but I'm thinking this may get difficult and I'm not sure the correct steps I should take. Here is what I was thinking: 1) File a police report based on the address that is on my report. 2) Freeze my reports. I don't want further damage. 3) Put a letter in writing to Suntrust again stating that this is not my account. I was going to include a copy of my drivers license, S.S. card, and a copy of the lease paperwork showing where I reside. Any suggestions? This is just crazy!

Use this tool daily. Where did it go?!?!?

I just joined and was accepted to DCU with a savings account (had previously been denied over the last year). Their webpage says Free FICO with a Checking Plus or Relationship Checking product. However, I've read other threads that say you receive access to the FICO with just a savings as well. Any truth to this? I'd prefer not to open a checking to get the FICO.

This is my vice as well. I'm up to 7 amex's now each with 11 years of history. Add to this the churner special...most of the MR rewards offers that bump each new card up to what equates to free money. I dream about applying for amexes. The last three months have resulted in 275k MR points for each of us (wife and myself). 4.5k in gift cards. I just can't resist free money. The inquiries aren't such a big deal...it's the fear of FR and probable blacklist, but even that can't prevent me from resisting an AMEX app.

I forget, does smartcredit need to be pulled daily to work? If I recall correctly, I thought it only added 1 pull per month? I've been pulling almost daily for about a month and a half so far. On the 1st, I had one drop.

Thanks, exactly what I was looking for. I'll wait till a little more than 30 days before I'm up on my 6 months and buy a 3k AMEX GC and then another in 15 days. I'm using the card pretty heavily as is to limit the amount of GC I need to buy..hopefully I avoid the FR!

Received the Amex SPG card in may and there is a 15k points bonus if I spend 15k within 6 months. From my calculations, I'm going to come up shy of 15k by about 6k with my normal spending. Can I buy 6k in gift cards? Any gotchas?

Love it! this is nice, 4 new cards with 11 years of age each. Does it make a total 5 AmEx cards you now have? or 4? Well, three new with one CLI on an existing. I have 5 total personal AMEXs OPEN at the moment. I've been half tempted to add another since AMEX seems to like me now. I may close most of them sometime later this year and then reapply next year. The closed AMEXes will continue to help the AAOA combined with the new ones lol. Exploiting AMEX backdating is really helping the 20+ new accounts I opened last year

Trying to build my AAOA back up this year. So over the last week: Amex SPG - 25k Amex Blue - CLI from 4k to 6k Amex Gold with 50k point offer Amex Costco - 25k All backdated to 2000. Still have a green as well. No FR (yet)

I did it the way you did it and I think it took two weeks to get the card. I got the card in the mail before anything online was updated. If you apply in a Costco store it can be an instant approval. I think if you do not have a history with Costco, AMEX just gives you whatever they would normally give you on a new card. Thanks. Sure enough, as soon as I get impatient enough to post the question, I get an approval email. I'll be real curious to see what the limit is. My blue is at 6k (blah) and my SPG was recently issued at 25k. Is 4 cards the max you can have?

Previously, I wasn't a member of Costco but I do have a couple of other AMEX accounts. I was looking to add the costco for the purposes of adding account age. Before I began the app, I had to buy the costco $50 membership online. Once received, in the final step of the application, I read that AMEX normally requests my annual spending from Costco to help determine the limit. So not an instant application decision is to be expected. It's been a few days, but my application doesn't show up under AMEX's check application status page. Normally, I'd just call and ask about my application, but my past experience with calling AMEX has usually resulted in a denial whereas if I just wait, I receive approvals. Is this typical? Also, of those that applied before establishing spending totals at costco, what was the limit you received?