Possible Identity Theft

[SavingBucks]

DD is a freshman at an out of state school. She received a letter here at home from Synchrony Bank (Old Navy Visa) indicating that she was turned down for credit due to the fact that she has no credit bureau file. I called DD and she did NOT apply for any CC of any kind. She insists that she did not provide any personal info to anyone. Her credit report is not available online -- a written request must be provided along with proof of identity items (DL, SS card, etc.) Is this typical of an 18 yr old with no credit -- or could someone have already changed something?

I was able to upload to Experian a request for a 90 day credit fraud alert and the credit report due to possible identity theft. Equifax will not allow her to request online -- only my fax/mail.

If the report shows a bunch of requests only, I am assuming the next step would be a credit freeze. If there were cards issued, then would the next step be a police report? The credit bureaus did have info on reporting identity theft but I think it is best to wait until the hard copy of the credit report is received.

Does anyone have any insight about what has probably happened?

[Outdoorsygal]

So sorry to hear this happened!

When we applied for a loan at a the mortgage company, she gave us our credit report right then on the spot. She printed it out.
Maybe try to offer a mortgage broker a little money to do this for you. You need to get a copy of your credit report immediately,
even if you think there is "nothing on it" You should check and not take just one persons word for it.
Then when reading it over, contact any company linked to something suspicious.
Beyond that, I cannot tell you much more, sorry.

[sblatner]

You can request a copy of her credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. You just need to know the answers to all the questions.

[StormRichards]

Does she have any credit cards in her name? If yes, check to see if any of them have identity theft protection as one of its benefits. If it does, have her call the number and they will help her sort things out.

A friend of the family went through this and it was a complete nightmare for him. I honestly can't imagine going through this while trying to focus on college studies.

Good luck. Hope it gets resolved quickly.

[disneysteve]

You can request a copy of her credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. You just need to know the answers to all the questions.

I agree. I would start by pulling her credit report and see if there is anything suspicious on there. You can get one for free but would have to pay for the other two.

I would also contact Old Navy and/or the bank involved to investigate the application that they denied. Let them know it was a fraudulent application.

[97guns]

I'm thinking she inadvertently applied, if it was a crook that had applied then the denied application would not have gone to your address. If it was a crook that had applied you would have never seen the letter of denial, it would have gone to the scammers address, it would be no good for them to get a new card delivered to your address.

[MonkeyMama]

I had my ID stolen about a decade ago. With store credit cards they definitely use your real phone # and/or address because they want to get approved. They apply, max out the card, and the move on. I found out on day 2 when one alert credit card issuer thought it was suspicious and they called me at home. By then $30k had already been spent in my name (7 different stores). They had moved on by the time I found out. On the plus side, if your DD was turned down they probably couldn't do much.

I am thinking "UGH" because of her age. The free credit report you get in the mail is completely useless because you really need information ASAP and you need to keep monitoring regularly in cases like this (so you need frequent copies). I ended up having to pay to get my credit reports in any useful way. But your options are limited due to her age. I do think there are more free options these days (like credit karma) but I don't know if you can access due to her age. There will be stuff on one report that never shows up on the others, so you have to check all three, and keep checking. (It might be 2-3 months before a credit card would even show up on one bureau report).

Anyway, file a fraud alert with one of the bureaus ASAP. They will alert the others. I think this is just an initial 90 day thing (going off memory) for when you think there is something suspicious. If you find actual fraud, you contact them for an extended fraud alert, which is something like 7 years.

Not very many people would have access to the kind of info you need to apply for credit in someone's name. I really thought it was stolen by an employee at one of my financial institutions. I thought maybe college info stolen, except they wouldn't have had my married name, so I Was able to rule that out. Employers would be the only other ones who have SS#, birth date, etc. In the end, it seems the most likely scenario was mail fraud, in my situation. As a college student, it doesn't sound out there that she may have mailed personal information in regards to applying for colleges?

[MonkeyMama]

Her credit report is not available online -- a written request must be provided along with proof of identity items (DL, SS card, etc.) Is this typical of an 18 yr old with no credit -- or could someone have already changed something?

Yes, this would be typical due to her age.

[SavingBucks]

Possible Identity Theft

Thanks all for the insight. Of course, Mom (me) is doing all the followup so she can focus on her studies.

I tried to set up a Credit Karma account but it did not work because the info does not match their records. Everything is correct although I list her home address here, not her school address in the other state. I will email them to see if that is because there is no info.

I cannot access her credit report immediately online at all with annualcreditreport.com. I sent an online request with appropriate identity info to Experian last night indicating that there is a concern with possible identity theft.

Thanks for the suggestion to contact Synchrony Bank. I will do that today.

DD insists that she did not apply for any card, got a free T-shirt, etc. at any college fair or display booth. Plus she said that she never memorized her SS number! DD is very good with money and has not gone to the CU for any funds so far! I had discussed with her a few months back getting a CC or debit card with our CU and doing that during winter break. But she may not need one for the next semester -- she will need to decide. I had gone to the CU office in August and they said that I can add her to my Visa account as an authorized user or have her apply for a Visa (low limit) on her own. This may not be a good idea until the possible identity theft issue gets resolved.

My guess is that this is somehow connected with the college.........

I also checked her CU account in case that was compromised -- but no access at all. Whew on that one.......

[disneysteve]

DD insists that she did not apply for any card, got a free T-shirt, etc. at any college fair or display booth.

We used to do this all the time when we were in college because back then, they wouldn't approve you if you didn't have sufficient income. Imagine that. So we all knew there was no chance in hell that we'd get approved. We'd stroll through the mall and apply for every card we could and collect all of the free gifts - shirts, bags, umbrellas, bottles of soda, whatever.

That doesn't work today, though, because as long as you have a pulse, pretty much anybody can get a credit card.

[SavingBucks]

Possible Identity Theft

Still waiting to hear from Experian, but thought of a possible lead.

DD gets regular allergy shots. We brought up the vials of allergen from our local doctor here; and in turn, she took them to the college health office for safekeeping. She told me she goes about every 6 weeks to the health office for them to administer the shot. When she goes, she brings an authorization form (I made up a lot of them for her) that contains all of our (me, DH, and DD) personal info as well as showing her medical insurance card (PPO). This is covered as an in-network service = free. However, I also got the insurance billing statement that showed shots twice in September and once in October (so far). DD said she went at the beginning of Sept and beginning of Oct only. No cost to us but that looks fishy as well. The health office is the only place that DD has provided personal information.