Tuesday, April 8, 2014

344 : Check Your Credit…Often

Over a decade ago, in what feels like another lifetime, I was a victim of identity theft.  It wasn't your typical identity theft story, either.  It was quite the situation.  My wallet was stolen.  Okay, fair enough.  This happens to the best of us from time to time.  I was diligent about following up with all the appropriate institutions- banks, credit bureaus, and even filed a police report.  I thought I had it all covered.  And then one day I received an $18,000 hospital bill from Michael Reese Hospital for the delivery of a child I never had.  The hospital, which no longer exists today, was on the south side of the city, and through multiple doctor bills, I learned that "i" had been a substance abuser at the time of my delivery.  It required a significant amount of time dealing with the hospital, the insurance company, even more time with the credit bureaus and extensive time with the police.  In the end, they never caught the woman.  And my "child" was never found either.  (Although, apparently my name was on the birth certificate so this story may not be over just yet).  Yes, you'd think I had paid my dues after all of that.  But no, it continued to haunt me down the road.  When I went to purchase my first condo, back when I was 28, I was just a few weeks away from closing when my mortgage broker notified me that I no longer qualified for the loan I was expecting.  Oh yes, the thief had not only used my information for medical help, they had opened a cell phone in my name.  And it wasn't until I was about to close on my condo that the delinquency notice finally showed up on my credit report (thus changing the terms on my loan).   Needless to say, it was an incredibly stressful time that was eventually sorted out but I vowed to remain diligent about my credit forever after that.  I would never be a victim of this again.  Many years passed.  I got married.  I had a child.  I had a second child.  I got divorced.  And now here I was once again in the process of looking for another home to purchase.  When I made the offer on the town house last week (see post #340) I had spoken to a broker earlier that day for a quick pre approval conversation.  Fortunately, I had maintained a healthy pulse on my finances since 'the incident' so many years ago and even again post divorce.  Yet, there were a couple surprises that popped up when the broker pulled up my credit report.  Now mind you, my score was excellent.  However, out of the 3 bureaus, there were 2 that had a couple of my ex husband's info on them.  And while these accounts were not in delinquency, they certainly weren't helping me.  So once again, I found myself reaching out to all the bureaus to explain myself and have certain accounts investigated.  It wasn't nearly as complicated as it had been all those years ago, but it was still one more thing to do.  I was annoyed at this.  Although after everything I had been through in the past year, I could deal with it.  My tolerance for irritations, annoyances and ability to deal with overall shitty things had gotten significantly higher.  I still didn't like it, but I certainly knew how to handle it.  I'd dispute the shit out of this stuff and get my score even higher for when I was ready to make another offer.  So there!

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