Frugal Babe

A rich life without a lot of money

  • Home
  • About me

Heading Off The Identity Thieves

November 24, 2007 By Frugal Babe

As soon as we had dealt with the bank people yesterday regarding  the fraudulent charge on our  business credit card, I used www.annualcreditreport.com to get credit reports for both of us.   I had never used that website before, and I really liked it.   In the past, I’ve always called the credit reporting agencies directly and ordered our reports over the phone.   They would mail them out and I’d get them in a few days.   But I didn’t want to wait a few days; I had heard that the website was easy to use, and it was.   I pulled Equifax for both of us, as it was the only one I hadn’t requested within the last 12 months.   The reports were instantly there for me to look at, and I used cute pdf writer to save them to my computer – no wasted paper.  

Happily, our reports were just as good as ever.   Nothing out of the ordinary, no black marks, no accounts that we didn’t recognize.   I wasn’t expecting anything bad, since the credit card fraud was on our corporate credit card and the thief used our  business information to make the charge.   And credit that is set up through a corporation can’t be reported on personal credit histories.   But still, it was creepy to think that someone was using our info – business or personal – and I just wanted to be sure that it stopped there.  

The bank has already issued a new card to my husband, and we should be  getting it next week.   I’m going to call them  on Monday and see if it’s possible to put a block on both our business and personal cards against ACH balance transfers.   We would never have our credit card companies put money into our bank account and put the charge on our credit card (that seems like about the worst way possible to get a loan, considering the interest rate that credit cards charge).   So I’m wondering if it’s possible to have them make a note of that on our file, and if anyone ever tried to do this again, it would block the transaction.   I have no idea if such a thing is possible, but it can’t hurt to ask.   I know that we’d still be open to the potential for someone making a fraudulent purchase, but at least they wouldn’t be able to just charge a chunk of money to the card and have it put into their  bank accounts.  

Several years ago, I filled out forms that got our names taken off the lists that credit card companies use to generate new offers, but it expired earlier this year, and we started getting tons of offers again.   So a couple weeks ago, we went in and did it again – this time it should last for five years.   I figure that’s another easy way to avoid identity theft, by making sure that there aren’t tons of pre-approved credit card offers in our names floating around the postal system.   UPDATE:   we used this website to remove our names from credit card mailing lists: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

I very much enjoy the convenience we get from working at home, and having a business that is almost exclusively operated online.   But with that convenience, there are some risks.   As long as we remain vigilant, open our mail when it arrives, check our credit reports every few months, shred our paper before we recycle it, keep the number of accounts we have to a minimum, and pay attention to the transactions on them, we should be able to nip problems in the bud.  

Filed Under: work 7 Comments

Comments

  1. harper says

    November 25, 2007 at 3:19 pm

    I’m glad your credit has gone through this unscathed. However, it may be worth while paying to have your credit pulled in a couple of months, as marks can take a while to show up. Since the fraud is recent, it may effect your credit a little ways down the road. Good luck!

    PS Congrats on the baby!

    Reply
  2. FrugalBabe says

    November 25, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    Good point Harper, and I’m planning to check our credit again in January. By then, we’ll be able to get free copies of our report from TransUnion, and I’ll make sure that everything still looks good.

    Reply
  3. Grace says

    November 26, 2007 at 2:19 pm

    Would you please share the link or information about getting our names on the list to get off credit card company offers?

    Reply
  4. FrugalBabe says

    November 27, 2007 at 10:57 am

    Grace, thanks for the reminder – I’m adding the link to the post as well. We used https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

    Reply
  5. SavingDiva says

    November 28, 2007 at 2:30 pm

    I’m sorry to hear that this is happening to you…my friend also had a problem recently with fraudulent charges…it’s scary and frustrating!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Great eBooks:

Recent Comments

  • Chris on Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • Cassie on Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • James High on $20 Window Well Makeover
  • Kay on Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • BigMama on Still Here, Still Frugal!
Shop for Fashion Dresses on DHgate

Organifi coupon

Recent Posts

  • Still Here, Still Frugal!
  • Goodbye, mortgage!
  • Achieving our goals, thanks to long-term frugality
  • Still here!
  • An update from our frugal corner of the world

Blogroll

  • Brave New Life
  • Budgets Are Sexy
  • Early Retirement Extreme
  • Green Baby Guide
  • Kristen’s Raw
  • Mr. Money Mustache
  • Nature Moms Blog
  • No Impact Man
  • Penniless Parenting
  • Personal Budgeting
  • Pleasantly Poor
  • Sense To Save
  • Simple Mom
  • Stop Buying Crap
  • Surveybag
  • The Good Human
  • The Thrifty Chicks
  • Tight Fisted Miser
  • Ultimate Money Blog


  • See Store Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Amazon Coupons
    • Apple Coupons
    • Best Buy Coupons
    • Buy.com Coupons
    • Dell Coupons
    • HP Coupons
    • Newegg Coupons
    • Office Depot Coupons
    • Staples Coupons
    • TigerDirect Coupons
  • See Category Deals
    • All Deals
    • Laptop Deals
    • Netbook Deals
    • Cell Phone Deals
    • TV Deals
    • GPS Deals
    • Camera Deals
    • iPod Deals
    • Tablet Deals
    • eReader Deals
    • iPhone Deals
d9533814e829a2b88025d710cb92afab-332