(no subject)
I know people always speak of "the luck of the Irish" as though it's the greatest thing in the world - but do the Scotch-Irish have that luck in reverse?
Seriously.
Some of you may know that I had my identity hijacked about a year ago. I found out by checking my bank account in between paydays only to find that i was roughly 1500 overdrawn. The reason? Someone had stolen the card number, made a fake debit card, and was living the high life in Las Vegas on my dime. After about 30 minutes on the phone with my bank's fraud division and some pretty extensive paperwork, that was wiped off of my credit report.
Needless to say, I've been really good about keeping track of my accounts ever since.
On Monday morning I awoke, sick, and got ready for work. Like always I took my dog out to the back yard to do her business before I left for the day. It was at that point that I noticed that the stack of custom tires and wheels I had on the patio, waiting for nicer weather so that they could make a return to my car, had disappeared. That's right - someone stole all 4 of my wheels (though I stress that they weren't on my car at the time). So, I'm fucked out of several hundred dollars, and that's only to replace the tires. (I figure that it would be in my best interest to just put the tires on my stock rims that are currently home to my sick snow tires that need to be tossed anyway.)
This morning I decided that I really want to get serious about buying a house, or at least attempting to, and that I should probably check my credit report prior to applying for pre-qualification for a mortgage. It just seemed like a good idea to know where I stand...you know, so that if it wasn't pretty I could choose to work on the credit report stuff first, and THEN attack the mortgage application process.
I'm glad I did.
I found that I had a mysterious blemish on my report. A Macy's card with a little more than 300 dollars in charges that was 90 days late. Now, I've had a Macy's account before, so it would not be overly shocking to see that I that listed on my report. The shocking part was that my credit report listed TWO macy's accounts. One in 2002, with a balance of zero, and one from 2007, with the overdue balance. Now, as I've mentioned, I'm pretty damn meticulous about which cards i agree to take on, and then I'm pretty damn meticulous about tracking them, and I'd never opened this account. So, I googled them. I found a phone line (though oddly the best way to get through to the credit department was not through the 800 line on the macy's site) and I called. Apparently someone opened an account in my name, with my social security number a year ago. They did this online. They then charged up a whole bunch of clothes. The address listed for the card was on a street I'd never lived on. Odd. That's right...someone hijacked my identity AGAIN. Seriously...two times in one year? How does that happen?
I don't know where my info is listed at, but it clearly is somewhere. If i had to guess I'd place the blame squarely on the shoulders of someone who had access to my info at my old Apt. office. That place was shady like whoa and employed some unsavory characters. So, now I'm waiting on Macy's to send me yet more fraud paperwork so that I can close that chapter of my life. I really hope whomever has my info stops using it soon. This is getting really fucking annoying.