Your own personal credit freeze- I highly recommend it.

http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn_more/003484indiv.html

I placed a freeze on my credit report last year. It cost me 21.50 for all three bureaus. I no longer get credit offers in the mail. No credit can be opened in my name unless I authorize it. It is simple to temporarily unfreeze it, you use a pin number & can thaw it out for a specific period of time.

Bookmarking, and k&r.

How could this ever happen anyway??

It happens.

A failed business led me to max out everything in the effort to save it ...

I eventually had to walk away, and try to get back on my feet, somehow ....

My kids are OK .... I work hard, and buy everything cash .... (debit card)

It is one of the reasons I push hard about increasing wages here .... Families DONT NEED CREDIT CARDS, per se ... They need real income ....

A very modest credit load for home mortgages and vehicles makes sense, but the orgy of credit borrowing to buy 'stuff' at stores makes little sense to me anymore ...

If you're really concerned about identity theft, I suppose it's one way of doing it. But it smacks of protection money, to me. "Pay us some money, or we'll help someone rob you".

Seems to me it is a small price to pay (one time fee) for protection. Sure, you would think it would be the lenders fault if they issue credit to an identity thief. I have a coworker whose life was turned upside-down when his identity was used to open accounts. Do you think the lender just says, "OK, I guess you don't owe the money". Nope, you have to PROVE you didn't open the accounts. He had to deal with it for over a year.

For example, here in Colorado I can freeze my account for $0, but then it takes a few bucks to temporarily unfreeze it (to apply for a new loan or line of credit) or to remove the freeze.

Haven't done it yet, but seems like a great idea given my credit situation is relatively stable.

LIFELOCK isn't bullet-proof since it was reported that the guy that advertised his SSN had a loan taken out in his name using the advertised SSN without contacting the credit agencies. STUPID move on his part but it does happen. http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200805172662

Since I am an ex-bank examiner, I can tell you that during times like this, fraud is on the rise for people with good credit ratings since those are the only ones that can obtain credit. It's nasty if it happens and often costs $10k to clear things up. Not fair and the perp usually get a couple of years probation and they're out on the street doing it again. Am I paranoid? You bet 'cha! I've seen it happen too often and husband & I both have locked our credits with the 3 agencies. It's about $10 per agency and it freezes the accounts forever unless you open it for verification.

I also highly recommend getting a good cross-cut shredder and shredding anything and everything that has your name. Yes, I have a tin-foil hat on but I've seen too much.


Paula

A friend at work said that his tax-returns were rejected because someone else had submitted a claim with his son's (son was 7) SSN. Luckily the IRS worked with him and tracked down the other guy but they had to lock up his son's credit reports too.

It's a nasty world out there


Paula