On Line Credit Check
I was wondering if anyone knew of any kind of "pre-pay" card that can be
used for on-line shopping. I don't have credit cards, but sometimes there
are things that I can find on-line that I can't find anywhere else, or I can
find them at a better price. But what's a person to do if they don't have a
major CC?
By the way, I'm one of those lucky people that got my credit identity
stolen. Someone applied for multiple credit cards in my name. Fortunately
none were approved, but it was a mess to clean up my credit records just the
same. I've gotten my credit straightened out, but I don't really want to
start the whole CC thing again just to shop online. Right now my mother
lets me use hers. Any ideas guys?
If your credit card fraud has been cleared up, it should not keep you
from getting a credit card yourself. I had the same problem, except it
went further in my case. Someone I knew "borrowed" my social security
number and opened up credit card accounts in my name. He changed the
address so I never knew they existed, until he stopped paying the bills
and had run up thousands of dollars in debt. However, with persistence
and a lot of letters and phone calls, all of those cards were removed
from my records. Sometimes you have to do it three or four times, a
couple of department store cards kept popping back into my credit
report, but now I think (hopefully) it's all gone for good. My credit
report is now almost as spotless as it would have been if none of this
had happened. (There was one card I couldn't get removed, because it
was an old account that was reopened instead of a new account. I
couldn't "prove" the charges weren't mine.)
This is what I learned. First, the credit card companies will want you
to fill out a fraud report, probably have it notarized. Go straight to
the fraud department, and try to deal with one person so you don't have
to repeat your story a hundred times. Once you have done this, demand
that they remove the records from your credit report immediately. Don't
let them give you the run-around (and they will try), just be
persistent. You are owed this, if they are telling you they "can't" do
this don't believe them. Get everything in writing. Phone calls have
absolutely no legal standing, none at all. Demand that they send you a
written letter affirming that the credit cards aren't yours. Keep
bugging them until they send it. Then use that to contact the credit
report bureaus and get those fraudulent items off your report. Go at it
from both directions, with the credit card companies and with the credit
report bureaus. Check your credit report until it's clean, you should
get a free copy every time you send in corrections and problems. You
can even check your credit report online, although it costs $8 each
time.
Forgive me for being so long-winded and aggressive about this, or
repeating what you already know, but I spent months getting the run
around and believing that the credit card companies were trying to
"help" me. I learned that I had to be tough and demand my rights. This
is THEIR fault. Credit card companies accept applications with very
little proof, they give cards out to forgers without a second thought.
Then they turn around and blame the innocent victim, forcing the victim
to bear the burden of proof that they didn't open the account, forcing
the victim to bear the burden of time and money to clear things up, when
it was their laxness that caused the problem in the first place.
Unfortunately, doing all this takes time, but it should clear up. Mine
was cleared up in less than a year, and probably would have taken even
less time if I hadn't been trying to write my thesis at the same time.