Need help -- strange credit card question

Rajah

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 17, 1999
Messages
9,633
Hi all, we've encoutered a strange problem and aren't sure who we should approach to get it fixed. (This is again for my mom)

Over the past few weeks, my mom was calling the credit cards to find out what their balance was and rates and to let them know what happened and see if any of the cards had any insurance on them. (Only one did)

Well, I don't know why she waited until now to tell me this, but apparently a couple of the cards had the wrong phone number for her contact number and she told them no and corrected it. She's been so out of things that it wasn't until the third time that she realized something was up and she should be recording that number, but when she asked for it again they wouldn't give it to her. Now she's wondering where that phone number came from.

The phone number had an area code that is valid for this area, but one they've *never* had on a phone. So I don't post numbers, say this area has area codes a, b, and c. Every phone number they've had has started with a or c: all work phone numbers and the home numbers have started with a for the past 14 years. Their cell phones started with c. The phone number listed started with b.

I've talked to my DH, who did contact a few of the credit card companies in January, but he says he did not give them any of his phone numbers.

Now my mom is concerned (rightly so!!) that the phone number was wrong on their records and she wants to find out what the number was and investigate this. She's concerned that we couldn't find all the physical cards (she did report them lost or stolen back in January) and wants to make sure she's not become a victim of identity theft.

The question is, *who* do we contact to investigate this? The police? A lawyer? The credit cards themselves (who won't give her any further information until she gets power of attorney from probate)
 
Why don't you call the number and see who answeres?

Isn't there a type of phone book that lets you look up numbers to find addresses?

I hate to ask this, but in light of all this money spent that you can't figure what it was for,Could there have been another woman-and that is her phone #? ((hugs))
 
She needs to get a copy of her credit report (and probably your father's too). The credit report will list all credit cards in her name. She needs to make sure the cards on the list are legit. If not she needs to contact the credit bureau & the credit card issuer immediately.

Sorry you are having to deal with this along with everything else that's been going on. :hug:

If your mother gets the phone #, you can do a reverse lookup on the internet.
 
That's the problem -- all we have is the area code. :/ My mom was too out of things to remember the phone number, and the credit people wouldn't give it to her once she said that wasn't her phone number.

That's what she wants to investigate -- what was that phone number, and whose was it?
 

Honestly Tammi, I think that you should insist that your mother hire a privaye investigator. She may buck you on this because she doesn't truly want to know the answers to the questions that you both have.

You need to make sure that something else isn't going on. What if your father was leading a double life and winds up owing money to the IRS or someone else? If your father had another place with a lease, your mother could possibly be held to the rest of that lease. Your mother could lose her home and whatever cushion she might have left.

If it were me, I would want to know what my father could possibly have been doing or involved with that would have driven him to the point of suicide. I think you and your mother both need to have that question answered in order to help you to understand where his head was at and to help provide closure.

That is just MHO
 
Hope that you don't find out anything that would make your situation even more unbearable - but I recommend investigating also. My FIL lived a double life for 4 years and no one knew it. He racked up a lot of credit card debt that was mostly incurred because of this and my MIL found out through a phone number. Anyway that you could get phone records or cell phone records and see if any number is recurring - that's pretty much how my MIL discovered the truth. Here's hoping that it is just an error on the part of the cc company.
 
Is she still getting the credit card bills every month?

She might cancel one or more of the affected cards (do it in writing) if there is nothing special about the card like airline mile awards or cash rebates. Actually cancelling the card is an excellent idea if the issuing bank won't cooperate and answer qustions.

Lost or stolen cards should be cancelled immediately by her and the bank can decide whether to issue her another card under a different number.

No need for her to hire a private investigator yet, unless she is so curious as to want to spend the money.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm
 
She's already canceled the cards, did that several weeks ago. And we feel we know why he killed himself (biggest push being found by the ME last week, and that was early onset alzheimers that someone of his personality couldn't face), that doesn't need to be investigated. If he was living a double life, he was really good with it considering I saw him most of the day, she saw him most of the night, and the times in between were always accounted for. :p She just wants to know how to find out what that other number was.
 
If you suspect identity theft, she should contact the three credit bureaus and tell them so that no further cards can be issued in either her name or your father's. They will say that a police report must be filed, but in my experience, this is truly not the case.
 















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