Request for credit report...that we didn't make?

[purplegirl247]

Hi, all. I was going to try to google this, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to phrase it, so thought maybe you guys could help me out.

Over the past week, both my husband and I have received separate letters from Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union, stating that we recently requested credit reports from them, and the letter was just to confirm that we had indeed requested it. Except that we have not. We aren't even doing anything that would involve our credit report (we use creditkarma.com on a monthly basis to estimate our scores, but we've been using them for a year now and have never had anything like this come up).

Credit bureaus, of course, are notoriously hard to get ahold of (the letters only give P.O. boxes, no phone numbers or e-mail addys). Do you think I should be alarmed, or is it possibly a marketing technique (in I think 2 of the 3, we've already gotten our free credit report for the year, so we'd have to pay if we wanted another report)? I was initially freaked out and ready to send off alarmed letters, letting them know we didn't request anything, but now I'm wondering if I'm overreacting.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

 

[n2mm]

I would be concerned and would follow up. Did either of you apply for a new job? Or any updates occuring with your jobs. (I am required to get a backgorund check every 5 years which involved a credit check, that is why I'm asking.) Maybe your mortgage is being sold (hence both of you). If not, it is worth checking on. I believe you may be able to check online too.

 

[Bren's Mom]

TU and EXP offer their phone numbers on their website, both of these have the site to put a fraud alert on your account as well:

http://www.transunion.com/corporate/personal/consumerSupport/contactUs.page

http://www.experian.com/customer_service/mail.html

EQ doesn't offer it readily, but if you can login then you can get it. Also, here is the link directly to apply for a Fraud Alert from EQ:

http://www.equifax.com/cs/Satellite...92/5-1/5-1_Layout.htm?packedargs=Locale=en_US

If you have not already done your free credit reports for the year, do so now. annualcreditreport.com

If anything is 'off', or if there are inquiries you didn't make, I'd be proactive and place 90 day fraud alerts on your account...in light of the letters you received.

 

[chrissyd1]

any chance you are a bzz agent that just signed up for life lock?

 

[purplegirl247]

That's funny you should mention that! I'm not a Bzz agent, but when I called TransUnion a little while ago (thanks, Bren's Mom), they asked me if I'd recently signed up for any credit monitoring reports, like Life Lock. I'm not signed up for Life Lock, but I did sign up for Suze Orman's partnership with TrustedID or something like that, so I have an e-mail in to them, to see if that was part of their package that they neglected to mention to me (or I didn't see, to be fair).

Hopefully that's all there is, but if not, thanks for the idea of the fraud alerts.

 

[CajunDixie]

I would post this on creditboards dot com to see if anyone else has gotten the same letters. It could be someone about to steal your credit in some weird fashion

 

[NYCDiane]

When you order your credit report, they don't send you a letter asking if you ordered it --- they just send it.

Go to the sites for eacn bureau and see if their info matches the info on the letter (as in web addresses, phone numbers, addresses, etc).

I find this very strange. I order my credit report 4x a year and have never gotten a letter from any of the credit bureaus asking me to confirm that I ordered it.

The one bright side is that the letter came to your address --- if it was someone trying to steal your ID through your C/R, it would have gone to THEIR address. However, this could be a scam, especially if it's asking you for personal info or asking you to call a number and provide that info.

 

[seashoreCM]

There's a scam going 'round where you order something normally and legitimately on the Internet. Then another window pops out mentioning something like vitamins for sale or free credit reports or gym memberships. If you click it in the wrong place or click it for curiosity, an order for that is made in your name and credit card.

Check your credit card statement or bank statement for unordered charges in the next several months and dispute those promptly.

 

[teacup princess]

I'd be concerned. I have a friend whose dealing with a credit mess right now........ Had her information stolen from a hospital, then they pulled a credit report to see what kind of credit cards they had. The thugs then made a fake DL and went into all of those stores and lending institutions, claimed they lost their cards and showed the DL- the store instantly issued them new CC which they happily racked up thousands on. They caught the perp with securtiy cameras from the stores and her money was refunded, but what a headache!!! Have you or your hubby been to the hospital lately? The police officer told her that is one of the biggest places to have your info stolen.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I request a copy of my credit report roughly once a year-year and half and I never get a letter asking me if I really requested it. I use the phone and have to enter some identifying info to get it so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. They just mail the credit report out.

Does your membership with creditkarma include a copy once a year?

 

[Planogirl]

If a monitoring service ordered credit reports for you the bureaus might check to see if you actually want a credit report. Hopefully, you'll find out that the thing you signed up for is behind all this.

 

[purplegirl247]

I just heard back from Suze Orman's ID Protector program (the free credit monitoring service we signed up for about a month ago). They said, "Our services do include requesting your credit reports for you once a year for every year you are a member. This is one way we help our customers stay protected and aware of what is on their credit reports."

I think that's why the credit bureaus confirmed that we wanted a report (like Planogirl said), since we weren't the ones who originally requested it. And TransUnion did confirm yesterday on the phone that they always send our credit reports to the address listed on the report, so that it can't accidentally (or on purpose, I guess) get waylaid by a third party.

I wish the credit monitoring service would either have been more overt in stating that they were going to do this or given me the option to opt out. I check one report every 4 months, so I can see a snapshot over the entire year, so it's a little weird that the service would assume I want all 3 at the same time without asking me.

Anywho, thanks so much for all your help!