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Last month I got a denial letter from walmart from a credit card. I didn't apply for the card but HAD done some online shopping and assumed I must have clicked something accidentally. Today later I got denial letters from walmart, target and sears. Well the one I got from Sears said they needed more info.
So now I'm concerned but I'm not sure what to do. I want those inquriries off my credit report but I also want to prevent someone from randomly applying for store credit cards in my name. I have a friend who works at walmart and she said with the ship to store they can get approved online, shop, pick up @ the store and I won't know until they send the bill.
The numbers on the letter go to Transunion and its a automated system trying to sale me stuff.
Can someone point me in the right direction here...this is a first for me
This is more commo tha you think but usually it someone you know. neighbor had this happen and fund it was her couisn she doesn't get along with.there is alos people who steal mail out of outside mailboxes then apply for crdit card offers and the steal the crdit card when it comes.Haven't mucuh on that butysome years ago it was one of popular ways of theft.you need to check your crdit report first to see if a hard check was run.Transunion if I recall is a crdit payment agecy that accepts many credit cards payments.Remmeebr see a report that some actaully had their records stolen thru computers not long ago;but it doesn't spound right that they applied for a card thru the store the way they work which is actually creating a card.I'd contract Transunion .
At minumum obtain your credit report from https://www.annualcreditreport.com. This is the only federally authorized source for an annual no-cost credit report from the three primary credit reporting agencies. You can do the whole thing online and obtain your information in minutes.
Location: 23.7 million to 162 million miles North of Venus
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It could be from someone who had stolen your personal info to do a one time hit and run, like your friend had mentioned, since stores often give credit to be able to start shopping immediately upon approval. But it could also be someone in your own home, someone in your neighborhood who rifles through your mailbox while you're gone or someone who lives elsewhere that has targeted you and drops by to rifle through your mailbox.
Go to the site that Iggier posted and get your reports from each CRA, not just from TU. You can get your reports from each CRA for free once a year.
Then go to the police and file an ID theft complaint and also file a theft complaint with the FTC. When you get your reports then send copies of the complaints to TU and to any other CRA that is showing a hard inquiry from a creditor that you did not apply with. If TU is the only CRA that was used then just send the copies of the complaints to them and tell them that you believe your identity had been stolen, that you are requesting the hard inquiries that were made because of the theft be removed and that a fraud alert be placed on your reports. By law TU will have to notify all of the other CRA's about the theft issue and those other CRA's must place fraud alerts on your reports after receiving that info from TU.
FWIW, when trying to get your credit report through the automated system, 99 1/2% of the call is nothing but sales. Even when you say no to a product they will keep trying to sell it to you over and over again. Patience is the key when trying to order your reports by phone.
Thanks, I guess I need to step it up. Today I got a card in the mail from Crate & Barrel; never even heard of them but now I'm pretty sure somebody is applying for credit cards in my name. I called the company and they told me nothing was purchased so now I'm kinda wondering what the point of this is...kinda creepy to think someone was watching me to get my mail out of the box or something
I would also look into getting a freeze put on your credit so that no one can open any cards up without your unfreezing the credit. I don't know the process for this, but I'm sure some quick internet searches could yield that information.
Location: 23.7 million to 162 million miles North of Venus
23,456 posts, read 12,487,658 times
Reputation: 10433
Actually there is a large number of ways that someone can steal your identity. One reason I mentioned that someone could be targeting your mail is because all of the application replies ended up going to your address, which is pretty odd unless it's a family member instead of a mail thief. Usually an ID thief will use some other address instead of using the persons address who they stole the identity from. And you can't rule out family since statistically a very large amount of ID theft is done by a family member, and by friends as well.
Here is an informative article about the number of different ways thieves can get your info and what they can do with it besides just trying to get credit in your name, thieves can be very creative. Identity Theft Basics | Credit.com
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lacerta
I would also look into getting a freeze put on your credit so that no one can open any cards up without your unfreezing the credit. I don't know the process for this, but I'm sure some quick internet searches could yield that information.
Agree, whether it's a freeze or fraud alert it needs to be done.
Freezing laws go by state law, fraud alerts go by federal law. Personally if I lived in FL then I would go with a freeze over a fraud alert, since in FL there is no charge for freezing, no charge for thawing if a person wants to apply for credit and no charge for permanently removing the freeze ... as long as a person is a victim of ID theft and provides a copy of the police report. Also a freeze is a little more manageable than a fraud alert.
If you live in FL and you decide to freeze instead of having a fraud alert then you need to contact each CRA and provide the required info to get your free freeze. I would not freeze only the big 3, TU, EX and EQ, I would also freeze Innovis since creditors are starting to use that CRA more and more. In fact when you're ordering your free credit reports you should order also order a free copy of your Innovis report too.
Immediately contact the three credit bureaus and have a identity theft note put on your account. You'll be paying for it several years later if you don't do this today!!!!
Four years later: My wife and I started receiving rejection letters from banks for credit cards we did not apply for. One was Victoria's Secret. Here they used an old address. More recently, we have had a spate of Capital One rejections (6), all to our current address, but with three random letters added to our last name. In each case, we contacted the bank and reported it. This is important as each rejection goes against your credit history. We added a fraud alert to each Credit Reporting Agency, filed an incident report with the police and eventually applied for a freeze with all CRAs. To get a free freeze (check for your state rules at a CRA website) we were required to provide a police report. Remember to put a freeze on both your names! Freeze will last seven years. Not sure where our personal data came from, but it is out there.
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