A couple days ago money was stolen out of my bank account, the bank put the money back. i am planning to close the account soon, but i want to know should i be worried of identity left? What should i do? im a college student i realy dont have any credit. I want to check my credit report but i dont trust these websites online, has anyone used them before? plz help i am desperite and very worried.
my money was withdrawn from some guy named mike dolly or something like that
You can check your credit reports once per year free at http://www.annualcreditreport.com. You can also put a “credit freeze” on your name at each of the three bureaus; however, there is a fee for that and you have to do it separately for each bureau.
Was the money taken out of your account or was something charges like a debit? I had a similar thing happen. someone had used my debit card number and bought and transferred $800 to themselves through Western Union. The bank returned my money but they found out that the person probably got my card number by using a camera phone. Crazy HUH? All we really had to do was get our ATM card numbers changed and everything was ok.
Good Luck.
The website I would use is annualcreditreport.com. I work at a bank and I advise all of my clients to go to it for a free report. But be careful…there are a ton of other sites that are similar variations to this site. It does ask for personal info and than you have to choose what credit bureau you want it from (experian, transunion or equifax). There is no charge and you can view it right on the spot.
I do NOT trust on-line checking. You must punch in your SSAN and other personal information to get services. Do it in person at the local credit burea. Find it in the phone book. The service is free, once a year.
Every US Citizen can get a free credit report from each of the 3 credit bureaus below 1x per year.
Just go to any or all and find the click for a FREE credit report – you will have to provide your SSN but it’s OK.
transunion.com
expeian.com
equifax.com
4 months later go to a 2nd one above – and 4 months after that go to the last one – repeat the following year – this way you can monitor your credit for the year
DO NOT GO TO freecreditreport.com – you will have to pay – its not free!
Also – put a credit alert on any one of the above credit bureaus – they will in turn pass along to the other two.
You may need to create a police report to get extended alert – this will prevent anyone taking credit out in your name UNLESS without your knowledge. If you live in a credit freeze state – you may want to freeze your credit – go to clarkhoward.com for info – punch in “credit freeze”.
Also – try to find out what happened at the bank – how did they get into your account – perhaps they have your SSN or other info – this will be good to know
Having money stolen from your bank account isn’t necessarily identity theft. It can be a simple case of fraud where someone had your account number or a mistake made by the bank’s employees.
Your bank put the money back into your account. Did they tell you what happened? I’d ask for specific details from them about this. Online banking is really very safe if you protect your password and PIN.
The place to get your free credit report as already mentioned is correct http://annualcreditreport.com. It’s run by the government and linked to from the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) site. Each credit agency will try to upsell you while you go thru the process of getting access to your report, but just ignore it. You will get your report for free. You can order them by phone if you prefer: 1-877-322-8228. Verify this from the link below with FAQ’s.
You do need to get copies of your credit reports to be sure there are no accounts in your name that you haven’t opened. Spacing them out 4 months apart is a good idea, but considering you’re worried about id theft, I’d get them all at once. It’s not uncommon for them to show differences.
You can also put a fraud alert on your credit. It’s free but does need to be renewed every 90 days.
Even though you’re planning to close that account soon, ask to get your account number changed.