Ben Bernanke and I have one thing in common; we were both victims of identity theft. His wife's purse was stolen last August which contained her checkbook, id and credit card and social security card. My purse was stolen last month and contained my driver's license, credit card, checkcard, checkbook and health insurance card. If the Federal Reserve Chairman was a victim of identity theft, what hope is there for the rest of us?
As a personal finance expert and financial planner I did everything I was supposed to do to protect myself from being a victim of identity theft. I checked my balances on a weekly sometimes daily basis; I verified my receipts with my monthly bank statements; I immediately called my bank when I found an error; paid cash for most items; only shopped at one website for online shopping; shred all my personal financial information; checked my credit report twice a year; did not sign up for recurring bill payments or automatic payment deduction, and did not sign up for online banking. Unfortunately with all of that I still became a victim. What does a customer do when they play by the rules and their bank turns against them?
Due to the recession, I thought surely banks are most concerned about keeping their existing customers and would be more willing to provide exceptional customer service. Boy was I wrong! I trusted my bank which shall remain nameless. I had been a customer since 1994 and stuck with them through hundreds of management changes, mergers, etc. I followed all of their guidelines for opening and maintaining my bank accounts which consisted of one personal checking and one business checking account.
However, when I became a victim of identity theft, all of that didn't matter, instead my bank treated me like a second class citizen, like they were not concerned, I should just suck it up and deal with it. I was in shock and appalled at the poor customer service I received. I called my bank for 3 weeks trying to get the stolen money credited bank to my account which was caused by a teller who ignored my account restriction and ignored bank policies for dealing with identity theft victims. The teller processed fraudulent checks on my account which prevented me from accessing the money in my account; I was unable to write checks to pay my bills which by this time were all late including my mortgage.
I had a separate online savings account which was linked to my checking account. I took money out of that account but had to wait several days to receive a check in the mail. I had to get money orders to pay all of my bills. I had other accounts at my local credit union but rarely used those accounts and had to reactivate those account. All of these things take time. Unfortunately my bills collector didn't want to hear that. In the past 13 years I have never paid my bills late except on a few rare occasions due to traveling. My bills are usually paid on time or before the due date.
After calling the President's Office of the bank I was finally able to get the money credited back to my account. I spoke with an executive assistant and began asking questions and she started getting a little snippy with me. Here I thought she would be really pleasant and would want to help me. Needless to say, the President's Office was not happy that a customer had called their office to complain and by 4pm that day I received a call from the Loss Management Department to inform me that the money was credited back to my account effective that day and the caller asked me what else I needed them to do. By this time I had already begun to file complaints against the bank with every state and federal agencies possible. I called my local news station, informed all my friends and associates, filed a complaint with the FTC, BBB and other agencies.
Here are 10 tips to follow if you are a victim of identity theft:
1. Contact your bank as soon as you become aware of the identity theft. You only have a limited amount of time to report the incident.
2. Immediately fill a police report. This will be helpful when contacting the credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion as well as when contacting all companies you do business with as proof of your claim of identity theft.
3. Place a fraud alert on your Experian, Equifax and TransUnion credit reports.
4. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, your state's Consumer Affairs or Attorney General's Office. If your complaint is against a particular bank branch fill a complaint with the FDIC and your state's banking authority.
5. If you SSN was stolen or comprised, contact the Social Security Administration to put a fraud alert on your SSN. Also, place an alert on your driver's license.
6. File a postal alert with the post office which can be online.
7. If you are a victim of check fraud, don't take no for an answer from your bank, demand that your bank credit the money back to your account within 24 hours. They can offer what is called a "provisional credit" until their investigation is complete. Ask to speak to a supervisor if you cannot get your requests resolved. Continue up the chain until you reach someone who will help you. If that fails write a letter to the President of your bank.
8. Reduce the usage of online banking, pay for more items with cash and use your debit/checkcard less often. It is easier to get money credited back to your account when using a credit card than when using a debit/checkcard.
9. Request a copy of the investigation findings from the police department and your bank.
I used to be a big proponent of opening a savings and/or checking account. I truly better that it was better to have your money in a bank than at home in a shoe box. I am starting to rethink that belief.
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