July 9, 2008

and the moral of the story is . . . open your junk mail!

I'm a big believer in online bill paying. It's so much simpler than writing a check, buying a stamp, and relying on the good old USPS to get the payments there on time. If I could pay my rent and utility bills online, I would . . . those are the only two checks I regularly write.

This morning, I remembered that it was time to pay my credit card bill. This credit card is from one of the major credit card companies, and I actually have two cards from them--one I use regularly, and one that I've never used. (I applied for it at Universal Studios to get the free bag they were offering. I meant to close it, but I just never got around to it.) When I logged in to my account this morning, though, I saw that I had three cards listed! Everything I've ever heard about identity theft started running through my head . . . closely followed by the jingle on the freecreditreport.com ads. I searched the credit card company's website for info on closing accounts, but of course, I couldn't find it. I couldn't find information on when any of the cards were opened, either.
I did find out that the mailing address listed for all three cards was my real address.

As soon as I got home, I began searching through my junk mail to see if a credit card had arrived and I'd just missed it. It wouldn't be that surprising, really, considering I rarely read my junk mail. It either goes directly into the trash or onto the table for future opening. I didn't find a card, but I did find . . . a letter from my credit card company informing me that the Universal card could no longer be used after June 30 and they would be sending me a new card with a new account number. During the transition period, both accounts are technically open. Whew! As soon as the new card comes, I'm closing the account.

2 comments:

  1. i hate dealing with junk mail. but dealing with credit card fraud is even worse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DON'T USE FREECREDITREPORT.COM! In order to get the "free credit report" you have to sign up for their credit-watching service. You can actually get one free copy of your credit bureau information per year. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com to get your actually free credit report from the 3 major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion)

    ReplyDelete

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