Comment by jeffmould | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jeffmould | Hacker News Reader

I feel your pain. The credit bureaus are antiquated in their processes and make resolving issues a burden on the consumer. That is why I believe identity theft is so prevalent because the thieves know that (a) by the time you catch it they will be long gone, and (b) that the burden really falls on you to prove something is going on buying them extra time to commit the crime.

I had my identity stolen several years ago and am still recovering from it. While most of it has been resolved, from time to time I find issues that have significant impacts. I even tried to get a new social security number but was denied because the amount of damages was not significant enough to trigger a reissue, although I have no idea and was never told what the trigger amount was.

The best advice I can give you, is to do everything by snail mail. Send certified letters (you can even do overnight if you have a few extra bucks for quicker delivery) and keep track of everything. File a complaint with your state attorney office (most have departments dedicated to working with you on this). Send copies of everything to the state attorney as well as the credit bureau. Snail mail takes longer (depending on how you send from a day or two to receive all the way up to a week), but for some reason it actually escalates your issue and does result in quicker resolutions than fighting with people on the phone. It sounds like you caught it fairly quickly. Call the other bureaus as well (Transunion and Experian) and put fraud alerts on your file. It is simple to do with a quick phone call. They will also send you a free copy of your report from them so you can double check. Finally, if you have a good credit card company some will help you with resolving the issue and dealing with the bureaus on your behalf. It is in their benefit to help you if they can.

Good luck.

Thanks. This was very helpful. I had no idea it was even possible to get a new SSN. Mind if I ask:

- Did you find any 3P services like AllClear ID compelling/useful? Sounds like Consumer Reports isn't a fan of these types of services vs. self-monitoring. - You mention snail mail > phone. What about email?

Yeah, new SSN is possible but they don't tell you what qualifies you specifically (although they give guidelines) and what doesn't. I have heard it is very random and you really have to present a compelling case to get one, but just depends on how you present it to them.

As for the services, I keep fraud monitoring on from the three credit bureaus now and I have never tried them but I think their product is essentially the same, maybe a few added features here and there but nothing you can't do yourself if just take the time and setup alerts. The only thing that is frustrating to me (but a price you pay for security and piece of mind) is that every time, and I mean every time, someone tries to run my credit I get an alert and if it is me trying to do something (i.e. last year I made changes to my car insurance) I have to authorize the transaction with the credit bureau before it will go through. The more frustrating part is that some companies will just outright deny you and not to you the reason right away so you can't tell them to hold on a second let me fix that and call the bureau to approve the transaction so it goes through.

As for snail mail vs. email. Never tried email. I spoke with a lady at the FTC (they handle FCRA enforcement) and she told me that anytime I needed to get something done or changed to use certified snail mail so I always had a record of exactly when it was sent and when it was received. The credit bureaus have 30 days from the time they receive a letter to correct the issue and/or respond with why they can't. My understanding was that certified snail mail shows them you are serious about enforcing the timelines and makes their antiquated processes actually turn a little faster. :) I honestly never tried email and just went off what that lady told me. After my initial communication with the state attorney's office I had a contact and any mail I would send to the credit bureau I would also send a copy to them as well. I always put at the bottom of my letters that I was copying the state attorney. Mainly I was trying to use it as a scare tactic to get the credit bureaus to act positively and quickly.

I still don't understand why the credit reporting agencies make it so difficult to communicate with them regardless of method. They have so much control over your personal information and how it is used yet they want nothing to do with helping you get things fixed.

Good luck.

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