As we were getting into our car this morning to go to church, I noticed our glove compartment box was open and the vehicle manual (that has our insurance papers and licence and registration papers inside) missing. There were some odd receipts and papers scattered on the driver seat as well. We forgot to lock the door yesterday when we returned from the movies so it wasn't a forced entry (thank goodness, I don't think I could deal with broken glass and stuff). He/they didn't take any CD's or anything else. Just the manual with the papers in it.
Since Connor was giving his first talk in church and were already running late, we drove to the chapel and called the police on the way. Before Connor's talk, Sheldon stayed in the foyer to make the appropriate calls. During the intermediate hymn, we left to go home so we could call the appropriate credit bureaus the police gave us numbers for.
The credit bureaus are closed over the weekend.
Not only are the credit bureaus closed over the weekend, but all over their websites say we need to be members. How do you become a member? You need to purchase one of their credit security products.
Only after an hour of searching TransUnion and Equifax's website (that's right, I'm calling them out by name), Sheldon stumbled upon something that can be done over the phone. For $5 a person (that's right, we still need to pay) we can have an alert put on our credit for 6 years so if anybody tries to apply for credit under our name (even if it's us), we will get a phone call asking for confirmation and authorization. The trick is to remember to let them know if you ever change your phone number.
My big beef about this whole situation is that they don't have anybody even manning the phones over the weekend! When you're worried about something as serious as identity theft, you want to speak to a human and ask them questions. You don't want to be searching a website and pushing buttons as the teleprompter instructs. We're stressed enough as it is. I admit we are partly at fault for forgetting to lock our car doors, but seriously, some human contact on the other line would be nice!
Criminals don't take weekends off so why should credit bureaus?
On a brighter note, Connor did a wonderful job delivering his talk on the 13th Article of Faith. I'm proud of him.
1 comment:
that explains the worried look on your face as you were leaving! I'm sorry to hear about this bud, fingers crossed nothing worse comes from it.
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