I Have What!?!

Identity theft has, unfortunately, played a large role in the decisions that I have made since my early adulthood. When I was in high school, I went on a college tour to several southern universities. Midway through the trip, I lost my wallet. It may have been stolen, but I can’t confirm that. I was lucky enough to have it returned to me before I returned, although the money was missing. I thought nothing of it because my identification and social security cards were both returned with the wallet. That was in 1990. In 1998, I went to finance my first vehicle. It wasn’t my first vehicle but my first financed vehicle. I knew that I was going to get something super special because I didn’t have anything on my credit. Well, I went to the dealership; picked the car I wanted and went to sit with the finance person. When he pulled my credit, he laughed at me. Why? Not only did I have things on my credit, it was extensive. I had everything from repossessed cars and unpaid cell phone bills to foreclosed homes and extensive medical bills. The only thing I could say was ‘I have what!?!’ I was shocked, to say the least…and nicely. I ended up buying a piece of crap Corsica and three credit reports.

Back then, identity theft was not recognized as it is today. I had to contact each company on my report and explain my story. Most companies didn’t want to believe me. I completed so many handwriting tests that I wanted to chop my hand off and replace it. After lots of research, explanations and hard work, I managed to get most of the accounts removed from my credit. However, I was forced to pay several of the balances off. It was definitely money that I didn’t have, especially being a new mom. When I finally thought that I had everything taken care of, I got pulled over for speeding. So, I have a slight lead foot but I thought nothing of it until the police officer told me that I had a warrant for my arrest. What? He told me that I had several unpaid speeding tickets. Huh? Needless to say, he arrested me. The horror started all over again. After going through the whole ‘being arrested and treated like a criminal’ thing, I went to the DMV and pulled my driving abstract. It looked a lot like my credit report from three years before. I had to complete the handwriting tests again, go back and forth to court and fight my way through. I finally took care of everything. It was only slightly easier because of the efficiency of the fingerprinting system.

So where am I now? Well, it’s been 19 years since I lost my wallet, 11 years since I realized that my identity had been compromised and only 4 years since I cleared all the bad information from my files. My credit score is still hurting because of this issue (remember, when it happened to me, companies didn’t recognize the issue overall). I had been prevented from purchasing the things that I wanted and needed because of bad credit and the inability to finance. ‘Cash only’ has been a huge part of my life, even with cars. I’ve been arrested because of the driving history and have had to fight and explain myself a million times because of it. What have I learned? I protect my information, my fiancé’s and children’s information more than ever. I started a non-profit movement in my area to inform people of the severity of this act and to show and explain to them how to protect themselves. The theft is a permanent fixture in my life because it has affected how I make my decisions, both directly and indirectly.

It seems like the more I hope that it never happens to anyone else, the more it happens to other people. I only hope that everyone is careful and learns from my story, as opposed to learning first hand.

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4 Responses to “I Have What!?!”

1. Sarah says:

   June 23, 2009 at 10:02 am

   Wow! Thanks for sharing this story. I had it easy by comparison. I’m glad everything’s been cleared up, thanks mostly to your own hard work.
2. Jenna says:

   June 23, 2009 at 7:30 pm

   Pretty nice post. I just came by your site and wanted to say
   that I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog posts. Any way
   I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon!
3. Bert says:

   June 25, 2009 at 3:05 pm

   Got an ugly ticket that I want to get out of. My friend turned me on to a free site, (no email needed, they make money on advertisements) on how to get out of a speeding ticket. It has a pretty funny video and I downloaded the pdf, and it looks pretty cool. I am going to try it out. It is http://www.ticket-gone.com Let me know what you think… Bert
4. Michael says:

   June 26, 2009 at 12:32 am

   Hey, have you seen this news article?
   New details about Michael Jackson’s Death Emerge
   I was wondering if you were going to blog about this…