Credit Report and Stolen Identity Safeguards *Please Read*

All,

A few weeks ago I took my Daughter to McDonalds to get her something to eat and tried to pay with my debit card. It was declined which I thought was odd since we have plenty of money in the bank. I assumed that I had somehow screwed up my magnetic strip on the back. I then went to fill my truck up and it was declined again. At this point I started getting a little concerned as it let me put my pin number in but it was declined. I made a final attempt on the way home when I stopped by Wal Mart to pick up a few things and when I ran the card either as a debit or credit it stated in big bold red letters that it was DECLINED.

I got home and immediately called my bank and they had cancelled my debit card due to someone had gained access to my card number overseas and tried to charge something too it. I asked how this could have happened since I am very diligent with my credit and protecting it. I won't even let a Car Dealer run a credit report before we settle on a final price and just tell them my credit is more than perfect. The bank said it was most likely due to the Target breach back at the end of last year. He also said the outcome of all the information that was stolen would most likely last for years. They issued me a new debit card with a new number.

I HIGHLY advise everyone to check your credit report for any discrepancies that may arise. You get 1 free credit report each year from all three credit reporting agencies. It does not give you your credit score (though you can pay for it) but it gives you all of your credit information for over 10-12 years. I just checked mine and so far so good. I would advise if you are married and have joint accounts to wait 6 months to check your spouses credit reports so you can check them twice a year.

For anyone that shopped at Target and used a Credit / Debit card you ARE at risk and your information is out there floating around waiting to get into the wrong hands.

Hope this helps someone before it has a detrimental effect.

 

Good information and advice. Hopefully your issue was resolved totally, without any financial loss. I am curious why the bank canceled your card and didn't call you. I would think that would have been the first step.

 

Site for your free credit report. It will take you to all three reporting agencies and allow you to print or save as a PDF file. I highly recommend doing both.

 

I think it because it happened so fast? I used it the night before with no issues but the morning of the next day it was cancelled. I "assume" they would have contacted me but I'm not sure.

 

I work for a credit union. We have a fraud dept and if your account see's any "unusual activity that may potentially be fraud (example: transactions happening across the country from where you live or overseas) the fraud dept will immediately block your cards. They will try to contact you right away. It does suck, but I rather have a blocked debit card rather than a bunch of fraud charges and having to dispute them.

OP, hope you dont have to dispute anything. I know its alot more difficult to dispute charges with larger banks. Good luck man

 

same thing happened with Stacey.

 

I now have Lifelock due to a scammer trying to extort money from me this year. Turns out my info was being sold on the black market. Probably still is. The scammers won't stop threatening me, either. Glad yours is better, and good advice above!

 

So far so good. I've given it a little over a month to see if any new accounts were opened (admittedly maybe not quite enough time) and so far 0. Everything up till now is still perfect. I'll keep a eye on it though you can count on that.

 

What do you think about that service? I've often wondered if it is worth it or if it is just a way for a company to make money off your fear?

 

I have a similar deal as scottalot, but I find the credit monitoring site to be annoying. Whenever they send me an alert I always get nervous until I go to the website and find out the alerts are all due to stuff that I had authorized. I probably wouldn't pay for the account in the future, but since it is free to me, I have it.

 

My dad has Lifelock, and he swears by it. He has great credit as well.

 

lol.

 

Thats interesting to see this happened to someone else. I went out one night, no problem, next day for lunch, card was declined. I looked online and had 2 attempted ATM withdrawals from places in St. Petersburg, Russia. I don't recall shopping from Target during the hack but now maybe thats where it happened. I always figured someone snagged my info when I was abroad. But I'll have to look into some of these Credit monitoring programs

 

We basically live at Target. There is one less than a mile from my house. I probably went there god knows how many times during that period. The charge in question came from Great Britain.

 

This is why I pay 120 a year with experian to pull as many softpull credit reports as I want. Also they email me to let me know if anything has changed on my credit report.

 

True story man..it sux

 

Hope everything works out!

 

I'm enjoying it so far. Has shown me where my name pops up, and alerts me when things are odd. The two free services given to me when large companies are hacked had promised protection, but that isn't true. I'd suggest trying LifeLock for a year to see how it works for you. Should be discounts if you google some.

 

Good to know. I'll look into it.

 

Someone spent about $1600 at opticsplanet using my card right before Christmas. I was excited, I thought the wife bought me something cool, lol. I have had my cards cancelled a few times because someone got my number. My CU usually calls and asked if I bought "whatever", "wherever".
Also, make sure you call your bank to let them know when you will be a considerable distance from home. I had a friend whose card got cancelled as we were driving across the country. Luckily he had a credit card he could use.