Ya know, I just never really concerned myself too much about financial issues — maybe because I spent so much time in self-imposed poverty (hint: it’s called grad school). Now that I am trying to build some type of economic stability, I’ve become kinda psycho about the process. I opened a high interest account with an online bank. Cool deal — I received a $25.00 opening bonus. Bad news today when I attempted to open a checking account (they offer free bill pay, higher interest, etc.). The bank closed my account down!! But, I have to wait for at least 10 days to get my savings account funds transferred back to my bank — WTF???? The problem is that my identity could not be verified! Since online banks can’t check out your physical ID, they ask a series of questions, including prior addresses, people you know, etc. I FAILED THE TEST!!!!
I was pretty annoyed. But, I recalled that I had a copy of my credit report from last summer and there were some anomalies that I didn’t really think were all that important. So, today I requested a full blown credit report from all three bureaus. OMG! There were several names, addresses, phone numbers, a different ssn, collections, etc., on my report. So, I called up one of the bureaus to report the discrenpencies. I was told that my history has been mixed up with someone with a similar name . . . and just my luck, she’s a total loser! (more than me).
Anyway, the very nice person on the line went through all the information and an investigation will be launched. I should have a cleaned up history in about 30 days.
Moral of the story . . . check your credit history annually . . . just like they tell you. Everyone is allowed one free report a year, here’s the link: annualcreditreport.com (note: this is the only authorized online source).
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