We were burgled on xmas eve and now need advice. Please help?

Question

we were broken into while we slept upstair. This follows on from yesterdays question on same subject.
We had all letters, credit/debit cards, 3 cheque books, 2 driving licences, all credit card bills, gas/elec bills, all my company work in a briefcase stolen. Lots of other stuff was taken but my question is about the possibility that now our identity will be cloned.
Of course we have stopped all cheque books and credit/debit cards but what practical steps can we take now to ensure we dont have to put up with being cloned and our credit rating falling through the floor?
It was a very pro job and we are very worried they have so much infomation on us both. Are we liable if bank accounts are set up in our names and large bills are run up?
banks say check accounts each day and report any transactions that we dont think are ours. Is this all we can do surely there is much more?
advise please would be fantastic as we really arn't sure what to do

Answer 1

My heart goes out to you,what a awful thing to happen -especially at this time of year,i work in a bank and what we do in this situation is put a maker on account to make sure any branch visits for withdrawals are flashed up as extra id needed like a passport,you can request what we ask for,because your cards are stopped if they clone them,the transaction wont go through.I would log on to credit expert ,it costs 5.99 a month and you can view your credit report on line at anytime and how ever often you want,that way if anything untoward shows up,you can contact experian straight away and get it sorted out-they are quite quick to act with id fraud.You are not liable for any bills run up neither,it is banks/finance place responsibility to do the correct checks to ensure the people are who they say they are-if these checks are not carried out correctly,they have to take the loss.take care

Answer 2

You're not liable, but it will be a HUGE hassle to prove that.

Call or write to all 3 credit bureaus and put them on fraud alert. It essentially freezes them from opening new accounts.

You may also be able to get in touch with "Chex Systems" the company that does the checks for banks when they open new accounts (if someone were to leave a bank account with a negative balance and never pay the bank back, they are blocked from opening new accounts.) They might be able to do a similar thing.

Lastly, sign up for a credit monitoriing service and watch to see if your credit is checked by anyone for any reason that you didn't ask for, and for any accounts that somehow make it through. www.Truecredit.com has this for $14.99 a month-- you can update yoru report from all 3 bureas daily. Their scores are not always 100% accurate as compared to FICO, but the report content is always the same. It also sends you email alerts of any major changes-- new accounts or inquiries-- within 24 hours.

Answer 3

On a related note, if you had made any large purchases on the credit cards recently, many of them have benefits that include theft insurance. For example say you bought someone a new tv for christmas and it was stolen in the burglary. Visa and Mastercard will often have credit card benefits through issuing banks that allow you as a cardholder to basically file a claim for the item. It is not always successful, but it does work!

Answer 4

If you've notified all your banks and credit card companies they will be changing all your account details therefore they will not be able to access any of your accounts. There is always the possibility that they will try and get credit for something but they would have to give your bank details, which will have changed, and have to sign something....the bank will be looking for anything fraudulent. I would try not to worry too much about it, the finance companies are well prepared these days for cloning - it happened to me recently.

What a horrible thing to have happened at anytime of year, especially xmas. I hope you can still try and enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Answer 5

I believe that you be able to put a tag on charge cards, so that each and everytime you use ANY of them, you'll be notified as you stand at a cashier or attempt bill payment. I'd suggest NOT using your credit cards for a month just to see activity. OR request security advice from the major credit card companines like: Equifax etc. I hope you get the help you need.

Answer 6

You need to call the credit bureau companies (all 3;experian,equifax,transunion, i think)and have a credit alert placed on all your accounts and freeze placed on new accounts. This tells them that the company or companies must call you to inform you that a credit pull has been pulled in your name for an application for credit. This gives you the chance to follow up on the company that is running your pull and inform them that the persons asking for credit in your name are impersonating you and the authorities must be called.You must report this to your bank immediately so they can be informed and place a freeze on your account. You bank should have a policy on how many transactions you are liable for if any.This greatly depends on how fast you reported it to the,You must also call your credit card companies and notify them of your situation so they too can place a freeze or atleast notify you of a transaction to have you verify it.In some cases I have heard that you can place a password for transactions through your bank. Howver they must all be for cash (walk in).I used a secret question for all cash withdrawals when I was having problems with similiar situation.I limited all my transactions to cash withdrawals only on a walk in basis.No atm.

Answer 7

you can get a service through major credit agencies for a fee, where they send you a copy of your credit report once a month so you can make sure no one is using your identity, and they will notify you if anything unusual happens, like a major purchase or loan, etc. Well worth the fee (about $20 a month) for someone in your situation. Good luck!!

Answer 8

that is very unfortunate and the time of year is even worse. Speak to your bank. They should provide all the info in such circumstances

Answer 9

you have already have some very good answers and i just want to say that it is a terrible thing that has happened to you and your family and i wish you all the best for the new year.. my heart goes out to you.

Answer 10

it is good you canceled every thing.
rebuilding a totallly new idenity will be tough.
try a huge heavy floor safe next time