Identity theft is very real

Can you believe that in today's times a person can steel your identity and you will be left with the honor of proving that you are you? Well it happened to me. I lost my purse about 13 years ago. At that time I lived in Detroit. I moved to Chicago and while I was trying to turn my telephone on in my lovely Chicago apartment my parents received a phone call from the fraud department at the phone company. They asked my father of all people a series of questions and he (being an ex-marine) asked them a variety of questions. Finally, I called the phone company to straighten things out and they DID NOT BELIEVE ME. They accused me of having 6 different phone lines in Detroit and now I was trying to get 1 in Chicago. So, I pulled my credit report and I was surprised to find that I had spent a couple of thousand dollars at homedepot which was never paid and I was writing bad checks on a closed account all over the Detroit area. I wrote letters to the credit bureau and contacted all of the accounts. The nightmare took about 1 year to get under control. Now my credit is solid again and I am doing great until, I move back to Detroit and decide to turn on my phone in my bright new shiny house. Guess what happened. The phone company sent me a bill and a shut off notice. This time since it was about 6 years later I kept all of the information and called the phone company sent in copies and got it handled. I moved away again and returned back to Detroit about 2 years later (this time to get married). Now Well you will never guess what happened. Oh yes, that annoying phone bill came back AGAIN. This time I felt so fed up, I paid it. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Once I paid it. The phone company had the nerve to put a negative note about me being severly delinquent on my credit file. This hurts your score by around 25-30 points. So, I started my writing campaign again. It was my fault this time because I should not have paid it. PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS. IT WAS THE PHONE COMPANIES ERROR. After contacting the credit bureaus and the collector I was able to resolve the issue. Proving that you did not commit the crime was the most difficult obstacle I had to overcome.

If this happens to you. DO NOT GIVE IN AND PAY THE BILL. Write letters and document all of your phone conversations. It will take time but you can get this issue resolved without a lawyer if you are diligent. Get your typing fingers ready. Send letters to the credit bureau and keep copies for yourself.