Kind of freaking out right now, hoping someone here can help me because I have absolutely no idea what to do.
Just got a letter in the mail addressed to me. It's a bill from Sears Credit Cards in my name. The name is spelled correctly and the address is basically correct, but it doesn't have my unit number on it, which was the first sign that something was up (I guess the mailman read the name on the mailbox to get it to me). The amount of the bill is for $2,216 and the statement reads that the transaction is for "Protection Agreement Refrigerators/Freezers, Laundry Delivery Charges", dated 02/22. The bill has an account number for it.
I have NEVER owned a Sears card and I have no idea what this is for. What do I do, call them, write to them? Who else do I notify? How long would it take to clear myself of this crap?
If someone could let me know what my first steps should be I would really appreciate it. I had a great credit history until now (I last checked it in 2012) and worked really hard to keep it that way in case I need to use it, so this is really causing me to panic. I have never even been late on a credit card payment. I feel so helpless right now, I hate that some scumbag out there has my information and is using it to cause havoc.
One other thing, a few years ago, I had a charge that I didn't make for a few thousand dollars on a separate unrelated Visa credit card, I told the bank about it immediately, and they sorted it out pretty quickly and when I checked the credit report after a while and it was not on it. I never heard anything about it after that. I'm wondering if this could be related? This is worrying me more because the old case was a bad charge on a credit card I already owned, which means someone just somehow got the card number. But this new problem suggests that someone might have all kinds of information on me. I don't even know if the person who did this has my real social security number or if they used some other one. I won't go into my other life problems but let's just say I really, REALLY don't need this right now.
Needless to say, any help from anyone who has been through something similar, or who has experience dealing with this would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks.
Just got a letter in the mail addressed to me. It's a bill from Sears Credit Cards in my name. The name is spelled correctly and the address is basically correct, but it doesn't have my unit number on it, which was the first sign that something was up (I guess the mailman read the name on the mailbox to get it to me). The amount of the bill is for $2,216 and the statement reads that the transaction is for "Protection Agreement Refrigerators/Freezers, Laundry Delivery Charges", dated 02/22. The bill has an account number for it.
I have NEVER owned a Sears card and I have no idea what this is for. What do I do, call them, write to them? Who else do I notify? How long would it take to clear myself of this crap?
If someone could let me know what my first steps should be I would really appreciate it. I had a great credit history until now (I last checked it in 2012) and worked really hard to keep it that way in case I need to use it, so this is really causing me to panic. I have never even been late on a credit card payment. I feel so helpless right now, I hate that some scumbag out there has my information and is using it to cause havoc.
One other thing, a few years ago, I had a charge that I didn't make for a few thousand dollars on a separate unrelated Visa credit card, I told the bank about it immediately, and they sorted it out pretty quickly and when I checked the credit report after a while and it was not on it. I never heard anything about it after that. I'm wondering if this could be related? This is worrying me more because the old case was a bad charge on a credit card I already owned, which means someone just somehow got the card number. But this new problem suggests that someone might have all kinds of information on me. I don't even know if the person who did this has my real social security number or if they used some other one. I won't go into my other life problems but let's just say I really, REALLY don't need this right now.
Needless to say, any help from anyone who has been through something similar, or who has experience dealing with this would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks.
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