Ex Wife is Accessing my Credit Info

[Anonymous]

Like the others said you two have a history together so she knows most of your information. I would definitely place a freeze with all 3 CBs and definitely keep the email she sent you and any other be able to correspondence. With the freeze she can apply for new credit, but there is a verification process she would have to go through. Make sure you have updated the phone numbers on your credit report. If she tries to apply for credit, and you have a freeze, they will call the number on your credit file to verify you applied for it. Good luck!!!

[Glkslngr]

In regards to changing your passwords... I recently read that it is great practice to come up with creative passwords like this: D0GLOV3R681 (for DogLover681) or 1LuVCaT$199S (for ILoveCats1995), where you interchange numbers for letters and so on.
Also, make up your answers for those security questions if you forget or need to reset your password. When it asks for "mother's maiden name" or "high school you attended" you would make up fictional names and schools to prevent those who know you well from being able to answer accurately and therefore obtaining your pw. You of course neeed to write this down somewhere safe so that you can remember lol.

Hope this helps!

[jamesdwi]

along with all the other information provided, look into adding two factor authenication for your accounts,  gmail has it, then you need to enter a code that is sent to your cellphone to gain access to your accounts its a bit of a pain but worth it. 

[ACsteel]

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@tp2013 wrote:

HELP!  I got an email from my extremely bitter ex-wife and in it she mentions the exact dollar amount I made last month and that my credit card payments last month were so high that it must be nice.  I am trying to find out how someone who is not supposed to have access to your bank accounts or credit information can access this stuff.  And then I want to know how to stop it.  She is not on any of the accounts and I have switched banks.  I have two high schools kids with her but I live on the opposite coast from her.  Never late on Child Support but she is just bitter that I divorced her and took her lifestyle away from her.  Any thoughts and suggestions??

Thanks for your help!

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SCARY!!! Now along with all the suggestions with the passwords and security tips my thought is that one convenient way she may have access to all that info is simple, your bank account or bank account statement. If you get direct deposit and pay your credit cards through your bank account then her having access to a statement, whether digital or paper, could give her all that information. I don't think it's via a credit report b/c think about it, how would she know how much the payments are, you only see the last balance for each credit card from report date, not payment amount

The key factor here is she know your exact dollar amount, however she could be pulling your leg with credit card payments as she is not giving you specific information on that. It's a mystery!

[SunriseEarth]

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@ACsteel wrote:

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@tp2013 wrote:

HELP!  I got an email from my extremely bitter ex-wife and in it she mentions the exact dollar amount I made last month and that my credit card payments last month were so high that it must be nice.  I am trying to find out how someone who is not supposed to have access to your bank accounts or credit information can access this stuff.  And then I want to know how to stop it.  She is not on any of the accounts and I have switched banks.  I have two high schools kids with her but I live on the opposite coast from her.  Never late on Child Support but she is just bitter that I divorced her and took her lifestyle away from her.  Any thoughts and suggestions??

Thanks for your help!

---

SCARY!!! Now along with all the suggestions with the passwords and security tips my thought is that one convenient way she may have access to all that info is simple, your bank account or bank account statement. If you get direct deposit and pay your credit cards through your bank account then her having access to a statement, whether digital or paper, could give her all that information. I don't think it's via a credit report b/c think about it, how would she know how much the payments are, you only see the last balance for each credit card from report date, not payment amount

The key factor here is she know your exact dollar amount, however she could be pulling your leg with credit card payments as she is not giving you specific information on that. It's a mystery!

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That's what I would suspect.  If she knows your account number and your SSN, she could easily access that kind of info on the phone.   I would see if you can have a PIN set for accessing info on the phone.  

[Revelate]

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@Glkslngr wrote:
In regards to changing your passwords... I recently read that it is great practice to come up with creative passwords like this: D0GLOV3R681 (for DogLover681) or 1LuVCaT$199S (for ILoveCats1995), where you interchange numbers for letters and so on.
Also, make up your answers for those security questions if you forget or need to reset your password. When it asks for "mother's maiden name" or "high school you attended" you would make up fictional names and schools to prevent those who know you well from being able to answer accurately and therefore obtaining your pw. You of course neeed to write this down somewhere safe so that you can remember lol.

Hope this helps!

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Character substitutions are still easy for dictionary-based attacks.

Realistically the most secure passwords (that you can actually remember without writing them down, never, ever, write them down actually as they'll invariably be stored in an easy to access and therefore find place) are several utterly unrelated words e.g.: dogoceanswingpurple

Good luck getting that one on a typical brute force dictionary attack.  Sadly it's all too common that some even financial institutions limit us to 8-10 characters, in which case the Leet-speak character substitution is about as good as it gets.  Then again I know better and I still use stupid passwords.

[Anonymous]

A good password manager like Lastpass or Onepass can be useful. I don't know most of my passwords. They are often 24 letters long with special characters (less if password restrictions). Most of my passwords are unique. A few that are unimportant are simple (e.g random game forum). 

Freeze your credit reports. Change your passwords. Update your security questions. Make sure no one else has online access to your bank account. If it gets really bad, change your bank. Don't pay child support directly from your new bank. Use your old bank as the intermediary bank through which you pay (e.g. direct deposit paycheck to new bank, transfer money to old bank, pay child support from old bank). This way your ex won't know which bank you currently bank with.