Any Assistance with Identity Theft and Process time to fix my reports?

[VeryillVictim0fIDtheft77]

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone and their families are doing well during these crazy times. I wish you all well! 

I'm new to this site. I was hoping If anyone could give me some advice regarding how to fix my Credit reports as quickly as humanly possible? I am currently receiving Disability Benefits by the SSA and receive monthly assistance from friends, family and the act of kindness from strangers who've donated to my cause and goals. Any feedback would be much appreciated!!!

 Let me give you guys a little background. I was a victim of identity theft. My information was compromised from at least 5 Data Breaches according to their emails. I was unaware of these breaches until I received emails regarding the Settlements from the Breaches. Equifax, Transunion, T-Mobile and Capital One. When they sent emails informing me, information was stolen years after this occurred - I was angry. When I called Capital One to verify If this email was legit, the Rep stated it was legit. "My account numbers, Bank account information, DOB, SS#, phone numbers and External Accounts were all compromised." I asked why I wasn't notified earlier so I could change my account numbers and take security measures??? The Reps either couldn't answer me, or have hung up on me at 27+ times. When I first notified the big 3 to Setup Fraud Alerts, Froze my reports and whatever else I could to prevent more issues - I thought that would help.

 WRONG!!! I received more hard inquires, new accounts opened without being contacted to verify. I recently hired an attorney but has been slow due to my health conditions. I'm unable to open all the mail, scan the mail I have received regarding attempts on new account openings and other financial crap. Trying my best to complete whatever my attorney needs before I have to go back to Sloan Kettering.

 My utilizations for my accounts are around 80% to 84% currently. 

(Ever since, I started receiving Palliative care services at home, health conditions getting worse, medical expenses and the Covid Pandemic, I’m stuck in bed almost 24/7.  My doctors all stated "I am High Risk for catching anything." I'm not able to go outside at all due to my weak immune system (Constantly on Antibiotics), possibly cancer again for the 5th time, paralysis, loss of mobility, Severe Osteoporotic so bad I could refracturing my spine again just from coughing and High Risk of falling or Collapsing again..Living on the 4th floor with no elevator doesn't help either.

 My Cred History:

Filed BK on 05/2013.
14 Credit Cards - All in good standing.
Student loans all paid and good standing
2 Pledge Loans - 1st loan Paid off, 2nd Loan will be paid off by next month. Only $56 balance left on it.
No Late Payments ever since the BK.
No Collections, No Charge Offs, Nothing Negative for the last 9 years.

 I was made aware of in 01/2020 by SSA Disability I might be a victim of identity theft. They asked If I applied and received unemployment benefits? I told the Rep No, How could I? I am severely ill and disabled. I could barely stand longer than 3 minutes let alone fill out any sort of forms. The Rep reviewed my Disability diagnosis, noticed I receive home care services and placed an investigation. Results: Someone took out unemployment benefits under my info, different mailing address, phone number, email address and other information that didnt match. They checked my bank accounts for the unemployment benefit funds and cleared me of any wrong doing.  Thank God, SSA was very helpful and resolved it quickly. If I lost my healthcare benefits at that time... It would have been Bad Bad Bad. I've been homebound and barely able to make it to the bathroom with assistance. 

 This past 04/2022 - I started receiving a lot of alerts regarding new hard inquires (Total new inquiries around 53), new trade line accounts, Change of address alerts, losing access to my TU website account for almost 6 months, Unable to pull my TU report from freeannualcreditreport.com for months and "Mission: Credit Confidence - Powered by Transunion" offered to NFCU customers keeps reporting + constantly changing inaccurate filing dates regarding the BK I filed back in 05/2013. TU has reported that I initially filed BK on 04/04/2022, 04/30/2022, 05/25/2022 and then to 06/29/2022. Every time TU changes the filing date RE: my BK has tanked my credit score anywhere btw 60 to 90 points. Whenever I placed a dispute and they didnt agree, my credit score dropped some more.

 You might ask why didn't you contacted TU to get this resolved??? I tried many many times. I wish I was able to reach a call center in the US but I kept reaching the outsourced call centers in India. The Reps either dont have a clue what Im talking about, Dont care about my issues, Provide wrong information, refuses to transfer me to a supervisor or they will transfer me and magically drop the call. Icing on the cake, they want me to snail mail the FTC ID Theft reports to them. I kept telling them I am unable to stand or walk. At first the reps stated "there is no options to email them or uploading the reports. Another rep gave me a link to upload the documents but I kept receiving error messages. I took screenshots every time that happened. Filing complaints hasn't helped. The stress of  these issues were making my health conditions worse. My Doctors, NPAs, Home aides and friends just told me to quit. Its not worth your health getting worse. I worked hard to rebuild my credit just to flush it down the toilet. It pisses me off due to the BK filing dates being changed and credit score tanking, I am unable to be approved for new credit or CLI due to the BKS and score dropping.

 I am now forced to go back into the hospital and risk other health issues and lose home care services because all of this madness. Depending how long I will be in the hospital, I could lose partial or all monthly payments from my disability benefits that can end up wrecking my credit even more. Has anyone experienced this with NFCU's "Mission: Credit Confidence - Powered by Transunion"? My attorney couldn't really give me a rough estimate to correct all these issues.

If anyone has been a victim of identity theft, how long did it take to correct all the incorrect reporting? Is there anything else I could do to prevent more issues besides freezing my reports, fraud alerts and can I hold these companies accountable?

 Please excuse any typos. It's been  a while since I've used the PC like this.

Thank You for time to review my post. Happy 4th July All!!

[OmarGB9]

First off,

I'm so sorry for all the terrible ordeals you've gone through. From your health to ID Theft...it's a lot for one person to take. I'm glad for all the aid you've received. 

Secondly,

Welcome to the forums! These are the best credit repair forums around, and on behalf of all Community Leaders, the Moderator team and all other MyFICO member, welcome!

Finally, to address your question, there is a very handy guide pinned at the top of this subforum, but I will give you a direct link here. I hope it helps!

Good luck with everything, and I truly truly hope everything works out alright, above all your health.

[VeryillVictim0fIDtheft77]

Hi Omar,

Thank you for the link and assistance. It really sucks these companies didn't alert me of the data breaches until it was too late.

I hope you have great day and stay well during these crazy times.

[GatorGuy]

Do you have your accounts frozen and fraud alerts placed? I can't tell since you are mentioning new accounts and new inquiries.

As for how long it can take? Months. I have not personally had to go through it but multiple close friends have.

Unfortunately, if you aren't able to supply the information to the CRAs or your attorney then this problem will persist. I understand your medical situation but you either have to find someone who can help you or let it go.

If you are unable to make it to the mailbox have you looked into USPS door delivery? They will also pick up mail as well. You will need a hardship letter from your doctor.

[VeryillVictim0fIDtheft77]

Hey Gator.

So far I was able to contact a law firm so that was a huge step.I have stacks and stacks of unopen mail. I also have stacks of mail opened for credit apps, dispute letters, forms to make you want to throw up. Not by choice. Antiacids caused a lot of healthi issues including causing my bones to die. Its extremely difficult just responding to your comment. Just sneezing could cause fractures or break my spine at this point.

I kept copies of credit reports, disputes, filed reports to the ftc, filed complaints and whatever my body allowed me to do. Oh, I took screenshots of the changes and copied them for records. The Stress it caused, my medical providers told me stop. The India call center is terrible. I dont if its the training they received, language barrier, or they dont care. The only part thats correct is most of the accounts,  "payment history, never missed a payment, paid as agreed, Many accounts paid on time and age length history" Almost going 10 years straight, no issues.

Everything else is negative.

Im sure this doesnt help.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/an-ai-fair-lending-policy-agenda-for-the-federal-financial-regula...

Thank you for responding.

Have a great night and be well. Must lay down.

Oh, Ill ask my home aide tomorrow if she could figure out how to add the credit details on my file here .

[GatorGuy]

Because of your limited physical capacity you need to bite this off in manageable steps. 

First goal for you should be to freeze your credit reports. You do not need to talk to the credit bureaus. You can do this all online in 2 minutes. You could have done all the bureaus in less time than it took you to respond to me. 

After that, I would recommend putting a fraud alert on your reports. I believe you can do this online as well. Also, if you report it to one bureau they will report it to the others. This is something easily manageable as well.

From here, obviously you have to decide what is most important to you. I would probably focus on mailing the fraud reports.

I would also suggest you do the same when it comes to phone calls. Try to simplify them and have one goal. If you are calling about setting a fraud alert only mention that to the customer rep rather than a full background of all your fraud and bankruptcy reporting issues. You mention 27 unsuccessful calls. That means something you are doing isn't working. Either they don't know what you are asking for, or you are asking for something they can't do. Either way, like the old adage, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. 

You have a lot going on right now so break everything down into more manageable steps and I think you'll find it will ease your stress and make you more effective.

Best of luck to you in your health and credit issues.

[disdreamin]

The odd thing is that if your reports were actually frozen and had fraud alerts on them, no additional new accounts or hard inquiries should have been possible. Have you been able to go online to confirm that those freezes are in place?

As far as mailing things, if you have an aide coming in, isn't there a way they could mail something out for you? If your aide is already privvy to your credit details to the point where she could be asked to add the details on this site, it seems reasonable that she could be asked to mail out documentation related to this situation.

Good luck, this sounds like an incredibly frustrating situation.