See my research, posts, and articles on identity theft, including prevention tips, recovery steps, and protecting your credit. Click the link to learn more!
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall just issued a public warning about a surge in phone scams. While this alert was directed at Alabamians, the message applies to all of us. Scammers don’t care where you live. They’re not targeting a zip code—they’re targeting whoever picks up. “We’re from the government, and we’re here to scam …
The Federal Trade Commission obtained an order halting a credit repair scheme that allegedly bilked consumers out of millions of dollars by falsely claiming they will remove negative information from credit reports, while also filing fake identity theft reports to explain negative items on customers’ credit reports. At the request of the FTC and the …
Question: Dear Steve, I am 32,000 in debt from student loans. My mother pulled out these loans under my name and using my login information on the college site. All of this money did NOT go to me. I was never allowed to ask where it went or how much she was pulling out under …
Question: Dear Steve, I live in Georgia and I have a T-Mobile bill in collections account that has been on my credit since 2015. It was an account that a family member opened in my name and I didn’t want to file a police report (I know crazy). While the collection appeared to be dormant, …
Question: Dear Steve, My daughter signed up for two credit cards and had my name added on I did not sign anything. If my daughter files for bankrupt can they go after me for the balance? Jerry Answer: Dear Jerry, Yes, unless you identify yourself as a victim of identity theft. You will need to …
Starting today, consumers who are concerned about identity theft or data breaches can freeze their credit and place one-year fraud alerts for free. Under the new Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, consumers in some states – those who previously had to pay fees to freeze their credit – will no longer have …
Question: Dear Steve, I graduated from college in 2014 after spending five years in school due to a college transfer my second year in making me incur an extra year. I have several student loans in my name, mostly through Navient and a Perkins loan in my name I believe that’s currently being paid by …
Question: Dear Steve, My husband and his business partner used my daughter info to get a private loan. The partner later took my husband to court alleging identity theft because the loan was also in my daughter’s name she was also implicated but charges were later dropped and it was later determined that actually her …
Question: Dear Steve, Ex-wife took out a student loan in my name without my knowledge. didn’t care at the time but now it’s affecting my ability to go back to school since there are holds in my name. What do I do now? Do I have to pay back the loan? Can I ever go …
Question: Dear Steve, My husband filled out several car loans applications without my knowledge and put me in as co-applicant, now I have 8 hard inquiries on my report and can’t get them off How do I get them off, equifax took them off but TransUnion won’t. Gail Answer: Dear Gail, The issue here has …