Check, then check again

Richmond resident pulls credit reports and finds unfamiliar charges, possible identity theft

Tia Hill of Richmond learned the hard way to check her credit reports regularly.

Last month, she took a free creditand money-management workshop at Housing Opportunities Made Equal, 700 E. Franklin St . The sessions are held there on the first Thursday of each month.

During the course, she pulled her credit reports, which she had not done in about two years. "In the busy day-to-day, you get inundated so much that you don't feel it's so necessary to focus on certain things, and you put them aside," she said.

When she received the reports, she was surprised to see unfamiliar credit charges and accounts that she did not open. In one instance, two accounts with a major retailer were listed. One of the accounts was hers. It was current and "I was paying as agreed."

"The other account was a late account, and it was not mine. Things like that can create bad marks on your credit."

She also saw incidents "of possible identity theft" on the reports. She remembers her car being broken into several years ago and wonders if the personal information that got exposed was later used to make fraudulent credit transactions in her name.

After viewing her credit reports, Hill set up a formal investigation of the items that should not have been on them. She spends her time "trying to repair something that's probably been going on for a while."

The lesson she learned: "Take control of my credit" by paying bills on time and regularly monitoring credit reports for accuracy.

"If you don't have credit, you really don't have anything," she said. -- Iris Taylor

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