One thing you HAVE to do is contact one of the credit bureaus to have them put a "fraud alert" on your account. There are 3 credit bureaus (Experion, TransUnion, and someone else) and if you contact one they will let you know everything that you need to do. They can also answer ANY questions you may have about the entire situation. They also contact each other so you don't have to spend a lot of time calling everywhere. What will happen then is that everytime a big purchase is made with your credit cards (any of them), the credit card companies will call you within a day or two to verify it. This way if anything else is purchased without your consent, you are not liable in any way.
A few years ago someone ordered tires from Pep Boys using our account number. When we went to build a new house last summer we even got called when our mortgage went through. I actually love having that extra protection now. |