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Posts Tagged ‘Identity Theft’

Have you recently discovered that someone has taken out a student loan in your name? If someone has used your name and social security number to obtain a loan, and has also forged your signature on a loan application, you have been the victim of identity theft and will need to take several steps to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. If you can prove that you are a victim of identity theft, the U.S. Department of Education can discharge your loan and it will eventually be removed from your credit report. You will also need to contact your loan provider and file a specific form that indicates you are requesting a loan discharge.

Here are the key steps to take when you have become a victim of identity theft:

1. Follow instructions listed on the Federal Student Aid Certification/Agreement of Cooperation of Identity Theft form. This form can be downloaded here and you will need to sign and date the letter to certify that you are going to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice in the investigation of your allegation of identity theft.
2. Gather relevant documents. You will need to provide specific information to support your certification letter. This includes a court judgment that finds you were a victim of identity theft, and a written statement by you that describes how the identity theft is applicable to your student loan. You will also need to provide a clear copy of a valid government-issued photo identification card, such as a driver’s license, a state-issue ID card, or a passport, and a clear copy of your Social Security Card.
3. Have the letter notarized. Your letter and your written statement need to be notarized by a Notary Public.
4. Include attachments. If you have received a demand letter or any type of bill for the loan, you can make a copy of it and add this to the letter as supporting documentation. Remember that you need to provide as much proof as possible that you are receiving information that there is an outstanding student loan in your name, but it’s one that you did not apply for or sign for.
5. Send your information to the U.S. Department of Education. You will need to submit all of these documents to the following address:

U.S. Department of Education
Loan Discharge Applications
P.O. Box 422037
San Francisco, CA 94142

Once everything’s been submitted, you will need to wait for a decision from the U.S. Department of Education. If the decision is made to discharge your loan, you will receive an official confirmation letter which you can make a copy of and send to the credit bureaus to have the loan removed from your account.

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When somebody uses your name and/or your social security number to apply for a student loan, there’s a good chance that they forged your signature in order to have the application go through. Many people don’t even find out that a student loan has been taken out in their name until they look at their credit report or receive a notice from the student loan lender that payments are now due. If you find out that someone has obtained a student loan in your name and signed a promissory note for it on your behalf, you need to know what action steps to take to resolve the issue.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Gather documents that show the loan is in your name. Gather all documents that indicate a student loan has been taken out in your name and make a copy of everything. You will need to prepare this information to share with the U.S. Department of Education.
2. Prepare identifying information. You will need to prove that you did not sign a promissory note for your student loan by showing the U.S. Department of Education you are not the same person who applied for the loan. The Department will need to see samples of your signature. The signature that appears on your Social Security Card, your driver’s license, on a government-issued ID card, a passport, or even on your birth certificate are all valid forms of identifying documents for your signature.
3. Gather documents with your signature around the time the loan application was submitted. Another way to prove that you are not the person who signed for a promissory note on a student loan is by collecting documents dated for around the time that the student loan application was submitted. These documents will need to have your signatures on them, and may be more valuable than just submitting examples of signatures on your driver’s license or on a social security card.
4. Provide information about your activities around the time the loan application was submitted. You can also prove that there is now way you could have applied for a loan and signed a promissory note based on what you were doing at that time of year. You could show proof of employment, for example, or provide proof of where you were living when the loan was issued to a school that is nowhere near you.
5. Provide a report from a handwriting expert. If there is no other reasonable way to prove that you did not sign the promissory note, you can have a professional handwriting expert review your signature and make a statement that your signature does not match those that are on the promissory note.

Be sure to carefully check your credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion to see if there are any other signs that someone has stolen your identity and obtained credit in your name.

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 37 million Americans—roughly 13% of us—move to a different home every year. That’s a lot of transition. Unfortunately, moving season also represents a lot of opportunity for crooks and con artists who want to fleece you financially.

“Half of all moves take place between Memorial Day and Labor Day,” says Steve Schwartz, Executive Vice President of Consumer Services for Intersections Inc., an identity theft protection company. “A lot goes into a big relocation, and often times identity protection is not top of mind with everything else that’s going on.” To guard against potential identity theft, Schwartz recommends that consumers take the following steps–before, during, and after a move.

Notify the appropriate companies. You don’t want pre-approved credit card offers, your bank statements, or other important financial documents to wind up in the hands of an identity thief once you’ve relocated. So before your move, notify banks, financial institutions and creditors of your move and have all paper statements and sensitive documents redirected to your new address. Even better, consider switching to online statements.

Submit a Change of Address form at the Post Office. After filing a Change of Address request, watch for a confirmation from the Postal Service. Then verify that your new address has been accurately registered. If so, you should start receiving mail at your new residence within seven to 10 business days after you submit a filing.  Read the rest of Lynnette’s article on Black Enterprise.

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If you’ve recently looked at your credit report and find that you have an outstanding student loan balance that isn’t yours, you may have been the victim of identity theft. When someone applies for a loan with your social security number and name, you probably won’t find out about it until you review your credit report or find that you are denied for credit that you thought you would have been qualified to receive. Student loan payment requirements don’t typically kick in until a few months after the student graduates, so you may not even receive a notice that the loan payment is due for months after the loan has been taken out in your name.

If you find out that someone has taken out a student loan with your name, you’ll need to report this incident of identity theft to the appropriate authorities. Here’s what you will need to do:

Check for a Social Security Number Match

If you find that the loan records have your name on them but the social security number isn’t yours, you will need to provide proof that you are not the person that received the loan. The U.S. Department of Education will need a photocopy and signature of your social security card, your driver’s license or government-issued ID card, and your passport or birth certificate to verify whether you or someone else was actually the recipient of the loan.

Confirm for a Full Name and Social Security Number Match

If both your name and social security number match and you did not sign any loan papers to process the application, you will need to prove that the application was forged with your signatures. In addition to providing a copy of your social security card, driver’s license or other government-issued ID card, passport or birth certificate and other identifying documents, you will need to prove that you didn’t attend the school that the loan funds were sent to. You might be able to do this by proving where you were employed during that time, where you lived, or what type of job you were doing during that school year.

Prove You Are a Victim of Identity Theft

If you think your social security number has been compromised, you have the right to request a discharge of the student loan with the U.S. Department of Education. You will need to fill out an official form and furnish proof that a court judgment was made in your favor, and any information that confirms identity theft was at play when your student loan was acquired. You will also need to provide a copy of your government-issued identification card and a clear copy of your social security card.

Once the loan has been discharged, you will need to contact the credit bureaus to confirm that the balance has been removed from your credit report.

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Q: I filed for my taxes on Turbo Tax I got a message saying that my social security number has been used and one of my dependents. Can I ever find out who did it? What if their using numbers in other places? Will I get my refund?

A: If someone has used your Social Security number (or your children’s social security numbers) to file an income tax return, you need to alert the authorities as soon as possible and advise them that you have been the victim of identity theft.

Start by filling out IRS Form 14039, an Identity Theft Affidavit, which tells the the IRS that someone has already fraudulently used your Social Security number – or that you suspect you may be a potential victim of fraud. This Form 14039 lets you advise the IRS of any incidents that are currently impacting your taxes, as well as any incidents that could impact your taxes in the future.

To prove that you are who you say you are, you’ll have to submit to the IRS documentation such as a passport, driver’s license, social security card, or another federal or state-issued government ID card.

Send these documents via mail or fax:

Mailing address:
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 9039
Andover, MA 01810-0939

FAX: (Not toll-free)
1-978-247-9965

Since the IRS is accustomed to seeing these kinds of scams, the IRS actually has a dedicated division to dealing with cases where someone has stolen another person’s social security number and used it to file an income tax return.  The IRS department to call for help is the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll free at 800-908-4490.

To deal with this issue of someone stealing your social security number or falsely filing taxes in your name, you should also put a credit freeze and a credit alert on your credit reports.

Lastly, if your purse or wallet was stolen or someone seems to have misappropriated your personal data – such as your social security card/number, or driver’s license, etc. – you need to immediately file a police report with your local police department.

Hopefully, who ever did this will be caught. If you know who did it, and it was a family member or a friend, I would confront that person and issue this ultimatum. This is especially helpful advice for anyone whose credit has been wrecked by a relative who committed identity theft.

Unfortunately, most people are mostly in the dark — at least at first — about their social security being misused. The way most people ultimately find out about someone else using their social security number is when an individual files his or her taxes, and gets a notice or letter from the IRS indicating that a tax return has already been filed or stating that you received wages from some employer that you never had. Any such letter is a big red flag that you’ve probably been the victim of identity theft.

Do take the steps outlined above because someone fraudulently using your social security number could get a tax refund check, block you from getting your own taxes filed in a timely manner (potentially holding up or preventing you from getting a legitimate refund). Additionally, the identity thief could get anything from credit and loans to a job or government benefits using your name and/or social security number. So shut down that fraud ASAP!

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