OK. Here is the deal. A friend of mine had her purse stolen. Her purse was LOADED with info that would make a thiefs day. It had all of her and hubbys W-2, s, check stubs and personal info. They were going to apply for a temporary apartment until they found the house they were looking for. She has gotten SEVERAL credit cards in the mail including several denials for to many credit inquirys. She has gotten a police report, but does not want to put a fraud alert on her report because she is going to be shopping for a mortgage. What would be her best course of action for getting the inquirys removed? Contact the companies directly? She called and informed the companies that she got the cards from.
If I were her I'd definitely get the fraud alert put on her report. Even if she's shopping for a mortgage soon. The fraud alert shouldn't prevent her from getting a mortgage, she'll just bear more scrutiny as to her identity. Also, it sounds like it's already at the point where she'll have to clean up whatever mess the fraud is causing before she gets a mortgage, anyway. A fraud alert on her report gives her a very reasonable basis to nix all those inquiries that will ding her score, and strengthens her position when contacting the companies that sent out cards she didn't apply for. And the whole cleanup process will be a lot longer and harder if someone keeps applying for and getting credit in her name. Anybody agree, here? -ingenue
