True story: Someone opened an AT&T account in my name.
Not recognizing the charges and not knowing any better, I simply didnt pay them.
Soon, the account was in collections.
Besides, it was only like $300.
How much could that possibly affect me?
To be honest, my initial motivator was the never-ending stream of phone calls from the collections agency.
Turns out $300 can be a really big deal, after all.
I had to do something.
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But, of course, when they asked me to confirm my identity for the account, everything matched.
Thats what identity theft means.
So I filed a dispute directly with the credit bureaus online.
I filled out the forms, clicked out of the window and considered my credit troubles finished.
Sure enough, for a while, the phone calls stopped.
But they came back.
And when I re-opened my credit report, the false account was still there.
And once an account is already in collections, the creditor doesnt even own it anymore.
Theyre the ones who stand to make money on you at this point.
Its full of free resources for people in my position, trying desperately to fix their falsely maligned credit.
you could use a site likeCredit Sesameto keep tabs on your finances.
Your Mileage May Vary
Its important to note every credit holders circumstances are different.
It took me several years to move my credit from Poor to Good.
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Tweaking, printing and mailing a letter couldnt possibly take more than an hour of your time.
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