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American Morning
'Real People and Their Money': Identity Theft
Aired October 17, 2002 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Identity theft is America's fastest- growing crime. It is estimated there were 700,000 cases last year alone.
How can you protect yourself? Well, that's the focus of today's edition of "Real People and Their Money."
Terri Albee was a victim of identity theft a year ago. She and her husband have been struggling ever since then to restore their good name.
Terri and Doyle Albee join us this morning from Denver, Colorado.
Thanks for being with us.
DOYLE ALBEE, IDENTITY THEFT VICTIM: Good morning, Paula.
TERRI ALBEE, IDENTITY THEFT VICTIM: Good morning.
ZAHN: Good morning.
So, Terri, tell us how you found out that your identity had been stolen?
T. ALBEE: We were in the process of a refinancing on our house, and our mortgage broker gave us our credit report, and there were six or seven different credit cards in my name that I had never opened.
ZAHN: And also a cell phone account opened up in your name, right?
T. ALBEE: A cell phone, right.
ZAHN: So, once you learned about that, you were given a very specific list of recommendations. You did exactly what you're supposed to do. You contacted the three major credit bureaus. You informed the creditors of the fraudulent accounts, and you filed a report with police. You did all of that, and still, it took you some 200 hours over the last year to get your credit cleared up. Why?
T. ALBEE: It's just a very time-consuming process. You have to send registered letters to each one of the credit bureaus. You have to send everything in writing to all of the credit companies that have issued the credit fraudulently. And you have to document everything in a log, so that you've got back-up on it. And you just have to deal with the authorities on all of it.
ZAHN: And obviously this drained both of you emotionally.
But, Doyle, I also understand it had an impact on you financially, because you had to absorb legal costs. And it also, I guess, cost you some time on your mortgage, so you lost the rate you could have locked down if this had not been a problem.
D. ALBEE: That's exactly right. Not only do we have attorney's fees -- and I'd like to think that this is over, but we're not sure. Things continue to crop back up, and we have to watch things vigilantly like we never had to before.
And you're absolutely right. We didn't get the mortgage rate that we should have qualified for given our excellent credit standing. So every month I make a mortgage payment, it reminds me that it's just a little bit more than it should be.
ZAHN: And I know you're much more careful with any personal information you provide strangers out there.
I'm going to quickly put up on the screen some of the advice that people are supposed to follow to prevent identity theft that includes reviewing your credit reports annually, guarding your social security number closely -- just about everybody asks for that -- shredding all bills, and being suspicious of telephone solicitors.
You do all of that now. Tell us a little bit more about the process you go through on a daily basis to keep this from not happening again.
D. ALBEE: Well, first of all, I think it's important to note that reviewing your credit report annually is probably not enough. We review it almost on a monthly basis now while we're working on this. But a lot of the points you mentioned we do on a regular basis. And it's really unfortunate to have to go through this.
One of the other things that we did was close some accounts that I think all of us have, you know, a department store account that we opened at one time and maybe purchased something, and then had a card laying around that we're not using. We went back and closed all of those just to try to streamline our credit rating to make it easier and less time-consuming to keep an eye on the information that's out there.
ZAHN: Well, you are very kind to share your story with us, because I know it has been a nightmare for both of you. Thank you for your candor this morning, and hopefully, what you've said this morning will save people from some of the hassle and the horror of what you've been through.
D. ALBEE: Well, thanks for telling the story, Paula.
T. ALBEE: Thank you.
ZAHN: Best of luck to both of you.
T. ALBEE: Thanks. ZAHN: And it's so early there, I guess you guys could probably go back to bed now. We awakened you in the middle of the night to join us. We really appreciate your taking that early-morning wake-up call for us this morning.
D. ALBEE: No problem.
ZAHN: Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 17, 2002 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Identity theft is America's fastest- growing crime. It is estimated there were 700,000 cases last year alone.
How can you protect yourself? Well, that's the focus of today's edition of "Real People and Their Money."
Terri Albee was a victim of identity theft a year ago. She and her husband have been struggling ever since then to restore their good name.
Terri and Doyle Albee join us this morning from Denver, Colorado.
Thanks for being with us.
DOYLE ALBEE, IDENTITY THEFT VICTIM: Good morning, Paula.
TERRI ALBEE, IDENTITY THEFT VICTIM: Good morning.
ZAHN: Good morning.
So, Terri, tell us how you found out that your identity had been stolen?
T. ALBEE: We were in the process of a refinancing on our house, and our mortgage broker gave us our credit report, and there were six or seven different credit cards in my name that I had never opened.
ZAHN: And also a cell phone account opened up in your name, right?
T. ALBEE: A cell phone, right.
ZAHN: So, once you learned about that, you were given a very specific list of recommendations. You did exactly what you're supposed to do. You contacted the three major credit bureaus. You informed the creditors of the fraudulent accounts, and you filed a report with police. You did all of that, and still, it took you some 200 hours over the last year to get your credit cleared up. Why?
T. ALBEE: It's just a very time-consuming process. You have to send registered letters to each one of the credit bureaus. You have to send everything in writing to all of the credit companies that have issued the credit fraudulently. And you have to document everything in a log, so that you've got back-up on it. And you just have to deal with the authorities on all of it.
ZAHN: And obviously this drained both of you emotionally.
But, Doyle, I also understand it had an impact on you financially, because you had to absorb legal costs. And it also, I guess, cost you some time on your mortgage, so you lost the rate you could have locked down if this had not been a problem.
D. ALBEE: That's exactly right. Not only do we have attorney's fees -- and I'd like to think that this is over, but we're not sure. Things continue to crop back up, and we have to watch things vigilantly like we never had to before.
And you're absolutely right. We didn't get the mortgage rate that we should have qualified for given our excellent credit standing. So every month I make a mortgage payment, it reminds me that it's just a little bit more than it should be.
ZAHN: And I know you're much more careful with any personal information you provide strangers out there.
I'm going to quickly put up on the screen some of the advice that people are supposed to follow to prevent identity theft that includes reviewing your credit reports annually, guarding your social security number closely -- just about everybody asks for that -- shredding all bills, and being suspicious of telephone solicitors.
You do all of that now. Tell us a little bit more about the process you go through on a daily basis to keep this from not happening again.
D. ALBEE: Well, first of all, I think it's important to note that reviewing your credit report annually is probably not enough. We review it almost on a monthly basis now while we're working on this. But a lot of the points you mentioned we do on a regular basis. And it's really unfortunate to have to go through this.
One of the other things that we did was close some accounts that I think all of us have, you know, a department store account that we opened at one time and maybe purchased something, and then had a card laying around that we're not using. We went back and closed all of those just to try to streamline our credit rating to make it easier and less time-consuming to keep an eye on the information that's out there.
ZAHN: Well, you are very kind to share your story with us, because I know it has been a nightmare for both of you. Thank you for your candor this morning, and hopefully, what you've said this morning will save people from some of the hassle and the horror of what you've been through.
D. ALBEE: Well, thanks for telling the story, Paula.
T. ALBEE: Thank you.
ZAHN: Best of luck to both of you.
T. ALBEE: Thanks. ZAHN: And it's so early there, I guess you guys could probably go back to bed now. We awakened you in the middle of the night to join us. We really appreciate your taking that early-morning wake-up call for us this morning.
D. ALBEE: No problem.
ZAHN: Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
