ID theft: any way to see account opened w/out credit check?
December 1, 2012 7:44 PM   Subscribe

Identity theft: is there any way for me to monitor for accounts opened without a credit check?

I appear to be an ID theft victim, and the thief may have my SSN and DOB.

I have locked down all of my accounts to the extent that I can, I think (fraud alerts and freezes with all three credit unions and ChexSystems, related credit card cancelled, all pwds on accounts that involve cash transactions changed + strong) to the extent that I can, and have checked all of my credit reports (clean, so far).

Is there any way to keep an eye out for accounts (e.g. phone, utility) opened without credit checks, though? Or do I just have to wait for a collections agent to call?
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would be extremely surprised if you could open a phone or utility account without a credit check.
posted by Justinian at 8:37 PM on December 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


(to put it another way, what you're worried about is any account which extends "you" a line of credit, since then someone can spend money. And extending a line of credit will involve a credit check.)
posted by Justinian at 8:56 PM on December 1, 2012


I think the OP is asking how he or she can see that the ID thief has opened a new account etc without the OP running a credit check on him/herself.

You want a credit monitoring service, like this one. (No specific recommendation, though.)
posted by supercres at 9:28 PM on December 1, 2012


"Is there any way to keep an eye out for accounts opened without credit checks" seems straightforward to me, but unfortunately the OP is anonymous and cannot answer.
posted by Justinian at 9:35 PM on December 1, 2012


Per the Federal Trade Commission some creditors, like phone companies (esp., I imagine, low end / throwaway phone companies like Cricket) will open accounts without running credit checks. I have no idea how you'd defend against this, though - besides placing credit freezes (which the OP says has been done), the FTC doesn't offer any suggestions.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:41 AM on December 2, 2012


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