Life can change on a dime . . . Not sure what that really means – But – YEP, it’s true. The week started off helping my sister make a move out of her consignment shop location. She had been on month to month lease and the landlord walked in and doubled the rent, yikes! Staying wasn’t an option at that rate, so we moved out of the location. By Wednesday it was all done, I got up, went to get my hair cut, and then I got a text from Bill. ‘Important – call me!”
Bill had gone to lunch and when he came home he saw that we had been vandalized. They smashed in the patio door, opened all the drawers and cabinets, found the safe and carried right out the front door. What nerve! The cabinets were all empty as I’ve been packing and am 90% ready for our move next week– so too bad for them. But as I mentioned they took the safe. My favorite jewelry was in there, along with checks for bank accounts, passports, driver’s license copies, SS cards, and birth certificates. All of our identification was in there. Oh, and BTW we live in a gated community and felt like we were relatively secure. I guess it really was a false sense of security.
GOOD NEWS:
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They did NOT hurt my puppy – so thankful!
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We were gone and no one was hurt. Thank the Lord truly that Bill didn’t interrupt them.
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‘Stuff’ can be replaced, we do have insurance and special insurance on jewelry.
Certainly the plans I had for the week totally changed, so now it is filing police report, insurance updates, glass for patio door, new SS cards, etc. Bummer!
Here are a few things I have learned
- Call police, and any security in the area where you live
- Don’t put everything in one place – spread it out
- Safe – bolt it to the floor or don’t put all your ID info in there
- Safe deposit box is probably a better idea
- Close bank accounts ASAP and open new ones – which means new debit cards as well
- Notify the 3 credit agencies and SSA
1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-62851-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742 1-888-397-3742
3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289 1-800-680 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
CONTINUING ON –
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Change EMAIL password right away – and consider making it a 2-step process (I had 3 overseas hits this morning trying to get in my account) Once they get into your email they get access to all your email and messages which may contain other banking info)
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Change all online passwords – banking and all other online services
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New Driver’s license (DL) numbers – local DMV (We had our DL with us, but we had copies in the safe in case we lost them and needed the numbers)
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New SS cards – forms are online then take to SSA in person (must have VALID Driver’s license, so don’t take the temporary one issued at DMV, must wait for official new card – SSA said to go to SSA first then change Driver’s license. Not sure I agree but we do have to wait until DL comes in the mail)
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New Passports – forms online but must be taken in person. Again you must have valid DL.
We’ve also decided to add Lifelock, (www.lifelock.com) which you may have heard of and has been highly recommended. I’ll let you know on that. In addition we are including other security measures.
As with many things in life we can’t change what happened, but we can choose how we look at the events in our life, how to move forward, and what changes we can make.
Many of you saw my posting on Facebook and have been praying for us. We so appreciate it. God is so good and He is a Redeemer of all things. I am not going to worry and fret, wring my hands and cry. We will make changes as necessary and keep on believing in the good in people and that God will take care of it.
Blessings to you all. Be safe.
‘Til next time –
Delinda
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