Is Social Security, Debt, or Identity Theft Costing You?
On this episode of Financially Confident Christian Live with Ralph Estep Jr., we dive headfirst into some real-life financial dilemmas that many people face but often feel too awkward to discuss. Is Social Security, Debt, or Identity Theft Costing You? Ralph starts by welcoming listeners with a friendly vibe and a promise to tackle some tough questions about money matters. The first question concerns Social Security and whether 67 is really the age at which everyone should claim benefits. Ralph is quick to point out that this so-called 'magic number' doesn’t apply to everyone. He breaks it down by explaining that you should consider your personal financial situation before jumping on the bandwagon. If you're still working and can afford to wait, delaying your claim could significantly boost your monthly benefits, making it a worthwhile consideration.
Check out the full podcast episode here
Next, we delve into a listener's predicament: relentless debt-collection calls about a medical bill they’re unsure about. Ralph sheds light on the staggering rise in household debt and emphasizes that this issue is affecting more people than we might think. He offers practical advice on how to handle these situations, stressing the importance of demanding written verification of any debt and knowing your rights. This segment is not just about listening; it’s about empowering ourselves to take action and not feel overwhelmed by aggressive debt collectors.
Finally, Ralph wraps up the episode with a discussion on identity theft, sparked by a listener’s shocking experience of receiving a bill for medical treatment they never had. Ralph emphasizes the importance of monitoring our financial health and recognizing the signs of identity theft that may not appear on credit reports right away. He reminds us to stay vigilant and proactive about our financial situations. Overall, this episode is a blend of relatable stories, practical tips, and Ralph’s witty charm that makes financial conversations feel approachable and engaging. Whether you're in a similar situation or just looking to learn more, this episode has something for everyone.
Takeaways:
- Claiming Social Security at 67 might be the norm, but it ain't a one-size-fits-all deal for everyone, man.
- If you need the cash now, claiming early is cool, but know it shrinks your future checks for good.
- When debt collectors come knocking, don't sweat too much; you've got rights, and you can demand proof of that debt.
- Identity theft can sneak up on you; keep a close eye on your mail and bank statements, trust me.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Social Security
- Money magazine
- Mark Guberti
- USA Today
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Lifelock
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00:00 - Untitled
00:37 - Untitled
00:46 - Introduction to Financially Confident Christian Live
01:20 - Navigating Social Security Decisions
16:25 - Understanding Debt Collection Rights
19:44 - Understanding Identity Theft and Its Impact
30:09 - Understanding Identity Theft and Preventive Measures
Speaker A
Well, hello, everybody.
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Welcome in.
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Glad you're here today.
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I'm Ralph Estepp Jr. And this is Financially Confident Christian Live.
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We go live every Friday at 1pm right here.
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Same place we talk about money the way real people actually live it.
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Now, that version where everything goes gets wrapped up neatly.
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We're just talking about the version you're sitting with the bill and didn't expect or decision you're not sure you made right.
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Or maybe it's that letter that showed up and you don't know what to do next.
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That's exactly what we do here today.
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Today I've got three questions.
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All of them are so much more common than you might think.
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We're going to start talking about a man trying to figure out whether 67 is actually the right age for him to claim Social Security or whether that number is just something people repeat without thinking it through.
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Then we're going to talk about a woman getting calls from a debt collector about a bill she's not sure she owes and wanting to know whether her rights are at the moment that already feels overwhelming.
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And then we're going to end the show today with a retiree who got a medical bill for a procedure listen to this.
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She never had.
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And now she's realizing something may be wrong for a while without a red flag showing up on her credit report.
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We're talking about three different situations, all three very real situations.
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So if you're watching on YouTube, the chat is open.
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Drop your questions in as I'll get to as many as I can.
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If you're on Clubhouse joining us today, come up on stage.
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All right, let's get into this.
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So before we get started, I want to remind everybody, tell your friends about the show.
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If this is your first time, welcome to the show and make sure you come back next week.
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And hey, here's a plan.
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Bring somebody with you who needs this information.
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Now if you're interested in finding out more about what we do, you can go to financially contact confidentchristian.com and if you want to go even deeper, you can join our Patreon site.
Speaker A
You can do that by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com join.
Speaker A
So that could be some great things.
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Well, let's get right to question number one here from one of our listeners.
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Listener writes this.
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Everyone I talk to seems to think that 67 is the age to claim Social Security.
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My co worker did it at 67.
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My neighbor did it at 67.
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When I ask why, they all say the same thing.
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It's the full retirement age.
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I'm turning 66 next year, and I've started to wonder if I'm just going to follow the crowd without actually thinking this through.
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My wife is three years younger than me.
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We have some savings, but not a lot.
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I'm still working part time.
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Is 67 actually the right answer for me, or is that just the default that most people pick?
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Because it sounds right.
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Thanks, Ralph.
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And that is a great question to start off with today.
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I want to start by saying this.
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67 Is not some magic number.
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67 Is nothing more than the actual full retirement age that Social Security is saying that that is your full retirement age, and that's for anybody born in 1960 or later.
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For the last few years, we've been going through this situation where it goes up by a couple months each time, but now it's locked in at 67.
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Here's the bottom line.
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If you claim earlier than 67, your check shrinks.
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The problem with your check shrinking, it shrinks forever.
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It never changes.
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So if you decide to take Social Security before you reach that full retirement age, like I said, which is 67, you're going to permanently reduce the amount of benefit you have.
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But here's the other side of that.
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If you wait past 67, it grows about 8% a year until you reach age 70.
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Once you reach age 70, it doesn't get any bigger.
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So you definitely want to take it 70, if not before.
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But the age that's right depends on your situation.
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And that's why I love this question.
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It's not about what the crowd thinks.
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It's about what's right for your particular situation.
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And as we got this question, we did a little research and we found this Money magazine article by a fellow by the name of Mark Guberti.
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And this came out in May of 2026.
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And it, and it really says, here are the three questions that you've got to ask if you find yourself in the same position as this listener today.
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And these are the ones that most people skip.
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So let's get right to it.
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Here's the first question.
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The first question you've got to ask yourself is, can you afford to wait?
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So what you're telling me in your listener question is you're still working part time.
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If your basics are covered, you're handling your expenses.
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If you decide to wait, that actually pays off for you.
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From 67 to age 70 means that you'll roughly get 24% more per month.
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That's for life.
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So if you're able to wait even to age 68, that's an additional 8%.
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If you wait till age 69, that's additional 8%.
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And if you're able to wait till 70, that's an additional 8%.
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That's a 24%.
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We'll call it a salary raise for the rest of your life.
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So this is not a simple decision.
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We just want to say, oh, I'll do whatever I think is best or whatever way the crowd is going.
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This is why this is so important.
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And I love what Mark put in the article.
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He said some people bridge those years with portfolio withdrawals, a part time job, and yes, some cost cutting.
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So getting back to the question, do you need the money?
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If you need the money right now, then by all means claim it.
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It's fine.
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There's no shame in that.
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You're not going to cost yourself anything because you're at full retirement age.
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It's not like you're going to go in the other direction.
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My whole point is though, decide on purpose, be intentional and in making that decision rather than just following the crowd because hey, follow the crowd, get yourself in trouble.
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So that's the first question to ask, do you need the money?
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Second question you got to ask is how long do you need the money for?
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Now the math breaks even around your late 70s, meaning once you get to your late 70s in age, the number doesn't really matter.
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But as I said earlier, if you claim early, you're going to get more checks because you're going to get it at age you could basically get at age 62, you're going to get more checks, but the checks are going to be smaller.
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And that's the way it's going to be for the rest of your life.
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If you wait, you're going to get fewer checks because you're waiting to do it, but they're going to be bigger ones.
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So if you wait till age 70, your check is generally going to be 24.
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I say check course, direct deposit these days, but your check, your direct deposit is going to be 24% higher.
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The other thing you've got to really ask yourself is, is how long does your family live?
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And this is not an easy discussion to have.
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I would say take out a crystal ball and try to figure out how many people in your family make it past age X.
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In my analysis, basically it works out to be if you wait till age 70, you basically have to live to be about 83 years old in order to make this break even.
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In general, waiting usually wins.
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If you have a Longevity.
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Like, I've met with clients who said, hey, man, everybody in my family lives to be 95 years old.
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I say to them right away, wait, especially if you don't need the money right now.
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But if I have a client that comes in and says, dude, I'm the oldest person in my family.
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I just hit 66, I'm thinking, well, maybe it's a good idea to cash your chips in while you can.
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And if you've got health concerns, things that you already know are an issue, it's a different math equation.
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So that's really question number two.
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How long will you need it?
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Now, the piece we don't want to overlook.
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And as Mark brings this out in his article brilliantly, what does this do for your wife?
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You mentioned your wife is three years younger than you.
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And this is one of the questions that a lot of couples miss.
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Your wife being three years younger than you.
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Thing you need to understand is the survivor of your relationship, the survivor on Social Security, keeps the higher of the two benefits.
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So a lot of folks will do this.
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If you claim early as the higher earner and that smaller check is hers, she's going to get your benefits when you pass away.
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So the likelihood of you outliving your wife with her being three years older than you, or, excuse me, three years younger than you, it's most likely you're going to outlive her.
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Well, if you wait to claim your benefits till age 69 or 70, when you do pass away, she's going to get higher earnings and she's going to get higher earnings for decades if she outlives you by a lot.
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Mark put this in the article.
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It says, if you were the higher earner, it might make sense to delay claiming benefits for as long as possible.
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And I recommend this to clients all the time.
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If I have a husband and wife to come in and meet with me and they say, ralph, what do we do about Social Security?
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And I'll say to them, well, let's talk about your ages.
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And let's just say I have a client whose husband is 10 years older than that person.
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To me, if they can wait till age 70, it's definitely the better choice, especially if they're the higher wage earner.
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Now, again, all of these things depend on the situation.
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So the common play that Mark talks about in his article here in Money magazine is higher earner delays the lower earner claims early.
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You understand what I'm saying there?
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So if you're the higher earner of the two, wait to claim your benefits till later.
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If you're the lower one, you can claim it now because you're going to get the higher benefit down the road.
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But that survivor benefit is the number that nobody seems to run in the calculations.
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In the end, you just need to have confidence in making a choice.
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You can explain to yourself there's no shame in any of these decisions.
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Sometimes clients will say to me, ralph, I came in and met with you, and you told me to wait till age 70.
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But, but, dude, I'm taking it at 68, and they feel like I'm going to shame them.
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Not at all.
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That's your decision.
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You've got to do what works best for your particular situation.
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So, I mean, like I said, this is a great question, and it's a question we get all the time.
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And it really comes down to, are we going to follow everyone else?
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Are we going to chart our own course and do our own thing?
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But what are you planning to claim yourself?
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Did you run the math or you fall in the crowd?
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I would love for you to comment.
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If you're able to comment, you can put it right in the.
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In the chat there as you're watching this replay on YouTube.
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But what are you planning to do?
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All right, well, let's get to our second question.
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Second question is all about debt collectors.
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And this one, when we read this one, my assistant and I, we went through it.
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I was like, this is, this is an amazing question, but let's get right to our second question.
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And this one says this.
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Dear Ralph, about four months ago, I started getting calls from a debt collection company about a medical bill from 2023.
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Now, if you're watching this, I'm recording this in June of 2026, just to give some context.
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So she started getting these medical bills from 2023.
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Next thing she says is, I paid part of the bill at the time, and I'm not sure the rest is even mine.
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I'm going to pause there for a second.
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Why would you pay part of the bill and then assume the rest isn't yours?
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That's something we can talk about later.
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But I'm a little confused by that comment.
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And then they say this.
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When I try to explain that, they don't listen.
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Now she's talking about the debt collector.
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They just keep calling.
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The calls have even started coming to my work number.
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I feel like I'm being harassed.
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A friend told me the debt collection complaints are way up right now, and a lot of people are in situations like me.
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Is that true?
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And what are my rights Here, what do I do to make this stop?
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And she ends it with, thank you, Ralph.
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Well, here's the thing.
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I'm going to say, number one, your friend is right.
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You're not the only one going through this.
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I see a lot of this every day.
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I used to work in the credit union industry.
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We used to see this all the time.
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And we found this article.
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Now, this article is from last fall 2025.
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So it's a little bit dated, but I think the data here is really strong.
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It's from USA Today.
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And these numbers are hard to look at.
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I'm going to throw some numbers at you because when I read these, like, wow, this is amazing.
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Let's start with household debt.
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The debt held by individuals in households, $18.4 trillion.
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Now this, like I said, this is in fall of 2025, which.
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That's a big number.
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But listen to this.
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Here's the scary part.
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That's up from $14.3 trillion in 2020.
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So in five years, debt has increased by 4.
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I'm going to do the math for you because I'm pretty good at this.
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It increased by $4.1 trillion.
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Trillion's a big number.
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There's a lot of zeros behind that.
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That's a big number.
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At the same time, credit card debt is now past $1.2 trillion.
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So you understand the burden that's being carried.
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You understand this mountain of debt that's out there.
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That's one side of the equation.
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But here's the scarier part.
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Delinquencies in fall 2025 were the highest since 2012.
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Delinquency, meaning people aren't paying their debts.
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Another scary thing.
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So debts at the highest level and delinquencies at the highest level, we're tracking in the wrong direction.
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Listen to this.
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FTC complaints, Federal Trade Commission were more than 140,000 complaints in one quarter, and that's up from 44,000 a year earlier.
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Tripled them.
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The top complaint, debts that weren't actually owed, of those, 40% said that this debt is not something I owe.
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And that's your exact situation.
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Again, I don't understand why you paid some of it.
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Maybe they were pressuring you.
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Like, I'm just going to get rid of them.
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Rabbit is going to be done with them.
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I wouldn't have paid any of it.
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And Thomas Nietzsche in this article, Money Management International is where he's from, via USA Today, said, I think we're just seeing more people fall into debt and that struggling with collections.
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Well, that's pretty obvious when you look at the number of debt being the highest it's ever been.
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Delinquency rates are high.
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The economy's tough for some people.
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Thomas is right.
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We're seeing more people fall into debt and as they get into debt is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and they're struggling collections.
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But now let's talk about why collectors are pushing so much harder.
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Because a lot of people don't understand this part.
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Old debts get sold for pennies on the dollar.
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Now you might be saying, Ralph, what are you talking about?
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Let me give you an example.
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Let's say you have a debt with a lender and you're not paying them because who knows why?
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You're just not paying them.
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A lot of lenders now will sell those debts for pennies on the dollar to somebody else because it's just worth it to them to be done with it.
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There's so many loans that aren't performing in their portfolio to say, you know what, I'm just going to sell these things and that's what they do.
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But here's the problem with that.
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If you think about it, that buyer, that debt collector has paid for these debts.
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Now maybe they only pay pens on a dollar, but guess what?
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They're going to push harder than the original creditor.
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The original creditor gave up on you a long time ago.
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But this new debt collection company is going to push super hard.
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And also I'm going to mention this, the cfpb, which I'll mention here in a second.
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I'll talk about exactly what that is, has been sidelined.
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Now here's a quote from Erin Witty.
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She's from the Consumer Federation of America again through USA Today.
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She says the messages that companies are getting is that there is no CFPB watching their conduct anymore.
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Now let's talk about what the CFPB is.
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The CFPB is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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That is an independent US Government agency that enforces federal laws protecting consumers in the financial sector.
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This was actually created back in 2010 by the Dodd Frank Act.
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And this is what it's supposed to do.
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It's supposed to ensure that banks, lenders and other financial companies treat you fairly and transparent.
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Transparently.
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That's what it's supposed to do.
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But if it's true that this is not being worked on, there's less oversight.
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So this is why you've got to have more knowledge than anything else.
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So let's get into your rights because you asked me a very specific question.
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I'm going to get right into your rights, here's the big one.
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Number one thing you can do, you can demand written verification of the debt.
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You might be saying, ralph, what does that look like?
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When that person calls you again, answer the phone, be polite about that and say, I want you to give me a written verification of the debt.
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If they bought this from somebody else, which is probably the case, if it was a collection company calling you, they're going to have to go back and get their records and verify that debt is accurate.
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But once you make that request in writing now, again, it can't be like, oh, I'm going to talk them over the phone.
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You got to ask them very clearly, how do I ask for verification of this?
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They should have a phone.
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They should have a way for you to send them an email, send them some kind of written confirmation.
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But once you request that in writing, they've got to stop collection activities completely until they prove that that debt is valid.
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You also can stop the work calls.
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That's a simple thing you got.
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Again, put it in writing.
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Do not call my work.
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They have no right to threaten you.
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They have no right to curse you.
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They have no right to pose as government officials.
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They.
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They have no right to inflate what you owe.
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So your action plan needs to be this number one thing.
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You've got to do a written request.
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I would send that written request certified mail with return receipt request.
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A lot of people have no idea what I'm talking about.
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That.
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Let me explain.
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You send them a letter, go to the post office and ask the post office to send this certified mail with return receipt requested, which basically means whoever receives that letter has to sign off on this.
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And you'll get a postcard back saying who signed for it, when they signed for it, so you can prove they got it.
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Once you prove they've got it, keep that proof.
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And then log every single call, especially if they keep calling.
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Rob, send this in.
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I told them to stop, prove it.
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They haven't done it.
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Log those calls.
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And then once they stop or they violate those rules, then you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission or that cfpb.
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You also can sue them.
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Now, I don't know if you're going to go out and do that.
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You could potentially go hire an attorney and do that.
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But it all comes down to documenting all of this.
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Documentation wins on this.
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So know your ground, stand on your ground.
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Stand firm in what you dealt.
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Now, maybe you're watching or listening to this and you're like, wow, I've dealt with these debt collectors before.
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Did you know about this?
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Written verification?
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A lot of people don't understand this.
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You have an absolute obligation or.
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Or an absolute right to get this in writing, but you've got to make it in writing.
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It's a little bit of a game here, right?
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Because what typically happens is somebody calls you like, that's not my debt.
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Click.
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They're going to keep calling you, they're going to keep harassing you.
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They're going to keep sending you documentation, they're going to keep sending you letters.
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But until you take the stand, know your ground.
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Now, here's the deal.
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If this is your debt, you're going to have to figure out a way to pay it.
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That's just the truth.
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You ain't going to run away from this much longer.
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Now, you may need to go see an attorney about bankruptcy protection or something along those lines.
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But if it's not your debt, then stand firm in that.
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Make them prove it.
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So that's the thing I want to do.
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I want to say that here, because a lot of people don't realize the rights that they do have.
Speaker A
All right, well, let's get to our third question for today.
Speaker A
And this is a question about identity theft.
Speaker A
And this is something that I'm seeing a lot of it on the rise.
Speaker A
I see it a lot in my practice from the IRS perspective of people filing returns under other people's names and that sort of thing.
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So let's get right to this listener question says, Dear Ralph, last week I received a bill from a medical provider for a procedure I never had.
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I thought, wait a minute, you.
Speaker A
But anyway, let me continue.
Speaker A
When I called the office, they had my name, they had my birth date, they even had my address.
Speaker A
Everything matched.
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They actually said the procedure was done in March at a facility three states away from me.
Speaker A
I've never even been to that state, Ralph.
Speaker A
I've never seen that provider.
Speaker A
And I've been monitoring my credit report regularly.
Speaker A
Nothing showed up there.
Speaker A
So my question is this.
Speaker A
If someone stole my identity months ago, how did it not show up on my credit report?
Speaker A
And what else should I be looking at that I might have missed?
Speaker A
Thank you, Ralph.
Speaker A
Well, thank you for sending in that question.
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It's a great question because in your particular case, you've done everything right.
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You're monitoring your credit, you're paying attention to your identity, and it still happened to you.
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The problem with credit reports, they only show active accounts and collections.
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This is a medical identity theft.
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And unfortunately, like you said, the records are in your name, but they don't affect your credit report yet until that medical company sends it to a collection agency.
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So we're going to go back to Matt Gaberty again from Money magazine.
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This is in May 2026.
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He wrote an article about this as well.
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Here's three warning signs that you can look at for things that don't touch your credit report.
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Because a lot of people say, well, Ralph, I monitor my credit, but I don't see these things.
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He came up with some brilliant ideas of things that you can monitor that might not hit your credit report.
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Here's the first sign he calls it communication disruptions.
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If your mail slows down all of a sudden, if you normally get X number of pieces of mail and you're like, you know what's interesting, Rob?
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I haven't gotten any mail lately.
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That's a clear sign that there's an issue.
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If you get password resets on your email or your text that you didn't request.
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See, a lot of people just blow those off, like, oh, that's no big deal.
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No, those are super important.
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If you get one of those, number one, don't click on it because it could be spoofing, it could be trying to what they call it phishing, but see who it's from.
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And if it's from a credit card company that you have, don't click on any links in that, but go call that credit card company, log in with your credentials and see if there's something going on if someone's trying to get into your account.
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Number one thing, add multi factor authentication.
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That will put a lot of these things at rest, which is clearly what's going on here.
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So that's the second thing.
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Mail slows down.
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Password resets you didn't request.
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If you get purchases you didn't make, believe it or not, there are actually people that go make purchases, have stuff sent to you, and you're like, I never ordered this, but this is cool.
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I got this.
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I didn't even ask for it.
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They're setting you up for identity theft.
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Here's another one I hadn't even thought about.
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If your cell service all of a sudden drops.
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Because they could do what's called a SIM swap, where they actually.
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And see, this is even more prevalent now because most of the newer phones don't have a physical SIM card.
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SIM card is basically a little card that goes into the phone that allows it to authenticate.
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They have these things called ESIM now, which is an electronic version of a SIM card.
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And see the Problem with that.
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Think about this.
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Even if you've got that multi factor set up, someone could do a swap with your SIM card and they could be getting those two factor authentication.
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So you have no idea.
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You've done all the right things.
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You've got strong passwords, you've got the multi factor set up, but you have no idea this is coming.
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Because they even stole your phone number for cell services.
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So all of a sudden you're getting all these weird calls, your cell service drops.
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Get in touch with your cell provider and find out if someone is taking your phone number.
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So that's the first sign.
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Communication disruptions, mail password resets, self service.
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Here's the second thing he mentions.
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Bills for things you didn't do, which is the definition of what we got going on here.
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Medical bills for care you never had.
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And here's the problem with that.
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A lot of people say, well, my insurance should just cover.
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I don't even look at that.
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That's the thing about these medical bills.
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A lot of people just assume, especially if you have medical issues, you're like all the insurance.
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They always send me these letters, wrapped.
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The insurance will figure out eventually.
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This is your exact situation.
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If you get any medical bill or a.
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What's called an eob, explanation of benefits, look at it.
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Look who the provider was.
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Look where the service was.
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Look at the service date, make sure it's yours.
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If it's not, get in touch with that provider right away and say, this isn't me.
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Someone is using my information.
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If you get collection notices for accounts you never opened, that's a big red flag.
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Also, they may not be on your credit report yet, but if you're getting those collection notices.
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Here's one.
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Another one hadn't thought about.
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Benefit notices you never applied for.
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If all of a sudden you get this notice, say, hey, Mr. Rav, you got this Great Benefit coming your way and you think, I didn't apply for this.
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That's a big red flag.
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So that's the second thing.
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Bills for things you didn't do.
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Here's the third one.
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And this is a kind of where my, my area of expertise, tax and banking signals.
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Here's a big red flag.
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We do a ton of tax returns, all of our returns electronically filed.
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If the IRS rejects your return, I see this many times during tax season.
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We'll send in the tax return.
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The client doesn't know there's anything going on.
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I send a tax return in, 24 hours later, I get a ba bing back in the back in my email and says, hey, this return was rejected because guess what?
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Someone else has already filed a return.
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I under this name or Social Security number.
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This happens all the time.
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And the IRS has a plan of how to handle that.
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But if you get that notice, if somebody like me, you know, does your tax return you want yourself, you could just kickback, says somebody already filed return.
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Get on touch with the IRS right away.
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There's a problem there.
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That's an early warning sign that someone's taken your identity.
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If you get wage notices from an employer.
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Didn't know this happened a lot.
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During COVID with unemployment, I had a lot of clients getting unemployment claims from other states that they were nowhere near.
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I remember I had one particular client.
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I'm in Delaware, my home base, where my clients are a lot of my local clients.
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He got notices from California unemployment.
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And I said, what'd you do with it?
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He goes, I just figured somebody had something messed up.
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Well, that very issue would have told us he had a major identity theft.
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Or if you have bank activity you don't recognize, listen to me, friends, take a look at your bank statement at least once a month.
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I'm actually a believer in taking a look at your account activity once a week.
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But most of the time, these things will show up on your bank account because they do these little test transactions, maybe for $10 or $5, maybe even $1.
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They want to see, is this a valid card?
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So check your credit card statements, check your bank statements, check all of those things.
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Because Mark says this in the article, he says by the time your credit score drops, you may already been the identity theft victim for several months.
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And that's just the truth, because it takes several months.
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A lot of people don't realize this.
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They think if you miss a payment on your credit card, man, right away that's going to hit the credit bureau.
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That's not necessarily true.
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Most lenders have a delay in their reporting.
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So once you hit 30 days and 60 days, that's when they start to show up.
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But truth is, the lender might not even report it until they send it off to a collection agency.
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And then that collection agency is getting into your credit file to dig out who see this person is because maybe they paid pennies on the dollar for it.
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But at that point, think about it.
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You could be six months, you could be five months, four months, whatever that number is, already into this identity theft.
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And the truth is, once they find we got a live one here, as they say, they're going to go after as much credit as they can, as quickly as they can to build this level because they know at some point it's going to get figured out.
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But I've seen this happen so many times that people's identity goes.
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It's like a bomb went off.
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Account, account, account, account, account.
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This is one of the things I've talked about on the show before.
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I love credit alerts.
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Like, I have a subscription to Norton, and I think it's credit lock or whatever it's called.
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I don't think off the top of my head, but I think it's a great product to have.
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Because actually, it's funny, yesterday I got in a text that says, hey, did you open up a new account?
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And I'd forgotten.
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My wife and I were out shopping and they had one of those credit card offers at the register.
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I saved 30% on that day purchases.
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It's like, sure, I'll take the deal.
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And then here we go.
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30 Days later, Norton let me know.
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Lifelock, that's the name.
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I couldn't think of it.
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Lifelock, Say, hey, Ralph, by the way, is this your account?
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They sent me an email, they sent me a text.
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They sent me actually alert to my phone and like, yeah, that's me.
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Great.
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But see, that could have been not me, and I wouldn't be able to stop that at the front end just 30 days into this.
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But here's the action plan for you, the listener who sent this in number one thing, dispute this in writing.
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Send a letter to the collection agency.
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If it's there, send a letter to the doctor's office.
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Dispute it in writing again.
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Phone calls are great, but follow up with writing because that's what the law says you have to do.
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It has to be in writing.
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I know it sounds arcane, like we're in the Stone Ages with like tablets and chisels, but this is what the law says, because you want that documentation, send it certified mail.
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Make sure they're receiving it.
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Request records.
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Ask for records showing, hey, let me see the identification of the person that came in.
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Let me see the signatures.
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Let me see the procedures that were done.
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Now, in the medical field, there might be some HIPAA requirements, but if somebody's saying they're you, say, I want to see proof that I was there because this medical, this doctor's officer's medical facility should be collecting identification.
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I know whenever I get anything done medically wise.
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Now, I went to the lab a couple weeks ago to get some blood work done.
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First thing they said to me, go scan your id.
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They want to make sure that I am who I say I am.
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So request those records, dispute these things in writing, and then report it@identity theft.gov we'll put that in the show notes.
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But it's identity theft.gov that way you can start to build this case around this.
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Another thing I'm going to say to do, and I've done this several times through Lifelock or there's other.
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I don't want you to think that lifelock's the only one.
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There's other ones you can use.
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But freeze your credit.
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All three bureaus, not just one, not just two, all three of them.
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It doesn't cost you a dime to put a freeze on it.
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If you think something is up.
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The quicker you freeze it, the better off you're going to be.
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Now, as it comes to tax filing, one of the things that I love the IRS did several years ago is they set up this thing called an IRS Identity Protection PIN number.
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Kind of works like a PIN number on your bank card.
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When you go to file your tax return, you've got to put a PIN number on your tax return so that you can prove who you are.
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Now, a lot of people don't understand what you.
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Once you get into that, you're going to have to get a new PIN number every year from the irs.
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This happens all the time.
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During tax season.
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I'll file a tax return and say, nope, nope, nope.
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I get that.
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Bing, bing, bing.
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No, this return didn't go through again because the client has that PIN number.
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I see it with a lot of new clients, like, oh, I forgot to mention that route.
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It's not a hard thing to fix.
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You can actually go online through your IRS.gov portal and get a new PIN number.
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But I love that it's free, it only takes a couple minutes, and then nobody can file a tax return in your name.
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Again, the credit report is one window into this, but you've got to watch for more things.
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So do you monitor your credit?
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You know, this particular listener is doing the right things.
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They're checking their credit report at least once a year.
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Do you have that IRS PIN number?
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Another good thing you can do.
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These are all things that we can do to improve our financial situation.
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And if you notice, all of the listener questions today were those questions that people were doing the right things, they were making the right decision, they were doing all the right things.
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But one thing underneath all of them, the people who come out ahead on the other side were prepared.
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They know what to look for before the problem arrived.
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Think about Social Security, run your numbers.
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Think about your spouse.
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If you're married, know what you're getting into.
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What is the likelihood that you're going to live longer?
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How much money do you need?
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Can you subsidize till you get to that longer date to retire the debt collectors again, the big takeaway from that is written verification sent by certified mail, Document everything.
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Written verification, send it by certified mail.
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You want to be able to tell every single step of the way, here's what I did, here's when I did it, here's who, what got it, all that kind of stuff that is super important.
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And then we ended up with identity theft.
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And I'm gonna give you that website again, identitytheft.gov.
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Go check it out.
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It's got a great amount of great resource information.
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But put that credit freeze on your account, I'm gonna see even something bolder.
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I actually freeze my credit report all the time.
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And if I need to open it up to go get a loan, fine.
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This way nobody can put anything on my account without me knowing it.
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Now, that's an aggressive position, but I don't want to be in that position where three months, six months, nine months, a year down the road, I need to go get credit and all of a sudden I find out there's all these things on my report and get that IRS pin.
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So just think about one step that you can take, just one step this week of any of these are impacting you.
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If you're thinking about retirement or you're getting close to retirement, run the math.
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I also want to remind you of this Financially confident Christian has a daily episode that drops every single morning.
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You can get signed up for that by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com and as I said, if you want to join our Patreon community again, it's financiallyconfidentchristian.com join friend.
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Your financial situation doesn't define your worth.
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I just want to say that from the beginning.
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Everybody struggles with their finances from time to time, but your willingness to face your situation does define your worth.
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Well, that's our financially competent Christian live for this Friday.
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Again, I'm Ralph Estepp Jr.
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I want to thank you so much for being here.
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As I always say on the Daily show, stay financially savvy.
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May God bless you, and I'll see you again next Friday on the show.
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Take care.
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My.
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Division, we ride, We rise.
