Okay, so about a month ago it came out that some government employee lost a harddrive containing the information of almost 600,000 people who took out student loans between the years 2000-2006.
Guess what? I am one of those lucky students!
I just received a letter in the mail today informing me that my social insurance number, my birthdate, my address, and the balance of my student loan is now in the hands of some unknown person.
Basically, this person has all the information needed to commit identity theft of me and almost 600,000 other people.
I got the letter today, February 8 of 2013.
The day the data was stolen or lost?
November 5 of 2012.
It took them three months before they let those of us personally affected know our information was leaked. Three. Months. I'm kind of ticked off.
At the least, they are now putting a note on my credit for the next six years to let the company know to basically make sure it is actually me applying for the credit and not someone fraudulently using my information, but they shouldn't have lost it in the first place. Also, I have to call them to make sure they actually do it. "Give them permission" to protect my credit, basically.
On top of that, I went to withdraw some cash from the bank yesterday to pay for the haircut I'm getting tomorrow, and the stupid piece of crap is apparently "expired." Debit cards do not have an expiration date, last I checked. So it won't let me withdraw my own money from my own goddamn bank account because the bank wants me to replace my swipe card with a chip card.
So I have to call THEM, as well, and tell them this is a fat stinking load of bullshit, expiring my card without informing me.
That's really quite horrible. I can't believe it took them three months to contact the affected people. That'd definitely put me in a bad mood as well!
ReplyDeleteI know! Three months! It turns out my brother and one of my coworkers are affected, too. And probably more people. It's awful.
DeleteMy debit card absolutely has an expiration date. Yours doesn't?
ReplyDeleteNope! Had it for 8 years, no expiration date on it, nor was any expiration date mention when I received it, eight years ago. Only my credit card has an expiration.
DeleteMy debit card is just a card attached to my bank account; I can use it directly to access my savings and chequing accounts, which don't expire, therefore, theoretically neither should my card, unless it wears out. I didn't know anywhere else did it differently.
DeleteYour card has expired because they are introducing new technology that is, as far as I am aware, going to be mandatory (ie. the chip). May not be legally mandatory, but your bank is making it mandatory that all customers use that card.
ReplyDeleteMay not be right to do that to you, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Also, my card doesn't expire either.
Typically though, my bank sends me a new card before the old one is no good, instead of expiring and making me call...