Do I have anything to be worried about?

kelley198721 · February 2015

I was filling out my annual paperwork of the request for income based repayment form and I emailed it to Nelnet. Their email address for emailing forms like that is submitmyforms@nelnet.net

But I was tired and when I sent off my email, I typed in ".com" instead of ".net". A few seconds later, I realized my mistake and promptly sent another email with the correct address.

But it was too late for the first email. And I'm cringing because the email I sent has sensitive information on it, like my SSN, date of birth, address, etc.

Am I worrying over nothing? I'm just picturing someone somehow receiving this first email and gleefully stealing my identity or money. And granted, this only happened a short while ago (like twenty minutes) but I haven't received a "failure to deliver" notice or email yet.

Am I just being paranoid?

hoffse · February 2015

You're not being paranoid, but there are things you can do to prevent would-be identity thieves from stealing your identity, even if they have all the relevant info.

Look into freezing your credit. Every state permits individuals to freeze their credit through the three major credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. With your credit frozen nobody can open new credit under your SSN (not even you). Anybody who tries will get denied because the people pulling your credit won't even be able to see your report.

The credit bureaus will send you a PIN that you can use to temporarily or permanently unfreeze your credit at a later date. DO NOT LOSE THE PIN because that's the only way to unfreeze it when you do need credit extended to you for some reason.

The cost to freeze your credit is minimal. In many states it's free, but it's usually no more than $10 per bureau.

My parents froze my credit for me right before I entered college because I applied to many schools and had to list sensitive information on each college application. I have since maintained my credit freeze, and I have only lifted it a handful of times over the years when I needed credit for some reason (ie: buying our house). My H keeps his credit frozen too. It's a bit of a pain to unfreeze, but it only takes about 20-30 minutes each time. That's worth the trouble for a major purchase (house, car, etc.) And the irritation of unfreezing it also helps us avoid opening store credit cards on a whim just to save 15%... it's more trouble than it's worth.

Finally, having your credit frozen in no way affects your actual credit score. It just blocks your credit from being pulled and new credit extended.

Anyway check that out. Then you don't really have to worry if somebody has your information because they won't be able to do much with it.

jtmh2012 · February 2015

If it makes you feel any better, I just did a lookup on both nelnet.net and nelnet.com. They both go to the same place. Looks like the company registered both names. Maybe for cases such as this, but probably to keep somebody from squatting on their name.

short+sassy · February 2015

jtmh2012 said:

If it makes you feel any better, I just did a lookup on both nelnet.net and nelnet.com. They both go to the same place. Looks like the company registered both names. Maybe for cases such as this, but probably to keep somebody from squatting on their name.

A lot of companies do this, just for that reason. Good news for you, OP.

@hoffse, thanks for the information about freezing credit accounts. I know you have mentioned it before in other posts, but didn't realize how quickly it can be unfrozen. I have (many times) given serious consideration to doing this, but had assumed unfreezing it would involve writing letters to the three credit agencies and then waiting a number of days. Sounds like it is much easier than I was picturing.

hoffse · February 2015

short+sassy said:

jtmh2012 said:

If it makes you feel any better, I just did a lookup on both nelnet.net and nelnet.com. They both go to the same place. Looks like the company registered both names. Maybe for cases such as this, but probably to keep somebody from squatting on their name.

A lot of companies do this, just for that reason. Good news for you, OP.
@hoffse, thanks for the information about freezing credit accounts. I know you have mentioned it before in other posts, but didn't realize how quickly it can be unfrozen. I have (many times) given serious consideration to doing this, but had assumed unfreezing it would involve writing letters to the three credit agencies and then waiting a number of days. Sounds like it is much easier than I was picturing.

You can actually unfreeze your credit online if your PIN works. For some reason my PINs don't work online for two of the credit bureaus, so I always have to call those two and that's why it takes me 20-30 minutes. Once they confirm my identity they just click a button and it's done. They always tell me to wait 15 minutes before applying for credit just to make sure the system has fully processed it. It's certainly inconvenient, but it's really not a huge deal for the peace of mind.

Because it's somewhat inconvenient - and in my state I have to pay $30 every time I do it - I also make a point to scour the web for credit card sign-up bonuses before I unfreeze my credit. I don't usually chase sign-up bonuses because that would require me to unfreeze my credit too often, but when I have to do it anyway.... The fact is, it's rare that you need to unfreeze credit at a moment's notice, short of applying for store cards at the cash register to save a little bit. I have all the store cards I want, so I usually have time to research and develop a strategy before I unfreeze my credit. That way it doesn't stay open for too long.

Do I have anything to be worried about?

Re: Do I have anything to be worried about?

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