Your savings are also safe at FDIC insured banks as long as you do not exceed the limits per account. Credit unions appear to be better capitalized, on the whole; however there was a WSJ article in August that indicated that some of the larger CUs are also having losses on their mortgage holdings, although not nearly to the extent of some banks. The article indicated that most experts believe that the losses CUs are experiencing in their mortgages are temporary and will right themselves as the market returns to normal. Best to be certain, whether you bank at a bank or a CU, that you do not exceed the deposit insurance thresholds.

Hi Mare, Checking your credit on a scheduled regularity is just as important to your safety & wealth as having dental & physical checkups is to your health. You can get your basic account reports for free directly from each of the three major bureaus (Transperian, Equifax and Experian.) You'll want to get a full tri-merge report that includes your actual credit scores (3 total per person, one from each bureau,) and the 'reason codes' (4 per score) that detail why each score is calculated as far below the perfect 850 as it is. These are basically only available through a mortgage loan officer (usually a broker,) so having a good relationship there is a healthy/wealthy idea. Luck! Dave Donhoff Strategic Equity & Mortgage Planner

(I have deposited more-than-a-year-old checks and had them clear; I can understand why your DH did this, as well as him not noticing. Also, my next-door neighbors were getting old a senile, and didn't cash pension checks; they got a letter saying "did you get your check? it hasn't been cashed? but it was many months later, and it was several checks still on the DR table, not one check) when they took the money out of your savings account, did they give the "defective" check back to you? Shouldn't they have? Demand it be returned to you. (a lesson to us all--if we are giving a bank money back for a check, we should get the check physically returned to us) Unless they submitted it all over again? Here's what I think happened, if I understand this right. (some queries, though) 1. You give them a check, they give you cash. 2. They send the check to the central clearing house (the Federal Reserve?) to get their money. 3. The central clearing house gives the CU its money, and sends the check on to GM to get the money back from them. 4. GM sends the check--but no money--back to the central clearing house as "defective"'; the central clearing house is still in need of money. 5. The central clearing house sends the check back to the CU as "defective" and wants its money back from them. I would think the CU would have an account of money it would use to cover this; it pays the central clearing house, and the central clearing house is out of it. 6. the CU brings the check back to you, and says they want that money back; they take it out of your account. THEY SHOULD GIVE THE CHECK BACK TO YOU--it is your property, once they have their money back. At the very least, they should have destroyed it, but really they should have given it to you so YOU could destroy it. I'm thinking this is where the CU goofed, and I'd press this point. 7. You get a replacement check, and submit it, and the "you to the CU to the central clearing house to GM" chain works, this time. (can you get the folks at GM to send you a copy of their canceled check, the replacement one that supposedly worked just fine? Might be nice to have) Suddenly the old "defective" check is around. (Sometimes if a check is returned for "insufficient funds," the bank will resubmit it, just in case the money will turn up. They will bill the depositor $15, and then if it's returned twice, they'll bill another $15; the check-writer's account will get billed as well each time; this was unpopular, so some banks don't make a second attempt. I'm wondering if your "defective" check got slipped into the "insufficient funds" category and was REsubmitted? So, let's postulate: 8. The credit union resubmits the check to the central clearing house (Federal Reserve?) to get the money. BUT IF THIS IS THE CASE, then they should have RECREDITED your account when they RESUBMITTED the check. (because if they don't give you any money, then they shouldn't be getting any money from anyone else--it's not their money, it's yours, they're just the "pipe" to move it around) Did they? If you can get them to trace their records of when the check was submitted, can you insist that they DO credit your account w/ the money, on that day? 9. The clearing house (FR?) gives the CU the money, and sends the "defective" check on to GM. 10. GM marks the "defective" check w/ a confusing note that was *intended* to indicate that this check has been replaced w/another check, and sends it, but no money, to the clearing house (FR?) 11. The clearing house sends the check back to the CU, demanding its money back. 12. The CU comes to you demanding the money that it owes to the FR. So, did they "give you money" for that check twice (once in cash, once by crediting your account)? No, you say--but if this is what happened, then they should have. Or else someone put that check in the wrong stack somewhere--and I'd want to SEE that check, and I'd want to try to figure who where the "in lieu of" came from. So they should have given you money twice, and asked to get money back from you twice. Maybe if that's the chain of events, you can make them re-credit your savings account w/t he money they owe you from having resubmitted the check (treating it as though you deposited it all over again), and then they can take it back out again. Good luck!

First of all, calling accomplishes nothing. You need to write a letter to the card company stating that you have not opened the account and that you believe this is a case of fraud. The credit agencies are Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. You are eligible to request your credit report for free ONCE a year for EACH agency. You should do so immediately for all three agencies. Creditors do not always report to all three agencies so your credit record may differ slightly from each one. If you don't think you are going to open new credit - anything from a home equity line to a credit card to a new car - then freeze your credit records at all three agencies. There is a modest charge to do so. There is also a charge and a time delay in 'unfreezing' it, should you someday apply for any credit or need a credit check (such as opening a bank account or even renting an apartment). Do NOT go to any site but the one linked below. This is the only website set up to provide a truly free credit report from any of the three credit agencies. All others try to snooker you into signing up for credit monitoring, which they'll charge you for every month. Here is a link that might be useful: Annual credit report request website