Identity....

Really never think about your identity until it's stolen - it's who you are, how others see you, how the financial world sees your potential, how you prove that you are who you say you are supposed to be - in a nutshell, your identity is all that you have in this world that is uniquely yours. What happens when it's stolen? How are you supposed to feel?
You never know where it's being used, who's using it, why they're using it....and the hardest part is that it was all out of your control.
My control.
It was all out of MY control.

I went to college.
I had a student loan.
This student loan information was backed up on portable devices by the guarantor of the loan (federal government here, people.....).
These portable devices were kept in a climate controlled room.

This room was broken into.

3.3 Million People's names, SSN, address and date of births were stolen.

I am one of those people.

1 person out of 3.3 million to feel this way.

I received a letter in the mail today from a company I'd never heard of - I thought it was a scam - until I called my student loan company directly and they verified that yes, indeed, this is legit - this really happened - I really should follow what these people tell me to do in the letter.

Helpless, frustrated, saddened, mad, disappointed - you name it, I'm probably feeling it.

Now I'm left to try to protect the pieces - to go down the list of what they recommend doing. They're giving us 12 months of free membership to Triple Alert - to monitor our credit history for free for 12 months. Isn't that generous of them? I mean, my SSN, Name and bday are forever - - they last longer than 12 fucking months! Now, after those 12 "free" months are up, I will have to pay to protect myself for the rest of my life - thank you for this added expense in life!
I'm frustrated now - I don't know what else to do - monitor my credit is about it. I don't know about putting a security freeze on my credit, I don't know how that affects my credit at all....so many things I just don't know - nor did I ever think I would have to know about!

Maybe they should just do away with my student loan altogether - to make up for this security breach - I mean, I trusted these people to contain my information -that trust was broken - there should be more of a repercussion on their end.....
I know - keep dreaming.....