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MONEY DIARIES: Mopping Up After Identity Theft · She's On The Money

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Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud yr
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Speaker 1: the Order Kerney Whoalbury and a waddery woman. And before
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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I
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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land
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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,
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Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming
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Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing
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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for
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Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.
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Speaker 2: Let's get into it.
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Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.
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Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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Speaker 2: for millennials who want financial freedom. Welcome back to another
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Speaker 2: one of our shop backed money diaries where we get
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Speaker 2: to talk to one of our incredibly amazing She's on
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Speaker 2: the Money community members. Let's jump straight in. We got
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Speaker 2: a message this week and it read like this. In
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Speaker 2: first year UNI, I had my identity stolen. They waited
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Speaker 2: a year before using my identity to commit other crimes.
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Speaker 2: I had no idea anything was amiss until the police
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Speaker 2: emailed my father saying I was a suspect. This resulted
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Speaker 2: in me being arrested, fingerprinted, and formally interviewed by police.
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Speaker 2: Even after I was off the hook with the police,
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Speaker 2: it took a long time of clearing my name and
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Speaker 2: cleaning up my credit history. Now, as a twenty three
1:45
Speaker 2: year old PhD student looking at maternal and child health
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Speaker 2: in puba New Guinea, I get by on my PhD
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Speaker 2: stipid end, working all sorts of odd jobs to build
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Speaker 2: my savings emergency fund and I hope to save for
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Speaker 2: a house. Oh my gosh, money diary interest. That is
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Speaker 2: a wild ride, and you are only twenty three. Welcome
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Speaker 2: to the show.
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Speaker 4: Thank you, thanks so much for having me.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, your I don't even want to get
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Speaker 2: into it too quickly because I'll just spoil all of
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Speaker 2: the questions that we've got. But that sounds absolutely crazy,
2:15
Speaker 2: And I'm assuming you're okay now, right.
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Speaker 4: Yes, I still check my credit or for all the time.
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Speaker 4: Just makes all things are good.
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Speaker 2: I would too, Like I would just download it on
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Speaker 2: a weekly basis and just be like just checking, just checking.
2:28
Speaker 2: It's me high echoifax in me again, bye, Like they
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Speaker 2: would know me by name. All right, let's get into it.
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Speaker 2: The first question I always like to ask is can
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Speaker 2: you tell us a little bit more about your money story.
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Speaker 5: Yes, so, I guess like I'm pretty fortunate to come
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Speaker 5: from a relatively well off family, not like crazy rich
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Speaker 5: or anything, but we definitely never went with that. You know,
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Speaker 5: like private schools, all the extra curriculus that we could
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Speaker 5: want to do that Mum allowed with time, work and everything,
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Speaker 5: and like the odd overseas troop here and there, that
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Speaker 5: sort of thing.
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Speaker 4: But money wasn't really ever us something that we talked about, at.
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Speaker 5: Least not while we're still young and growing up. I
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Speaker 5: remember asking Dad what he earned once when I was
3:06
Speaker 5: in like breath and he just like looked at me.
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Speaker 4: It was like enough and that was it? Right?
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Speaker 2: They were like no, did Dad?
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Speaker 5: No?
3:13
Speaker 2: Did?
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Speaker 3: Yeah?
3:13
Speaker 4: Okay, cool, thanks and then yeah.
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Speaker 5: As I grew up, had like a pretty positive relationship
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Speaker 5: with money, never really thought about it aside from like,
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Speaker 5: you know, have money, spend money, get things. But that
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Speaker 5: all sort of changed in my younger Sistar Wars diagnosed
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Speaker 5: with anorexia. My parents like mostly tried to keep me
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Speaker 5: out of it as much as they could, but there
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Speaker 5: are always loads of appointments to pay for, like nutrition,
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Speaker 5: as pediatrician, dietrician, psychologists like.
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Speaker 4: You know, whatever you can think of, you name it.
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Speaker 4: It was hard to be paid for.
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Speaker 5: And as you know, as much as my parents wanted
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Speaker 5: to keep me out of it, there's always comments like
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Speaker 5: oh my gosh, like this is so expensive that sort
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Speaker 5: of thing, not that you know, like we went without
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Speaker 5: or anything. I guess it just like was a bit
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Speaker 5: of a financial strain for them, and that sort of
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Speaker 5: flowed down. I just sort of retained that past that point.
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Speaker 5: I was about in year nine when that, or my
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Speaker 5: sister I was only in year six, which is something
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Speaker 5: like twelve, which was very young.
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Speaker 4: But yeah, after that.
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Speaker 5: I just really didn't want to be a burden or
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Speaker 5: my family financially or otherwise. And I guess that's like
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Speaker 5: led me to be like super independent and I really
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Speaker 5: value living out of home and paying for things on
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Speaker 5: my own, having everything, and it's being like mine that
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Speaker 5: I've paid for and that I don't owe anyone anything.
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Speaker 5: But yeah, I really like that. It's taken a while
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Speaker 5: to get to the point where I sort of feel
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Speaker 5: more open to help.
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Speaker 4: From my parents.
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Speaker 5: I guess when I needed or want it, I like
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Speaker 5: later on I needed my own psychologist to help me
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Speaker 5: sort of work through everything that happened with my sister.
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Speaker 5: And I refused to talk to my parents about it.
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Speaker 5: I didn't want them knowing that I was going to
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Speaker 5: see a psychologist. I thought it would just be like
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Speaker 5: a bit much after everything that had happened with my sister.
5:00
Speaker 5: But like, after a couple of sessions and my Joyen's
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Speaker 5: always been like very supportive about all of this stuff.
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Speaker 5: He was encouraging me to talk to my parents about
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Speaker 5: it and talk to my mum, and she offered to
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Speaker 5: help pay for it, which was really nice because at
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Speaker 5: the time I was not making very much money at all,
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Speaker 5: and having to pay for psychologists and things out of
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Speaker 5: my own pocket was really putting a dent in the savings.
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Speaker 5: But I guess like now I'm in a much better
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Speaker 5: spot where I'm more open and like happy to accept
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Speaker 5: help where I need it and if I want it.
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Speaker 5: That's like I really still prefer to do things on
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Speaker 5: my own where I can.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow. And then growing up a little bit more,
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Speaker 2: you ended up having your identity stolen? How did that
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Speaker 2: impact you financially?
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Speaker 5: Fortunately it didn't impact me financially, Like none of my
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Speaker 5: own money was taken or anything. So it was all
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Speaker 5: just like credit in my name, which all got removed.
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Speaker 5: And because I was so young, I wasn't like applying
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Speaker 5: for credit cards or mortgages or anything, so like otherwise
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Speaker 5: I literally wouldn't have known for years if the plan
6:00
Speaker 5: sat at home email Dad to ask and step the
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Speaker 5: whole thing rolling, I guess.
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Speaker 2: So the police just literally emailed you died and we're like, hey, yeah,
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Speaker 2: just FYI, we think your daughter's a criminal XO.
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Speaker 4: Like yes, it was so random.
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Speaker 5: The guy the constable that email Dad, he had like
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Speaker 5: a very unique name that I have never heard before
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Speaker 5: and have never heard ever again. So we were like, oh,
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Speaker 5: like is this some sort of like Nigerian prince kind
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Speaker 5: of scam?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, scam scam. You just need to transfer X
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Speaker 2: amount of money and I'll return you a million.
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Speaker 5: And then Dad's like texted me. I was at Uni
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Speaker 5: at the time, and Dad's like, what has he done?
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Speaker 4: I was like anything, I swear, I swear.
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Speaker 2: So you got arrested for it and ended did you
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Speaker 2: ended up in jangle for this and you didn't do anything?
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Speaker 4: Well?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's a whole long process, but basically
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Speaker 5: at least what they said was in order to interview me,
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Speaker 5: which they had to do to rule me out as
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Speaker 5: a suspect.
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Speaker 4: Like part of the procedure.
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Speaker 5: Is like arresting, so they didn't put like handcuffs on
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Speaker 5: me or anything, but I had to get the police
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Speaker 5: station in the middle of the night because the guy
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Speaker 5: was working night shifts.
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Speaker 4: And then they were like, you're under arrest.
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Speaker 5: Anything you can do you know, oh, that's steel, and
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Speaker 5: then took me into the interview room.
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Speaker 2: This is arguably hilarious because obviously this is anonymous, but
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Speaker 2: like I can tell you right now, our money diarist
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Speaker 2: does not look like the type of person that would
7:25
Speaker 2: do very well in the jail. Sorry, money Diarists love you,
7:31
Speaker 2: We'll come back to this. Not my thing, no, no,
7:33
Speaker 2: no no. I just think you look too sweet, and
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Speaker 2: you look like you're probably like the same height as me,
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Speaker 2: which is standing really told like maybe five five one.
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Speaker 2: Like you are just very patigued. There's no chance that
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Speaker 2: you in jail is ever going to be a good idea.
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Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask you more questions though, because I want
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Speaker 2: to come back to this process after the break. But
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Speaker 2: I want to know, now, what do you do for work?
7:54
Speaker 2: And how much money do you earn?
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Speaker 4: So yes, I literally just started my PhD like two
7:58
Speaker 4: weeks ago.
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Speaker 2: Congrat that's so exciting.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you. I'm super excited about it.
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Speaker 5: But yeah, so that's my primary source of income, I guess, yeah,
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Speaker 5: so PhD student, I'm pretty lucky to have that stipend
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Speaker 5: as well as the fees offset, so I don't pay
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Speaker 5: any fees or get any x or anything, and I
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Speaker 5: get the stipend, which is thirty K a year index tax.
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Speaker 4: Free as living allowance, which.
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Speaker 5: Like luckily covers all my basics like rent and you know,
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Speaker 5: bills and all that sort of thing.
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Speaker 4: But yeah, it.
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Speaker 5: Doesn't leave much for most, say things after that, so
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Speaker 5: I work outside of.
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Speaker 4: This as well.
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Speaker 5: I do nanny and babysitting and coaching where I can
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Speaker 5: fit it in. Yeah, so like nanning, I well, it
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Speaker 5: depends on the week, but usually have a couple of
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Speaker 5: afternoons a week and be earning as of next year
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Speaker 5: three hundred and sixty dollars a week. But at the moment,
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Speaker 5: because I'm still tying up a few things that I
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Speaker 5: was doing earlier in the year, it's more like six
8:55
Speaker 5: hundred or so. And then coaching is like pretty variable.
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Speaker 5: It changes a lot. Yeah, Diving coaching very variable and
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Speaker 5: only during the school term. Sometimes I do athletics coaching
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Speaker 5: as well, depends, but that can range anywhere from three
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Speaker 5: hundred to six hundred dollars a fortnight. And then I
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Speaker 5: just do like casual babysitting if it pops up and
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Speaker 5: I'm free.
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Speaker 4: So that's between all of that.
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Speaker 5: My approximate annual income is probably around fifty nine K.
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Speaker 2: That's not too bad for a PhD student at this point,
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Speaker 2: but do you think that that is going to be
9:27
Speaker 2: maintainable given you've just started your PhD. I feel like
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Speaker 2: every friend that has ever done a PhD kind of
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Speaker 2: ends up pulling out their hair, So do you think
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Speaker 2: that that's reality.
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Speaker 5: I'm hoping you'll stay like at least around fifty K
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Speaker 5: a year, but I guess, like you know, I'm still
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Speaker 5: waiting to see how to go at the moment because
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Speaker 5: I've just started. It's mainly just like admin and getting
9:51
Speaker 5: everything set up, so there hasn't been too much on
9:54
Speaker 5: my plate right now. And two of my families that
9:57
Speaker 5: I have for nanny I'll give up next year, which
9:59
Speaker 5: is why it'll go down to three hundred and sixty
10:02
Speaker 5: dollars a week because that's just like three afternoons for
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Speaker 5: a couple of hours. Yeah wow, yeah, so I guess
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Speaker 5: we'll see. But fortunately, stuff like coaching that's usually in
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Speaker 5: the morning or after school and it's usually only for
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Speaker 5: like an hour tops, but you get paid for two
10:15
Speaker 5: hours every time you go in anyway, so that like
10:18
Speaker 5: that sort of helps because you don't have to work
10:20
Speaker 5: as much and you still get paid.
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Speaker 2: That's a bit of a money win, but also really niche,
10:24
Speaker 2: Like it's not something where I go, oh my gosh,
10:26
Speaker 2: you're at UNI. You could absolutely pick up another barista shift,
10:29
Speaker 2: like you're like, hey, I am actually a diving coach. Yeah,
10:32
Speaker 2: that's quite niche. Is that because you grew up diving?
10:36
Speaker 5: Yeah?
10:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well I started off swimming. I guess like everyone's parents.
10:41
Speaker 5: Chucked them in swimming lessons and the swimming pool that
10:44
Speaker 5: I was learning to swim. I had a diving book
10:47
Speaker 5: next certain least to beg mom every session.
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Speaker 4: Mom, Mom, I want to do that. Please, please let
10:52
Speaker 4: me do that. And Mom's like really risk averse and
10:55
Speaker 4: she's like.
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Speaker 5: No way, you can do yeah, not until you're at
10:59
Speaker 5: least squad level swimming. I was like, oh, like, okay,
11:03
Speaker 5: so I worked really hard to get out to that
11:04
Speaker 5: point in swimming. They finally got to do diving us thrilled.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, and now you're literally a coach. That
11:12
Speaker 2: is so cool as somebody who also did squad swimming.
11:15
Speaker 2: And you know what, I really didn't appreciate my parents
11:18
Speaker 2: when I was in high school. Those like literal four
11:21
Speaker 2: thirty am starts are not for the faint hearted, and
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Speaker 2: I used to hate it. Oh one out of ten
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Speaker 2: cannot recommend, but I'm impressed that you've stayed committed.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, we're diving.
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Speaker 5: Fortunately used to be like more late night sessions, so
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Speaker 5: I v six to eight pm instead of the early
11:38
Speaker 5: ones because the swimmers would have to fall in the morning.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's fair, that's very fair. Smart from you, but
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Speaker 2: there's no chance you would get me to jump off
11:45
Speaker 2: that thing on a consistent basis. Not how many all? Right,
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Speaker 2: money in forest? I want to know what is currently
11:52
Speaker 2: your big money goal? What are we working towards?
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Speaker 5: Slowly but surely I'm working towards saving out for a
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Speaker 5: house deposit, So obviously I've still got to you know,
12:01
Speaker 5: see how everything goes with the PhD. But assuming that
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Speaker 5: I can do like a couple of afternoons a week
12:07
Speaker 5: of nanny like you know, I think that's maybe ten
12:10
Speaker 5: hours across the whole week, and like a coaching here
12:13
Speaker 5: and there. I should be able to save up and
12:16
Speaker 5: up by the time that I've finished my PhD and
12:19
Speaker 5: done like a full year of work, so I'll be
12:20
Speaker 5: off probation after that period.
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Speaker 4: So that's what my goal is.
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Speaker 5: I suppose I'm aiming for like eighty to one hundred
12:27
Speaker 5: as a deposit.
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Speaker 4: We'll see.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's so clear. How did you come
12:33
Speaker 2: to the conclusion that eighty tw one hundred thousand dollars
12:36
Speaker 2: was the deposit you wanted.
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Speaker 4: I guess I'm just really interested in real estate.
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Speaker 5: Like I love going on real estate dot com and
12:43
Speaker 5: going through the domain on the weekends and having a
12:45
Speaker 5: look at everything. And like with the first home buyer,
12:49
Speaker 5: I don't know the one where you don't have to
12:50
Speaker 5: pay stamp.
12:51
Speaker 4: Dude, I forget which ones they're all called.
12:53
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, one of the schemes.
12:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, with one of the schemes, like you can get
12:58
Speaker 5: a house in quotations, because six hundred and fifty K
13:02
Speaker 5: does not far your house in most capital cities around Australia.
13:07
Speaker 4: But that's sort of.
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Speaker 5: What I was looking at, like a two bedroom apartment
13:11
Speaker 5: in capital city and then i'd probably need around eighty
13:15
Speaker 5: to one hundred if not more than that. Yeah, we'll
13:18
Speaker 5: just see how it goes, but that's sort of what
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Speaker 5: I'm working towards.
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Speaker 2: Wow, I love this. I'm so excited to see you
13:23
Speaker 2: do that. Next question I have for you is you're young,
13:27
Speaker 2: you're doing your PhD. But do you have any investments? Yes?
13:31
Speaker 2: I do, Actually, of course she does. She's too planned.
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Speaker 2: I love this.
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Speaker 5: So through my online broker, which is Steak that I've
13:39
Speaker 5: got twenty five thousand invested in there.
13:43
Speaker 2: Wait twenty five thousand at twenty three are you kidding me?
13:48
Speaker 4: There's been a bit of help.
13:49
Speaker 2: I'm not going to lie, so okay, but like that's
13:52
Speaker 2: a lot.
13:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, I try and can spit like five grand a year,
13:57
Speaker 5: but I have to tence.
13:59
Speaker 2: That's really good.
14:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm really excited about it. I like seeing how
14:04
Speaker 5: it all goes up and down and everything. Yeah, and
14:07
Speaker 5: I've got some money invested in raised not heat's like
14:10
Speaker 5: four hundred and twenty five dollars. I think they've got
14:13
Speaker 5: a notification today and I just like put five dollars
14:16
Speaker 5: a week in their Emerald portfolio. I think so just again,
14:19
Speaker 5: I like to see how the markets work, I suppose,
14:22
Speaker 5: and it's a lower risk, well not a lower risk,
14:25
Speaker 5: but like a smaller amount of money to play within.
14:28
Speaker 2: There. Love good work, all right. Next question I have
14:32
Speaker 2: for you is do you have any debts? If so,
14:33
Speaker 2: what are they?
14:35
Speaker 5: Just my HEX step at the moment, so I checked today,
14:39
Speaker 5: that's about forty three K so my undergrad with my
14:43
Speaker 5: honest degree, which is like, oh fine, you know, I
14:48
Speaker 5: won't get anything more from my PhD, which is really great,
14:51
Speaker 5: and I don't think I've started paying the hex back yet.
14:54
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. That's so exciting though. And I think
14:56
Speaker 2: a lot of people don't know this, but if you
14:58
Speaker 2: go to do postgraduates, they can be really really expensive.
15:02
Speaker 2: Like when I was looking at doing my MBA, which
15:05
Speaker 2: is a Master's of Business Administration, it can sit anywhere
15:08
Speaker 2: between seventy and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to
15:11
Speaker 2: do that degree. However, if you went and did a PhD,
15:15
Speaker 2: that's usually supported and you literally get paid to do it.
15:18
Speaker 2: So not only are you going to get to call
15:19
Speaker 2: yourself doctor money direst You're like way smarter than us
15:23
Speaker 2: when it comes to financials because I'm still sitting on
15:25
Speaker 2: six figures of hexteat and I just don't want to
15:27
Speaker 2: talk about it.
15:30
Speaker 5: I was tossing up between Masters of public health versus
15:33
Speaker 5: doing a PhD in public health stuff, and that was.
15:35
Speaker 4: One of the factors.
15:36
Speaker 5: I was like, well, get like a higher qualification in quotations,
15:41
Speaker 5: but I won't have to pay for it, so might
15:44
Speaker 5: do that.
15:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, money, money win, I love it all right. Next
15:49
Speaker 2: question I've got for you does relate to a money
15:51
Speaker 2: win as well, and it is do you use shopback?
15:54
Speaker 4: Yes? I do?
15:55
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, what do you buy?
15:56
Speaker 5: Honestly, mostly it's a gifts for other people that I
15:59
Speaker 5: do line shopping for, so like you know, birthdays, Christmas,
16:03
Speaker 5: et cetera. I love the iconic in particular, or I
16:06
Speaker 5: love it when they have their upsized cash backs. But yeah,
16:10
Speaker 5: I usually just anything that I'm buying online, I check
16:12
Speaker 5: to see if I can use shot back. If it's
16:14
Speaker 5: not urgent, I try and wait and see if I
16:16
Speaker 5: can wait until there is an upsize, and then at
16:20
Speaker 5: the same time, like if there's something I frequently use
16:23
Speaker 5: so like I do swimming and diving and stuff, I.
16:25
Speaker 4: Get dechlorination shampoo so like OZ Hair.
16:28
Speaker 5: And Beauty is one of the places on shot back,
16:31
Speaker 5: and they like frequently have upsides, so I usually wait
16:34
Speaker 5: for them to have it like a seventeen percent cash
16:36
Speaker 5: back and then I'll stock up smart.
16:38
Speaker 2: That's a lot back. And I know, having done a
16:41
Speaker 2: bit of swimming in my time, I know it doesn't
16:43
Speaker 2: look like it, guys, but having done a little bit
16:45
Speaker 2: of swimming all my time, that de chlorination shampoos really
16:48
Speaker 2: expensive and it doesn't even feel as nice as it could.
16:51
Speaker 4: I know. It's like fifty dollars for two bottles kills me.
16:55
Speaker 2: And it doesn't even smell that nice. What the heck?
16:58
Speaker 4: No, I usually use that and then a different one.
17:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, smart, smart, All right, Next question I've got, I
17:05
Speaker 2: want to know what is your best money habit?
17:08
Speaker 4: Probably budgeting.
17:09
Speaker 5: I love setting up my spreadsheets and like having all
17:12
Speaker 5: my different incomes from different areas and breaking all the
17:15
Speaker 5: numbers down.
17:16
Speaker 4: And I have one friend who's let me do it
17:18
Speaker 4: for her as well, so that was fun too.
17:20
Speaker 2: Oh I love that. So you're you're me, You're like,
17:23
Speaker 2: can I do your budget.
17:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, a less qualified like, don't hate me for this budget.
17:30
Speaker 2: No, no, it doesn't matter, Like budgeting is fun. Let
17:33
Speaker 2: me at it with a spreadsheet. How fun. How did
17:36
Speaker 2: that conversation come up?
17:38
Speaker 5: Well, she actually listens to She's on the money as well,
17:41
Speaker 5: so sometimes we talk about it and I lent her
17:44
Speaker 5: my books, like of your books, I guess, and yeah,
17:48
Speaker 5: we're talking about it, and I was talking about like
17:49
Speaker 5: doing my budget because she's my boyfriend's sister. They're twins,
17:54
Speaker 5: so we're all sort of friends together. So I was
17:57
Speaker 5: doing his budget and then I was like, oh, like,
17:58
Speaker 5: if you want me to do yours?
18:00
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, so I've done them all.
18:05
Speaker 2: That is literally my favorite thing I've heard a week.
18:07
Speaker 2: That is the best. All right, I want to know next, though,
18:10
Speaker 2: what is your worst money habit.
18:12
Speaker 5: I'm really good at saving up for things right off
18:14
Speaker 5: until I have to pay for something expensive.
18:17
Speaker 4: So like last week, I had to get three new
18:19
Speaker 4: tires on my car, which is like a nightmare.
18:22
Speaker 5: I broke down in the middle of the West Gate
18:24
Speaker 5: Freeway at five point thirty on the way to the airport.
18:26
Speaker 4: It was like a disaster. I thought I was going
18:30
Speaker 4: to die.
18:30
Speaker 2: And then you can't get out of the car, and
18:32
Speaker 2: you've got to stay in the car, and then you're
18:33
Speaker 2: like getting stressed. No, no, that sounds terrible. I'm getting
18:36
Speaker 2: secondary anxiety for you.
18:38
Speaker 5: It was up there with the worst experiences of my life.
18:42
Speaker 5: But after that, like you know, that tie obviously needed
18:45
Speaker 5: to be replaced, and then the other ties were old too,
18:47
Speaker 5: so we just got.
18:48
Speaker 4: All of them. And then I'm like, oh, I spent
18:50
Speaker 4: this much money, it may as well.
18:52
Speaker 2: May as well bleed some more cash.
18:55
Speaker 4: Exactly what's it going to do now? Like on, No,
19:00
Speaker 4: that's probably my worst money.
19:02
Speaker 2: That's not the worst money habit. But I do think
19:04
Speaker 2: you deserved that in that moment. I feel like after
19:06
Speaker 2: that traumatic experience, you definitely deserve to pick me up. Look,
19:10
Speaker 2: I feel like it would take years off mine as well.
19:12
Speaker 2: All right, next question before we go to a quick break,
19:16
Speaker 2: I want to know what grade would you give your
19:18
Speaker 2: money habits if we forced you to give yourself a grade?
19:21
Speaker 4: I reckon like a low A, but a better A.
19:25
Speaker 5: If I couldn't get on top of spending all my
19:28
Speaker 5: money as soon as I have to buy.
19:29
Speaker 2: Something, yeah, fair, And then what is there anything else
19:33
Speaker 2: you'd have to change to get to an A plus.
19:35
Speaker 5: I'd like to in best more, I guess, but I'm
19:39
Speaker 5: focusing on saving my money from my house deposit eventually,
19:43
Speaker 5: so I guess, like that's more what I'm focusing on,
19:46
Speaker 5: and trying to stick to the budgets that I make
19:48
Speaker 5: because I know they work. I've crunched the numbers, but
19:50
Speaker 5: sometimes I'm like, well, maybe I need a bit more.
19:53
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, all right, I want to get into
19:55
Speaker 2: the nitty gritty of how you literally got arrested when
19:58
Speaker 2: your identity got stolen. So guys, don't go anywhere. We'll
20:01
Speaker 2: be back after this really quick break. All right, money diarist,
20:09
Speaker 2: we are back. You got arrested for things you didn't do.
20:12
Speaker 2: You got your identity stolen, and it literally took a
20:15
Speaker 2: year before anything actually happened. And for the person who
20:19
Speaker 2: stole your identity to commit any crimes. I need to know,
20:22
Speaker 2: how did it happen, How did they steal your identity?
20:25
Speaker 2: How can I stop this happening to me?
20:27
Speaker 4: Well, at the.
20:28
Speaker 5: Time, I was like first year UNI, obviously, you know,
20:30
Speaker 5: like going out with friends and like just doing random
20:34
Speaker 5: things all the time, I guess, and not really keeping
20:37
Speaker 5: enough attention to where my wallet was and so over
20:41
Speaker 5: the course of first year UNI, I lost my walt
20:44
Speaker 5: three times, so I really had it coming.
20:46
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you was setting yourself up for this.
20:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, hmm, absolutely. But the time that I think was
20:52
Speaker 5: when they stole my identity. We were literally just sitting
20:55
Speaker 5: at dinner and I had my of wallet on the table,
21:00
Speaker 5: I think.
21:01
Speaker 2: And this is in Melbourne, right, this isn't somewhere Yeah,
21:04
Speaker 2: in Melbourne, completely like random.
21:06
Speaker 4: In Ligon Street.
21:07
Speaker 2: Oh gosh.
21:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, So sitting out on Lagan Street and I was like,
21:11
Speaker 5: are with a couple of friends after UNI, just grabbing
21:13
Speaker 5: like a bite to eat. And I didn't know this
21:16
Speaker 5: at all, but I think someone rubbed my wallet because
21:19
Speaker 5: then I like went to go meet my family for
21:22
Speaker 5: dinner because family friends were over from the States and
21:24
Speaker 5: they were going out to dinner somewhere close by. So
21:26
Speaker 5: I went to go and meet them, and when I
21:28
Speaker 5: got there, I realized that I didn't have my wallet.
21:31
Speaker 4: I was like, what on earth? I'm sure I had
21:33
Speaker 4: it with me, like it was on the table.
21:34
Speaker 5: I would have brought it with me, and I thought
21:36
Speaker 5: maybe I'd left it on the trainer and I brought
21:38
Speaker 5: something and I was calling everyone.
21:39
Speaker 4: I was like, I don't know where it is, and
21:41
Speaker 4: it just like never turned up.
21:42
Speaker 5: But obviously at this point, I've done this twice that
21:45
Speaker 5: year already, so I was like, oh, whatever, cancel the cards,
21:48
Speaker 5: order the new ones, so and so on. Life goes
21:51
Speaker 5: on sort of thing.
21:52
Speaker 2: She has a process, she'd done this, she's been here
21:54
Speaker 2: for this, practiced.
21:57
Speaker 4: Yeah.
21:57
Speaker 5: So then nothing happened until halfway through second year. So
22:01
Speaker 5: this is halfway through twenty nineteen, towards the end of
22:05
Speaker 5: first semester, and then my dad got an email from
22:09
Speaker 5: the policeman the constable.
22:11
Speaker 2: Which still shocks me that they're just chill. That's ridiculous, Like,
22:14
Speaker 2: no call, they didn't even try and call you, They
22:17
Speaker 2: just email you, Dad, And like, by the way, no,
22:19
Speaker 2: I was shocked your daughter as a criminal kiss kiss.
22:23
Speaker 4: At that point, I was nearly twenty.
22:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope this email finds you well.
22:29
Speaker 4: Genuinely, I was like, why aren't they contacting me? Like
22:32
Speaker 4: I'm an adult. This is so weird.
22:36
Speaker 6: I feel like this is some level of breach of
22:38
Speaker 6: privacy from big police. Like I don't know, but I'd
22:42
Speaker 6: be pretty mad if they were calling my parents about
22:45
Speaker 6: something i'd been doing. What if you have been doing
22:48
Speaker 6: it and they just outed you to your parents and
22:49
Speaker 6: they're not the person that you would call it, baile
22:51
Speaker 6: you out.
22:52
Speaker 5: Like jeez, thank you constable. Yeah no, And so Dad
22:58
Speaker 5: like chexts me with a screen shot. Well I'm in class,
23:01
Speaker 5: and he's like, you know, like what have you done?
23:03
Speaker 5: I was like, oh my god, like I have not
23:05
Speaker 5: done anything. I have no idea what's going on. And
23:07
Speaker 5: he's like, oh what.
23:08
Speaker 4: And then everyone was freaking out and mom and dad
23:11
Speaker 4: were like, oh, we got to.
23:12
Speaker 5: Talk to a lawyer, like so on and so forth, because,
23:14
Speaker 5: as I said earlier, like we we thought it was
23:16
Speaker 5: like a scam to start with, because it was like
23:18
Speaker 5: quite a unique name that again never heard before.
23:22
Speaker 4: I don't think I'll ever hear it again.
23:23
Speaker 2: And we're like, yeah, he's listening to it now, and
23:25
Speaker 2: he's like, hey, I'm not a scammer. I'm just a
23:28
Speaker 2: friendly cop who's just trying to dub on you to
23:30
Speaker 2: your dad exactly exactly. So what then happened? You literally
23:36
Speaker 2: ended up getting arrested so that you could be formally
23:38
Speaker 2: interviewed by police. You clearly got let go, which is
23:42
Speaker 2: a win, a money win, they could say. But how
23:45
Speaker 2: much money or how much debt had they racked up,
23:48
Speaker 2: because we talked about credit history before, like what were
23:51
Speaker 2: they doing? How were they using your identity?
23:54
Speaker 4: They had done a whole bunch of different things.
23:57
Speaker 5: Obviously there was it was mainly like fast loan kind
24:01
Speaker 5: of things.
24:02
Speaker 4: I forget what they were all called.
24:04
Speaker 5: I think the most like well known of those would
24:07
Speaker 5: have been Latitude.
24:08
Speaker 4: They spent the most money there, I think, But.
24:10
Speaker 5: Overall it was like, I think somewhere between forty and
24:14
Speaker 5: sixty thousand dollars in credit.
24:16
Speaker 2: Wow.
24:17
Speaker 5: From memory, I think one of them was like like
24:20
Speaker 5: they have hired out a boat.
24:23
Speaker 4: Or something and didn't return it. There's some weird things
24:27
Speaker 4: in there.
24:28
Speaker 2: What on ear So they've got like a lot of
24:31
Speaker 2: fast credit, which kind of makes sense for identity theft
24:35
Speaker 2: purely because fast cash. We all lack some fast cash,
24:39
Speaker 2: especially if it is stolen. But a boat, what were
24:42
Speaker 2: they doing just having a good boat weekend?
24:45
Speaker 4: I don't know.
24:46
Speaker 5: It was weird because like when you're cleaning up the
24:48
Speaker 5: credit record, you have to go through and like call
24:50
Speaker 5: in all of the individual companies and send them like
24:53
Speaker 5: the stat deck and the police report and all this
24:55
Speaker 5: other stuff, and you know, prove that you're right. D's
24:57
Speaker 5: changed off, like there's just so much stuff you have
24:59
Speaker 5: to do.
25:01
Speaker 4: And yeah, I was calling that one and they weren't
25:03
Speaker 4: like a like a credit.
25:04
Speaker 5: Place, and I was like, this is weird, okay, and
25:09
Speaker 5: yeah they took it off my record.
25:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, hello, sorry about your bouch. I wish I had
25:13
Speaker 2: a bouche. I don't have a bow. Oh my gosh,
25:16
Speaker 2: that is so bizarre.
25:18
Speaker 4: I know.
25:19
Speaker 2: Do we have an update on this case? Have they
25:22
Speaker 2: found the person who did it? Are they in trouble?
25:24
Speaker 2: Is this just something that can happen and you just
25:26
Speaker 2: wipe it off like you're giving me anxiety?
25:29
Speaker 5: I think they had found the person, so I suppose
25:32
Speaker 5: back to earlier how it all came up was because
25:35
Speaker 5: this woman who'd taken my identity had used my identity
25:40
Speaker 5: and then stolen this other guy's cards and was buying
25:44
Speaker 5: things with his cards in my name, if that makes sense.
25:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so they thought you were being dodgy.
25:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, so they I think it was like culture Kings
25:53
Speaker 5: or something she was doing clicking collects in my name
25:55
Speaker 5: but like not paying.
25:56
Speaker 4: I can't quite remember how all.
25:59
Speaker 5: Panned out, but they had her on security footage. So
26:03
Speaker 5: in the eMate, well, in the subsequent emails to.
26:05
Speaker 4: My dad, they were like, oh, can you just like
26:07
Speaker 4: send us.
26:07
Speaker 5: A photo of your daughter and we'll just like rule
26:09
Speaker 5: her out as long as she doesn't look like this
26:11
Speaker 5: person that we're chasing down. But then Dad like emailed
26:14
Speaker 5: a photo of me and they're like, oh, no, actually
26:16
Speaker 5: they look kind of similar. Did she come in please,
26:18
Speaker 5: because obviously, like she's got my like driver's license, so
26:22
Speaker 5: she you know, changed her hand and like whatever. So
26:24
Speaker 5: she looked like obviously, if I was looking at the photo,
26:27
Speaker 5: I'd be like, that's not me. But like, you know,
26:29
Speaker 5: to someone who never met me and only had one
26:32
Speaker 5: random photo.
26:33
Speaker 2: I needed to check.
26:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dad didn't even like ask my advice on the phone.
26:36
Speaker 4: I said, come on.
26:38
Speaker 2: Anyway, Oh so you didn't even send a good picture
26:41
Speaker 2: of you. No one out of ten, dad, one. So
26:46
Speaker 2: very strange for the cops to just email you and
26:48
Speaker 2: be like, hello, kind sir, please send a high RESK
26:52
Speaker 2: picture of your.
26:53
Speaker 5: Daughter to ask we'd like to rule her out from
26:56
Speaker 5: a crime. Thanks, Like that is guinely.
27:01
Speaker 2: Look, I have absolutely no doubt that you're telling the truth.
27:05
Speaker 2: Sometimes the truth is more bizarre than a lie or
27:08
Speaker 2: a story it's.
27:09
Speaker 4: Too ridiculous to not be true.
27:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot. What does your dad think of that? Now?
27:15
Speaker 2: Is this something that just comes up at family Christmas?
27:17
Speaker 2: Like you're the family criminal?
27:18
Speaker 4: Now?
27:19
Speaker 2: Is that how this works?
27:20
Speaker 4: No, it's just like funny.
27:23
Speaker 5: All my friends and everyone knows about it, and it's
27:25
Speaker 5: all just like the biggest gag. It's like whenever you know,
27:28
Speaker 5: on the old occasion like never have I ever or
27:31
Speaker 5: like someone's like, oh, like never ever been arrested?
27:33
Speaker 4: I was like I remember that time. Oh no, yes,
27:40
Speaker 4: that sort of thing.
27:40
Speaker 2: To be honest, it sounds like this has actually worked
27:43
Speaker 2: out really nicely. Yeah, because a lot of people who
27:45
Speaker 2: go through processes like this don't end up in as
27:48
Speaker 2: lucky as circumstances. So I kind of want to know
27:52
Speaker 2: because we've had someone on the podcast before where, you know,
27:55
Speaker 2: completely different situation. It was actually a partner who had
27:58
Speaker 2: racked up a whole heap of debt in there name
28:00
Speaker 2: what did you do to get out of that? So
28:03
Speaker 2: you spoke to a lawyer through your family, and then
28:06
Speaker 2: what did you do contact every single credit company? And
28:09
Speaker 2: what happened?
28:11
Speaker 5: So after like I'd had the interview with the police
28:13
Speaker 5: and they were like, is this your email? And I
28:15
Speaker 5: was like, no, is this your phone number? No, so
28:17
Speaker 5: and so forth, because obviously this person made all these documents.
28:20
Speaker 4: In my name.
28:21
Speaker 5: Then they were like right, you know, like you're free
28:23
Speaker 5: to go, but i'd have mugshots and fingerprints so they
28:30
Speaker 5: get rid of They destroy them as long as you
28:32
Speaker 5: haven't been linked to a crime, like within six months
28:35
Speaker 5: of them collecting them, and I was like, oh, yeah, okay, no.
28:38
Speaker 2: I kind of want them to keep that. The idea
28:40
Speaker 2: that I have a mug shot on file definitely gives
28:42
Speaker 2: me more street credit.
28:44
Speaker 4: I know, like if I ever went missing, it would
28:46
Speaker 4: come out. I'm sure, but.
28:48
Speaker 2: Don't go missing. We don't want to see those.
28:52
Speaker 5: I know. After that, because they'd like cleared me of
28:55
Speaker 5: being involved with it, I suppose they wrote me like
28:58
Speaker 5: a police report with the whole situation, did a stat
29:00
Speaker 5: deck for me, which was really helpful because then I
29:03
Speaker 5: just took those documents to like all the different credit
29:07
Speaker 5: providers and I was like, here's the police support, here's
29:09
Speaker 5: the stat deck, like this is what happened. Take it
29:11
Speaker 5: off my report please, And some places were really really helpful,
29:15
Speaker 5: like Latitude for example. Again they were so nice and
29:18
Speaker 5: so helpful and like telling me all these different things
29:20
Speaker 5: I should be aware of and to contact big roads
29:22
Speaker 5: and everything. But other places would just give you like
29:25
Speaker 5: the third degree and they're like, oh, well, you know
29:27
Speaker 5: if this is a scam, and you're on the other
29:29
Speaker 5: end of the frame and being like it is like
29:31
Speaker 5: I have the police support and I've got the stat
29:33
Speaker 5: deck and I've sent them to you there in your inbox.
29:35
Speaker 2: And like call the cops, ask them.
29:37
Speaker 5: Yeah, listally and they're like, oh well if and you're like,
29:40
Speaker 5: oh my gosh, come on, just take it off, would you?
29:42
Speaker 4: Like it was ridiculous.
29:44
Speaker 5: And this all happened right before, like within a month
29:47
Speaker 5: of me leaving to go on exchange take Canada for
29:50
Speaker 5: six months, so I was like desperately trying to get
29:53
Speaker 5: it all done. And then I sort of left and
29:55
Speaker 5: I was like, oh well, whatever, I'm in another country now.
29:57
Speaker 5: And then I got back and checked and then went
29:59
Speaker 5: through the whole proce again with the people that.
30:01
Speaker 4: Hadn't changed it yet. So yeah, after you know, eight
30:05
Speaker 4: months later, it's finally sought.
30:07
Speaker 2: That's crazy. I feel like that story actually gives me
30:11
Speaker 2: a little bit of hope though that Obviously you were
30:14
Speaker 2: quite confident. You're like, I didn't do this. There was
30:16
Speaker 2: not a lot of trauma involved in the circumstances, so
30:18
Speaker 2: you're probably very confident picking up the phone being like
30:21
Speaker 2: absolutely not. But for people who go through these circumstances
30:24
Speaker 2: and are just really unsure, I guess the process is
30:27
Speaker 2: talk to the police, then talk to the credit issuers,
30:30
Speaker 2: and actually work out what the process is, because this
30:33
Speaker 2: is just proof that you can get out of it,
30:35
Speaker 2: and it just might take a little bit more life,
30:37
Speaker 2: Adamin than you'd like it to.
30:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
30:40
Speaker 5: The most difficult part for me was contacting Equifax because
30:45
Speaker 5: at that age, and I suppose of it now, like
30:47
Speaker 5: I've never had any credit in my own name, so
30:50
Speaker 5: they didn't actually have like a credit file for me.
30:53
Speaker 4: So this woman, because like you.
30:55
Speaker 5: Know, your license has like your first name, the first
30:57
Speaker 5: an issue of your middle name and your last name,
30:59
Speaker 5: this person like made up a middle name for me,
31:02
Speaker 5: which was not my middle name. So when I was
31:04
Speaker 5: trying to like prove us to Equifax, they were like, oh,
31:08
Speaker 5: well that's not your middle name, and they'd like made
31:10
Speaker 5: up all this like employment history as well that i'd
31:13
Speaker 5: like worked at Telshi stuff.
31:15
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, good boy, congratulations on the promotions.
31:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks, thanks.
31:21
Speaker 5: But when I was trying to you know, prove my
31:23
Speaker 5: identity to them, they were like, oh, well, that's not
31:26
Speaker 5: your middle name, that's not your work history, that's not
31:29
Speaker 5: like your credit blah blah. So that was like so
31:32
Speaker 5: frustrating because it took a while to even be able
31:34
Speaker 5: to access the credit report, and I couldn't block more
31:37
Speaker 5: credit until I could.
31:39
Speaker 4: Access it in the first place.
31:40
Speaker 5: In the meantime, we're still getting like letters at home
31:43
Speaker 5: from banks and AMEX and whatever, and this person, I'm
31:47
Speaker 5: pretty sure they came to like familyhouse and like went
31:49
Speaker 5: through ound mail and was like stealing the ones that
31:51
Speaker 5: were addressed to me as well.
31:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it was just like a nightmare.
31:56
Speaker 5: But once I finally got the Equifax identity sorted, then
32:00
Speaker 5: they've blocked it and I had enough time to remove everything.
32:02
Speaker 2: That is terrifying and the idea that they potentially came
32:06
Speaker 2: to your family home and went through your mail and
32:08
Speaker 2: stole the ones that they needed, oh.
32:10
Speaker 5: Yeah, because they've got your address and they know, yeah,
32:14
Speaker 5: it's really ridiculous.
32:15
Speaker 2: You know what. That's the part that makes me feel
32:17
Speaker 2: really gross. Yeah, no, that is very unsettling. Oh my gosh,
32:21
Speaker 2: Money dires. This has been a pleasure having a chat
32:24
Speaker 2: with you. I feel like we are already best friends,
32:27
Speaker 2: but unfortunately that is all we have time for today.
32:31
Speaker 2: So thank you so much for joining us, no.
32:33
Speaker 4: Problem, Thanks so much for having me. It's been so
32:35
Speaker 4: lovely to chat to you.
32:43
Speaker 2: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
32:46
Speaker 2: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
32:50
Speaker 2: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
32:53
Speaker 2: not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision.
32:57
Speaker 2: If you do choose to buy a financial product, read
32:59
Speaker 2: the PDA TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards
33:03
Speaker 2: your needs. Victoria Divine and She's on the Money are
33:07
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