A former AZ Federal Credit Union employee who had been fired from her job for allegedly running unlawful credit checks on clients, was arrested on suspicion of identity theft after the victim launched an investigation of her own.
Esther Hulse, 46, of Phoenix, was arrested about 8 a.m. on Tuesday on suspicion of identity theft, nearly a month after the victim, a Mesa woman, received a courtesy call from Bank of America for thanking her for applying for a Bank of America and Capital One credit card online in June, when in fact, she had not, according to police.
When the victim saw the address on the credit card application, she conducted a search on the Maricopa County Assessor's website, and when Hulse's name came up, the victim recognized it as the woman who had assisted her with a home refinance loan in November, 2009, according to police.
After the victim contacted the bank and police, it was discovered that Hulse had been fired from her job at AZ Credit Union for conducting unlawful credit checks on four of its members and allegedly applying for credit with Bank of America and Capital One using the victim's personal information, according to a Mesa police report.
A representative of AZ Federal Credit Union provided Mesa police with a copy of her termination letter that included a handwritten confession from Hulse of the offense. Hulse later told police she applied for a Capital One credit card using the victim's name, but denied applying for a Bank of America credit card, stating she made a stupid and bad decision, according to the report
It was not immediately known why AZ Federal Credit Union had not informed police of Hulse's activity while working at the credit union.
samkat posted at 5:51 pm on Thu, Jul 22, 2010.
It was nice of AZ Federal to sweep it under the rug.
brainfreeze posted at 9:07 am on Fri, Jul 23, 2010.
AZ Federal should've launched an investigation of their own before the customer had to. Hopefully the bank will go back through all the records that this woman had access to.
Shatmeister posted at 6:09 pm on Fri, Jul 23, 2010.
Wells Fargo Bank did the same to me... I think his name was Berley White.
He called me to tell me they could upgrade my account. I told him I was trying to purchase a home and didn't want any additional Inquiries on my credit account. He stated (incorrectly) that it wouldn't count against my credit. I explained that he was incorrect, then told him I would just stop by on my way home from work, I would talk to him and then decide.
As soon as we got off the phone, I pulled up my credit manager and ran a new report. He had ran my credit the day before. I called him back and confronted him with it, and demanded it be immediately removed. He told me no...
A few days later I got a debit card in the mail and then a request to sign a signature card.
I guess I should have called the police and reported it, because Wells Fargo took no interest when I notified them.