Fraud?

I decided to go ahead and open up an HSBC Direct online savings account to put my Countrywide CD that matures at the end of this month and my bonus that will be paid to me later this month. HSBC is currently offering 3.5% for accounts opened before September 15. I'm not a rate chaser, but HSBC has been consistently higher than other high-yield savings accounts, including ING with whom they seem to be in a rate war. So, even though the 3.5% won't last forever, I feel like I can trust their rates to be consistently high, whatever they are.

The account opening process was easy, but I got tripped up by something that hopefully means nothing. I'm used to being asked all kinds of identity verification questions when opening up new accounts, such as "what county do you live in?," "what is your most recent address?," etc. But today I was asked: "You recently opened up a mortgage with which lender? What is the amount?" and "You recently initiated a car loan with which lender? What is the amount?"... I answered "none of the above" to all of the options to these questions, as I have neither a mortgage or a car loan... but when I submitted my answers, I was told that my identity could not be verified and that they would be contacting me for more information!!! Does this mean that there is a mortgage or loan out there in my name??

I tried to get more information, but the Equifax number they gave me won't let you speak to a person, it just tells you to mail your request to some address in Georgia. Only paying Equifax members have access to personal customer support. I called the bank back a few times and they said that it's probably nothing, those are standard questions, but still, it got me worried, because they shouldn't ask me those particular questions unless they have reason to. They will be able to tell me in 24-48 hours if there is something wrong with my answers to those questions. Still, I'm unsettled, and I've already gotten free credit reports from all three agencies this year, so I can't get another free one (unless they make an exception for fraud concerns).

Comp Day

Today is the almighty Comp Day, the day when I learn what my bonus will be for the year's worth of toil. I imagine that I will find out sometime later this afternoon between 3 and 5pm, so if you're reading this early in the morning, keep your fingers crossed for me! The bonus I got last year made me very happy, but as the business has not be doing as well this year (although our firm has held in better than our competitors), I don't think there's as much money to go around. Our bonuses are a substantial part of our compensation, because while the salaries are decent, they're not very impressive alone and don't stretch too far in NYC.

Despite the smaller pool of bonus money this year (I assume), I am optimistic b/c my performance review indicated a dramatic improvement from last year, and as such I am ranked in the 1st quartile of analysts at my firm! I am hoping that this translates into $$.

Effective August 1 is my promotion from analyst to associate, which comes with a 20% raise in my salary!!! That's HUGE!!!! Because of all of my before-tax deductions (FSA, gym membership, transit card, etc.) I'm not sure how many extra dollars this will exactly translate into. Also, I will have maxed out my social security tax for the year, so that's an extra kick to my paycheck! I've only invested about $3k in my 401k this year, so I will be maxing out the remaining ~$12 from my bonus. This will dramatically reduce the amount of cash I have leftover from my bonus, but I purposely kept my monthly contributions low in anticipation of this large mid-year contribution. That means I will have a couple hundred extra dollars each month to play with (aka SAVE) that I was previously contributing to my 401k. Additionally, my share of rent is a little bit lower because my new roommate is paying a bit more than my old one, so that's also extra cash I didn't have. Thus, a few new reasons to love my paycheck on August 15!

Anyway, wish me luck on my bonus... I'm trying to go in with low expectations, but even if I'm disappointed, I need to remember all of the blessings that I have that money cannot buy!