Q: I can't get my money back from Dell. They owe me a refund of $94.38 for a printer that I returned. Dell says they sent me a refund on Dec. 22. My bank says it wasn't received because my bank account was closed due to identity theft on Dec. 20. I don't know where my money is or why I can't get it.

TERESA COLBERT
Mercer

A: As best as I can figure, it's been in electronic limbo for months. We aren't quite sure what it looks like. All we know is it left Teresa on her debit card. It was seen at Dell. Dell says it returned the money to Teresa's account at Citizens Bank in Mercer via a credit. That's where it seems to have disappeared. It should have bounced back to Dell, but it didn't. Dell says there is a record of her refund leaving but no record of it ever coming back. Dell says it can't reissue the refund until the first credit comes back.

The problem is your bank account was closed due to identity theft. A closed bank account can't accept money, so that means the money couldn't get into the checking account so it went ... where? Electronic limbo.

If ever there was a persistent consumer, it's Teresa. She wrote, she called. The problem was there wasn't much to do except wait. We all expected her money to show up somewhere. It never did ... until yesterday.

I received a call from Mike Jones at Citizens Bank in Rhode Island. There had been confusion between the bank and Dell about just how the money had been returned. Once the money trail was investigated, Teresa's $94.38 was found and properly deposited in a new account. Congratulations, Teresa, three months late.

Q: I received an envelope In Re: Allstate Fair Credit Reporting Act Litigation Settlement. It says I am eligible for a free copy of my credit report because of a class action lawsuit I know nothing about. There is a Web site for more information, but I hesitate to click onto it without knowing if it is legitimate. I don't know why I would be involved in this at all. Can you find out if this is for real?

KAREN DACKO
Baden

A: This is for real, Karen. This is all about those credit scores and how insurance companies are using them to decide how much you should pay in premiums.

Insurance companies can use your credit score to determine premiums. That's allowed. What some insurance companies apparently have not done is notify those whose credit reports adversely affect them.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires companies to notify you within 60 days if you were denied a loan, denied the best premium rate or denied credit because of something on your credit report. You then have a right to a free copy of your credit report.

Your credit score was apparently checked and used to help determine your father's car insurance premiums. You are one of millions of consumers who are being notified that your rights may have been violated under the Fair Credit Reporting Act from November 1998 to Oct. 31, 2004.

Tampa attorney Terry Smiljanich, one of the lead attorneys in this case, said Allstate's policy of looking at credit scores like yours was one of the questions raised in the case. The other is that of proper notification when a credit score is reviewed with any kind of negative impact.

Allstate has denied liability. As part of the settlement, you can request a free copy of your credit report. It's hard to get too excited about that since you don't get the report just yet. It will come to you after the settlement is final.

Come September, under an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, we all have a right to one free copy of our credit reports from each of the three main credit reporting agencies once a year. If you ordered your credit report today, it would cost you $9.

Accepting this settlement is an option. You should read the terms and conditions for yourself at www.creditreportsettlement.com or you can call toll-free, 1-800-361-4132.