6 weeks ago, out of the blue, I recieved a summons regarding a supposed credit card debt from a few years ago. I immediately contacted the law firm that had purchased the debt to ask why I had had no previous contact, information or verification of said debt. Their response was, "Well, we sent you a letter ...". I never recieved any letter from them and filed the proper forms with them and the court saying so and that I had no knowledge of the alleged debt. I am now waiting to hear back from the court and the law firm. Since then I have become aware that there were other debts acquired in my name, without my knowledge, during the same period of time. I'm assuming I have been the victim of identity theft. My questions: Am I legally responible for these debts (horrifyingly they may total $15k) if I cannot prove the cards were acquired without my knowledge or permission? Am I better off to try to negotiate a settlement with the collection agencies and law firms rather than going to court, losing and then have to pay court costs and other additional costs on top the the debt? Why did I not find out about this 2 years ago when I bought my condo? I don't use credit cards except for one I keep for emergencies so I had not been turned down for any credit which would have arroused my suspicion. Basically, I am at a loss as to how to proceed with this. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Can I, at this late date (apparently 3 years or more after debt was accumulated), still file affidavits re: identity theft? Help, please!!
See FTC site for dealing with id theft. First steps: 1) Place a fraud alert on your credit reports to block future attemtps to open fraudulent accounts. 2) File a police report on the accounts that are not yours of which you are aware. 3) Request full printed copies of all 3 credit reports, and file id theft police reports on all fraudulent accounts. Notify all creditors claiming these account, in writing, CRRR, that these are fraudulent, due to id theft, and must be removed. Include copy of police report. Similarly dispute each fraudulent account with each CRA reporting, as due to id theft. 4) Demand all account application information from each creditor with a fraudulent account, to determine the scope of the id theft. Have your local police make the demand, if they refuse to cooperate with you. Obtain copies of the police reports, and forward copies of them to opposing attorney, indicating that the account he is collecting on was fraudulently opened. Do not drop the ball in defending your suit, until it is dismissed with prejudice. You are not a police detective, and if opposing attorney claims you have to track down the actual thief, or you owe them, file a complaint against him with your state AG, local DA, and state bar. You may need to file suit under FDCPA for deception and misrepresenting the legal status of a debt.
In cases of id theft, the address used by the perpetrator is frequently not that of the person whose id was stolen. If it was, the id theft victim would quickly find out, and shut down the account. Thieves have even been known to work an account, establishing higher credit limits, or better credit rating for the victim, to be able to ultimately steal more before the theft becomes known. See, for instance, the recent report on id theft in Business Week. Although a skip tracer or process server may have found you to to serve you, letters sent to the addresses originally associated with the accounts could have been sent anywhere. You may find various addresses on your credit reports, put there as the fraudulent accounts were opened. Keep copies of those reports, as those addresses may assist in tracking down the perpetrator. You will want to dispute those address as fraudulent along with the fraudulent accounts.
