Here's my story: Separated from ex in late 2002. Over 16k in debt, so desperate, I signed up for credit consolidation, just signed the paperwork and went with it. Divorced in March 2003. Started credit clean up Oct 2003. Thats when I noticed that I didn't recognize one of the credit cards being paid through the credit consolidation. The account had a balance of $5000. I called this strange credit company (Juniper) and was told the account was sold (to Asset Acceptance) and that they now had all the info. Called Asset, asked them what this account was. Some mastercard. Asked them if they were receiving payments through the credit counseling service, and they said they were getting them forwarded from OC. This company had been receiving payments for over a year! I'd done enough investigating to know I shouldn't talk to these people on the phone, so I hung up. Contacted the credit counseling service, told them to stop payment to Juniper/Asset. Wrote first validation letter to Asset. No response to first validation. Sent second one in Dec 2003, again no response. But then I start getting letters from lawyers on behalf of Asset. Sent them all validation requests, and they gave up. About every 8 months I would receive a letter from a lawyer/law office on behalf of Asset. Same thing. Ok, fast forward to August 2006. I get my first ever call from Asset Acceptance. The guy tells me I am immature, and that I need to basically shut up and listen. Then he threatens to send the account to the legal dept. He also says they have a cancelled check # ??? that I sent to them. I told him to send all correspondence in mail and hung up. A week letter they send me a note saying that they understand I am claiming fraud, and that I need to send police report, FTC affadavit, etc. I've been pretty much just ignoring them, sending validation and c&d letters for 3 years now. And suddenly they are on my butt about this. But here's my problem. I am of course not 100% this account is mine, but think it could have been opened by my ex, in my name, while we were still together. He was known to take my atm card, and forge my names on checks. Hence why he became EX very quickly. But, Asset is arguing that because payments have been made to them in my name through the consolidation service, that its not fraud, its obviously mine, etc. So what are my options? I spoke to a lawyer and supposedly my case isn't strong against them. They are really good at spacing out their violations. What happens if I send in the FTC affadavit? Should I try to settle with them? I would love to see this "cancelled check" they claim to have. Do I have rights to request it, and what if they don't comply? I just want to avoid any kind of judgement. House car and everything else are not in my name (thankfully), but I don't want wages garnished.
If you didn't open the account, then it is not your account. Opening an account in your name, without your authorization, is fraud and identity theft. Furthermore, if your ex engaged in this type of behavior while you were married, he may have continued after you separated. There may be other similar accounts still out there. File a police report, send a copy of it along with a fraud affidavit, to the OC, the current CA, and any CRAs reporting, CRRR. If they keep reporting, and keep attempting to collect from you, find an attorney and sue. If it is id theft, but you don't follow thru with a police report and fraud affidavit, they can ignore your claim and continue collection activity, including negative reporting on your credit report, and possibly legal action. Their actions to date may not be fraud, and you may or may not be able to recover payments made, but you still need to be free of a debt you do not owe. It is worth $5k + hundreds of dollars a year from damaged credit. Whatever "evidence" they claim "proves" it is yours is what they cherry-picked, if it even exists. If they are calling to collect a debt, they will not disclose other evidence that would show it is not, even if they know it. They are not trying to find reasons you don't owe it; they are trying to collect money. For example, they may have a check your ex sent them, possibly even on your account, but did you sign it? Were the charges made on the account backed up by charge slips with your signature? Did the account continue to be used after you separated, with statements sent to his address, not yours? So far, despite their claims, they haven't shown you anything. If you did not open and use the account, their evidence breaks down somewhere. Note that Juniper issued credit cards primarily via Internet, so if someone had your identifying information, that would be a likely place they might use it to open a fraudulent account without physically sending a paper application. The application would probably be only electronic, verified by comparision of identifying information to credit report data, and checking that the address to send the card matched an address on the credit report. Such an application would be easy for a spouse, or ex spouse, to fill out.
They are still reporting to Experian, and I think Equifax. TU dropped the tl years ago. And I sent validation certified with return receipt. That was in 2003.
"Should I try to settle with them? " If you settle, you will be out the money, and still have damaged credit, on a debt that is not yours. "No response to first validation. Sent second one in Dec 2003, again no response. But then I start getting letters from lawyers on behalf of Asset. Sent them all validation requests, and they gave up. About every 8 months I would receive a letter from a lawyer/law office on behalf of Asset. Same thing." They have basically never provided any validation. The problem is you have now paid some, which along with the passing of time, may have let them off the hook on their old violations. So you may need to push the issue to get new violations. "I spoke to a lawyer and supposedly my case isn't strong against them. They are really good at spacing out their violations." If you send a police report and fraud affidavit, they either remove, or start making a bunch of new violations. "I am of course not 100% this account is mine, but think it could have been opened by my ex, in my name, while we were still together. "\ If you didn't apply, and you didn't authorize your ex to apply in your name, it is NOT your account, even if it has your information on it. It is fraud. If it is fraud, you can file a police report, and send it with a fraud affidavit. You are not the first case of id theft by a relative, or even by a spouse or ex-spouse. Perhaps 20% of id thefts are by relatives. This is a crime, but whether or not you can prove it, you can report it. It is not your job to be the police. "The guy tells me I am immature, and that I need to basically shut up and listen. Then he threatens to send the account to the legal dept. He also says they have a cancelled check # ??? that I sent to them." There is the start of the new violations. If you sue, and they produce the check, you show it was forged, or whatever. If they fail to produce it, he was using deception to collect. FDCPA violation. I would love to see this "cancelled check" they claim to have. Do I have rights to request it, and what if they don't comply? If you sue them under FDCPA, you would request it under discovery. If you have sent them a fraud affidavit and police report, you would request it as permitted by FACTA. You don't need your case to be strong, to be a slam dunk, with lots of damages. You just need it to be strong enough that they blink, and decide it is cheaper to follow the law. They may not have done anything wrong in accepting your payments, regardless of whether you might have been able to more effectively dispute the debt in the past. It is strong enough if you can force the account to be treated as id theft, and get it permanently off your reports. Keep in mind that at the time this fraudulent account was created, FACTA hadn't even been passed, and your rights to dispute and force removal of fraudulent information from your reports was considerably weaker. There are now specific legal requirements on both data furnishers and CRAs, including on how fast they must respond. Note the difference between what the debt collector would say or imply by phone, compared to what they would commit to writing. He knows what he can get away with verbally, vs. what the law actually requires. ("plausible deniability": As long as he has some other explanation or excuse if you call him on it, he can abuse you any way he wants. "He has the cancelled check you sent", could be either one your ex sent, or even just one from the debt consolidator. Or, they just can't seem to find it. "It was all a misunderstanding..." It sure got you thinking of settling, and they haven't even shown you a shred of proof of the debt!) Check out a couple other attorneys, and keep in mind what your goal is. You are looking for an attorney that has already played this game before. You don't have to accept the first opinion you get. You can shop until you find the right one. You might search here for attorneys in your state with experience in FDCPA and FCRA litigation: www.naca.net
