How often is a CA supposed to contact you about a debt? I have a charged-off account from Direct Merchants Bank that I never authorized. I tried to clear it up with the OC but they refused to believe that I didn't open the account. I never even received the card. That was in 1999. I've been disputing the account for years stating that it wasn't mine and the OC kept verifying it with the CRAs. Now Asset Acceptance has been assigned and they are mailing me a letter every week. What can I do?
If you didn't authorize it, use it, or benefit from it, you need to treat it as identity theft. File a police report. Until you do that, the OC and CA will likely continue to treat it as yours.
I wish I would that thought of that sooner. I've been disputing it for 5 years already. I may just wait and let it fall off. Thanks for the advice.
You may still want to file a police report. Even if it falls off, various JDBs may continue to try to collect, ad infinitum, putting CA inquiries on your CR. Consumers handling ID theft only recently got some leverage in obtaining cooperation from CRAs or others with recently passed FACTA. Four or five years ago, it would not have been clear what you could have done to force CRAs to correct.
"they refused to believe that I didn't open the account." They had nothing to gain by believing you in 1999. Whether you opened it, or it was fraud, back then it cost them nothing to try to collect it from you. Even today, many cases of what are in reality fraudulent accounts due to id theft are treated by the original creditors as just charged off consumer accounts. FACTA specifies your rights, and the legal obligations of the CRAs and OC or CA in cases of ID theft. See: http://www.ftc.gov/os/2004/11/041119factaappe.pdf
