Nearly a year and a half ago, my wife and I discovered that my identity was stolen. We had a vehicle stolen from our driveway and when trying to replace it, found that my credit was shot. There were roughly 10 accounts opened under my name in a short period of time and all were delinquent without us being notified. As of now, all but one are gone (Credit One), who has been reviewing our dispute for over a year. We have sent certified letters and a police report. As of this week, we have now lost the ability to buy our house because my credit score is stuck in the high-500 range because of their lack of cooperation and we are going to send them an intent to sue letter. Additionally, we've had to take a severely sub-prime interest rate on a vehicle loan and are tired of wasting our money. What else can we do to finish the recovery get back above 700 in this situation ?
Sorry to hear what you've gone through. I'm sure it's been an exhausting ordeal, and it sounds like you've done everything short of filing suit against Credit One. What has been their response to your dispute thus far? Have you also disputed it through each of the CRAs and reported the fraud? Apart from getting this last account fixed and removed from your credit reports, you need to be building positive payment history and making sure that when you do get the last negative account removed your FICO scores will bounce back into happy land. What credit cards do you still have in your name?
At this point, they simply state that they are investigating and it takes time. Today the official intent to sue letter is getting certified with a request for official documentation on how they authorized a line of credit in my name along with statements that were never given to us. As to rebuilding, We are still making the same on time payments as always and, of course, never paying just minimums. Other than student loans and cars, we have a minimal revolving balance just to have something to pay. The hardest part is seeing the credit score stuck where it is and being at the mercy of this company.
I think we have 3 cards. BOA, home depot and macy's. Possibly another account not in use that is for emergencies.
Another way to get a quick boost of your credit score is to add authorized user accounts to your credit. You can ask a friend and family member to add you to one of their existing credit card accounts. Just make sure the card has long perfect payment history. The credit limit on the cards should be 10% or less of the credit limit. Good Luck! Heather with BoostMyScore.NET
I wish I had more to offer, but it really sounds like you're doing everything within your power to get this fixed while continuing to build positive credit history. Hopefully Credit One will finally respond appropriately and take care of this for you in a timely manner. You may need to hire a good lawyer to get extra nasty for you if they continue to blow you off. Sometimes that's all it takes.
I appreciate the input! I'll keep everybody posted and hopefully my posts can be helpful in the future as well. Certified letter is going out today requesting documentation so we can file a small claims case.
