I am still having issues with this stupid bank. For all who don't know my story, here goes: There is a charge off on my CR for $507 from this bank. It was charged off in 4/00. I have never had credit, so I got busy trying to find out what this was about. Turns out that it's under my bf's ssn. It is for an ACe credit repair kit that we never remeber signing up for, and that we never received. We both sent in a dispute to United Credit National Bank, (my 3rd dispute w/ them over this) and I'm also disputing w/ Equifax. Equifax told me that this is a shared account - not joint and that the difference was I wouldn't have had to sign for anything if it is a shared acct. My bf could have just put down my info (authorized user, I guess?). Anyway, I've sent a letter to the top guy at Household because UCNB was bought out by them. Heard right away from a rep from Household. She tried to help me, but my acct was one of those that UCNB kept. It has been 30 days so I decided to follow up w/ UCNB. The nice rep that was helping me was no longer taking calls since she was promoted. This dumb rep who had slight attitude basically said that in the notes that the supervisor took from one of my other calls, it said that I admitted that I knew about this and that I applied w/ my bf. B.S.!! I tried to explain that I never said that about THIS acct, but about another one that was lost or stolen which was removed from my CRs. They asked if my Bf disputed within 90 days from when the kit was sent out. We didn't since we knew nothing about this, and ofcourse, that would have been the only way for us to have this removed. She kept telling me to "hold on" (I think she was talking to her sup.) and I never got to explain EVERYTHING. Then she got an attitude and said "Why don't you file a police report if your BF used your name w/o you knowing about it? Because that's the only other way it's going to come off!". What a @!#$! Like I'm really gonna do that. HEllo - he's still my bf and he's not crooked like that! My quetion is: how do I go about this now? I don't want to take it to court or anything. Too much time and drama. Can anyone suggest anything? I considered going half on the charge w/ my bf to get it off my cr (that's my only negative), but why should we pay for something we never received or ordered ,at that! and I don't have $500 just to give to a bunch of crooks! PLease help!
S.D.: Did your bf actually receive the card? I'm thinking that since they did not send the "kit", the card could not have been activated, and they cannot place any charges on an unactivated account. Have you asked (demanded) them to send you a copy of the origianl application bearing your signature? Send a copy of your complaint to the FTC and the Office of Consumer Affairs in your state. I have a friend that is being ripped by these folks right now. Check out these complaints: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/credit_cards/united_credit_national_bank.htm
He didn't receive a card... or at least he doesn't think he did. As for the kit, we never got that. All I know is that nothing from them has ever passed thru my hands. I have demanded to get anything w/ my signature, and they can provide nothing. But the rep at Equifax said since it's a SHARED acct I wouldn't necessarily have had to sign for anything. Anyone (in this case I guess it was my BF)could have just printed my name and info and that's all it takes. My bf wouldn't do this w/o me knowing... Gee whiz! It was back in 98 and I don't remember everything we applied for, but if we actually had this card, I would remember. I'll have my bf get his original app and take it from there. I'm gonna win this battle!! =0)
I wouldn't even bother arguing with Equifax (don't get me started on these a-holes). You probably need to pursue this with UCNB. Like I said, they can't even produce proof that you ever applied for, received, activated, and used this card. You might want to get a consultation from an attorney,maybe have one draft a letter to UCNB demanding proof that this account is yours. I think you can win this one, but it sounds like it will be a pain to deal with in the meantime.
If this was the one negative listing you were talking about, you shouldn't need Lexington Law Firm eClient to fix it - it's an outright consumer fraud issue (perhaps you might want the Lexington complete service just for this item (800-653-9529.) Try it yourself, first, though. For one thing, federal and state regulators are pretty touchy when it comes to credit repair companies, like the ACE Credit Kit, that attack a person's credit when they fail to pay. These guys should be looking out for consumer complaints, as they will eventually be the thing that buries them. For now, I would amass the name and address of every consumer agency that could possibly give a darn about this kind of consumer abuse. Here are a couple of ideas: Better Business Bureau in the companies home town, Chamber of Commerce in their hometown, Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov,) State Attorney General of South Dakota, Finance and Banking Division of South Dakota, Your local news stations, their local news stations, Visa and or Mastercard corporate (this is a good one,) the local police department (in their home,) and anyone else you can think of. Then, prepare a BRIEF letter describing the fraud and CC it to every one of these (your letter should have a huge list of CCs at the bottom - complete with addresses.) Call the "bank" and get speaking with a supervisor. Fax them the letter and just say that you wanted to let them know what you were doing before you pulled the trigger - just to give them a last chance to make it right. If the supervisor doesn't do anything with it, call the company operator and get transferred to the Vice President of Operations (or the secretary of some other VP.) You just need to get your fax to someone who knows @!#$ from shinola. When you do, go through the same explanation of giving them one more chance to make this right. If that doesn't work. Send the letters. Send a copy to the credit bureaus as well. You may want to call and then fax the letter. Send your correspondence to them certified mail, return receipt requested. Move up the management tree, if you don't get the response you want. Remember, the credit bureau has a bona fide liability if they are informed of the error of this item and yet they refuse to delete it. In other words, you could sue THEM for keeping it on. Best of luck, Jason from Lex Law
