The following fact pattern has been changed for privacy reasons:
Robert received dunning letters and phone calls from debt collectors because he supposedly owed more than $50,000 dollars in credit card debt. The debt collectors alleged that various financial institutions had issued Robert seven credit cards many years ago. These debt collectors too claimed that Robert paid just the monthly minimum on the credit cards for several years, until his recent default.
When Robert tried explaining he had no knowledge of the credit cards, the debt collectors & financial institutions ignored him. Although Robert had been the victim of an identity theft, the financial institutions damaged Robert’s good credit score by submitting negative references about the alleged debt to TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Despite all of the foregoing, Robert ultimately had his good credit score restored and the financial institutions relinquished their claims against him. This partly occurred because Robert followed the advice of the Federal Trade Commission at its “Tools For Victims” identity theft webpage.
Robert had also hired an attorney who conducted a fraud investigation. The attorney wrote letters to the financial institutions demanding the production of “account opening” and other relevant credit card documents. A financial institution responding to these letters supplied a telemarketing application connected to Robert’s case. The telemarketing application suggested that the identity thief applied for one of the seven credit cards by impersonating Robert on the phone. As a highlighted and redacted copy of this application shows, the identity thief might have also used a post office box to aid the scheme-
Click On The Telemarketing Application For Full View
Copyright 2011 Fred L. Abrams