What kind of legal action can I take against a company for ignoring my identity theft disputes.?

Question

I've been contacted by the third collection agency in the last 18 months involving the same satellite company account in which I did not open. I have done everything asked of me up to this point, up to and including police reports, written disputes, proof of residency requests, and notification to credit bureaus.

Answer 1

i think the collection agency couldn't care less whether or not it's an identity theft.  all those morons care about is to collect, collect, collect.  no use wasting your time to take legal actions against those heartless imbeciles.  perhaps you need to contact the satellite company with which the account was opened.  tell them an identity theft has been committd against you, and you need to resolve this matter without the harassment of a 3rd party collection agency.  in the meantime, you need to notify the social security administration and the 3 credit bureaus immediately.  i subscribe to truecredit.com to monitor my credit.  anytime there's a change or an account under my social security # is opened, i would be notified at a drop of a hat.  good luck.

Answer 2

After 18 months you are still playing with these idiots?

Here is what I want you to do.  Go to http://www.creditinfocenter.com/repair/R... ad read up on credit repair.  It sounds like you have done all the steps, but let me verify it.

1) You got a police report

2) You went to the FTC site and to a copy of the ID Theft affidavit and filled out several copies (and had them notarized).

3) You contacted the credit bureau and told them you were the victim of ID theft, and that this credit item is not yours.  You also supplied them with the above forms/reports.  You have proof of mailing them by certified mail.

4) You sent the above forms to the collection agency with a letter explaining the debt is not yours, and you want them to immediately validate the information.  You want them to prove this debt is actually yours.

5) Upon not receiving a response, you set them a second demand for validation, again by certified mail.

6) You sent the credit bureau a second letter stating that the collection agency has failed to properly validate this debt or contact you, and that they must delete this from your credit report.

If you have done all of these steps, and you have the green cards proving you sent them by certified mail and they did receive it......the it's time to sue.  

You can either do this yourself in small claims court (very easy), or you can hire a attorney experienced in FDCA lawsuits (look for a lawyer who is an NACA member).  A good lawyer can take this to federal court and recover punitive damages for you.

I had a similar situation with Hollywood Video several years ago.  They refused to remove a negative item from my report, even after countless letters and phone calls.  I sued them for it and won....not difficult to do as long as you know the law and do your homework.

Answer 3

File a complaint against the collection agency with your state attorney general's office.

Answer 4

I agree with Studly but when you send the certified letter, you should send 1 regular as well and make sure you make a copy, If the certified  letter comes back unsigned, do not open it because that's the only proof the letter was sent Oh, on the letter you should put certified mail with the number and under it say regular mail on the bottom left hand side.