PRISM/CBSD: what does it mean on my credit report?

I agree that legal advice should be sought here. It's one thing for a company to sell active accounts to another and give you notice that you can opt out if you wish. However, for one company to sell your information to another and they opt to open a credit account without your consent sounds fishy bordering on illegal. They know if you cancel it lowers your score and most people get tired of the endless walls they build to keep you from getting it straightened out (without losing your mind) so they win. It just seems that opening an account with consent would be illegal. I am sure these "dead" accounts they are buying are consdiered closed.

I agree that legal advice should be sought here. It's one thing for a company to sell active accounts to another and give you notice that you can opt out if you wish. However, for one company to sell your information to another and they opt to open a credit account without your consent sounds fishy bordering on illegal. They know if you cancel it lowers your score and most people get tired of the endless walls they build to keep you from getting it straightened out (without losing your mind) so they win. It just seems that opening an account with consent would be illegal. I am sure these "dead" accounts they are buying are consdiered closed.

Macy's/citibank sent out a letter in September stating that as a customer that hasnt used the card in long time that they were rewarding by issuing a CB Master card for the amount of the macy's card you originally had, if you did not use your card by a certain time. If you didnt want the card, you had a number to call on the letter. I figured that we were not going to get it because we used the card for wedding registry gifts during the time frame.
Citibank notified Macy's customers, so it is legal.
though that is bs that all the cards went out in September... when we had closing date of end of October, and apparently they just issued the account.

Sure am glad I found this forum! I got email from Equifax about this 'new account' that I knew I hadn't opened. It zinged my credit score as well! Grrrrrrr. Mine was a dormant Macy's account.

So has anyone had problems with getting this off their reports. I had the same thing happen to me today, and thanks to all your help was able to get a hold of Citibank, but all they would do is close the account, they would not remove the account. So when i spoken with Tranunion, they told me that is Citibank does not show the account was open by mistake, and that it is only closed, then Transunion will just report that and it will remain on my credit report and influence my FICO scores.
Does anyone have any stories or suggestions on what to do to make sure Citibank removes this account and has it removed from the credit reports?
B

Well, apparently Citi is desperate for new card holders! I just rec'd an alert that an account was opened in my name. It was in response to a Macy's card which I canceled last week (I didn't even know I had a Macy's card!?). Since I had canceled, apparently Citi has the right to open a mastercard in my name and planned to send it to me. Thanks to the number on this forum, I called them and told them to cancel it immediately. They didn't hesitate to cancel. What the heck!

Just talked to Citibank. Any Macy's account not used for 18 months automatically gets this card. Hopefully it's taken care of now.
Laurainmccall

If you had a Macy's card, it could be that it was replaced with a Citibank (South Dakota) card. I called up my credit protection service, told them what was going on, and they recognized it right away, and asked me if I had a Macy's card. The Citibank card was issued the same month that appeared on the report, and I realized that I had, indeed, gotten written notice that the Macy's card was being replaced by a Citibank one.

I am so mad that I activated the card they sent me thinking that that was my current citi credit card. Problem is, canceling this card will certainly ruin my FICO scores. I need to do something about this. I am mad as hell..

The're still doing it. I just received

TransUnion reported activity by CCSMC SPECTRUM/CBSD on 9/02/1009... TOTALLY without my knowledge! If this practice isn't illegal; it certainly should be.

Nothing is being sold. Whether you knew it or not, you had a card issued by Citi, and it's perfectly legal for them to replace it with another card if you don't use the first.

In fact, you can thank me for the new card. I proposed and ran the first test of this on the Sears portfolio in summer 2005. When I left in 2006, they planned on rolling it out to all the Citi family of cards on an ongoing basis - Sears, Macys, Home Depot, a bunch of gas cards & jewelry cards, etc. Nice to hear Prism is still running.