Identity theft victim
Date: Sat, 12/03/2011 - 14:54
Recognizing that when items of identity theft arise, the consume
Recognizing that when items of identity theft arise, the consumer is placed in the catch-22 situation of proving a negative, the FCRA provides the consumer the right to shift the burden to the creditor who reported information that is asserted to be related to identity theft to provide the consumer proof of their authorization of the account.
It is one of those rare situations where the consumer is provided legal discovery of information from a creditor.
The relevant statute is FCRA 609(e), which covers rights available to victims of identity theft.
The process works like this.
You must first document your assertion that you never authorized the account, and thus its reporting appears to be due to identity theft. The FCRA recognizes your documentation of your assertion by way of filing a police report, which is a legal document which carries penalties for any knowingly false statement.
Once you have filed a police report (which the FCRA calls an "identity theft report" under section 603(q)), you can send that report to the creditor, along with a copy of a government issued ID as proof of your identity, and requrire them to provide all business records in their possession that establish who signed/contracted for the account. It puts the ball in their court to establish records of your authorization of the account. They are required to respond within 30-days.
You then have their documentation that allegedly supports your authorization of the account. Section 609(e) is a powerful discovery tool.
If they cannot provide documentation, follow up with a direct dispute, using their failure to either comply with or provide adequate documentation under section 609(e) as support for your assertion that the account is not yours, and must be deleted.
At the same time, you can use the police report to additionally block the continued appearance of the identity theft related information from your credit report. Just send a copy of the police report, along with proof of identity and a sworn statement that the account was not related to any transactions authorized by you, and the CRA is required under FCRA 605B to thereafter block its continued appearance in any credit report they issue.