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Capital One's mistake from a decade ago still causing me headaches

dougp26364

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Over a decade ago, Capital One sent out a guarenteed acceptance credit app to an address we hadn't lived at in several years. The occupant of the house filled out the app with my name on it, filled in a different DOB, SS#, different mothers maiden name and different employment history. The idiots at Capital One issued the card, which was immeadiately maxed out and never paid on.

Capital One then put the bad debt charge off on my credit record and began trying to collect the debt from me. I had to threaten legal action to get them to stop their attempts and twice had to threaten them as they put it on my credit record, took it off and then put it back on again.

Today I received another "attempt to collect a debt" from some shister collection agency who buys up these bad debt write offs. It's been well past the limit of when this debt can be legally collected yet, I have to either call or write a letter explaining it's not my debt.

Thanks to Capital One for issuing credit on an application that was obviously fraudulent and a big thanks to Capital One for the ongoing headache. :mad:
 

geekette

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Wow, that's really taking a bad thing and making it worse!!!

I do wish that cc companies in general did not send so many things like that. One day while cleaning up my front yard, I found a stash of cash advance checks in the bushes. They must have blown over from my neighbor's trash. Lucky for them, I am an honest person. I shredded teh checks and called the neighbors to let them know what I'd found/done.

Sorry for the hassles.
 

DaveNV

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I'd think if you contacted the Credit Bureaus you could have a notation made in your credit report that states this such-and-such account is an error, and is not your debt. If you have anyone at Cap One you can talk to, I'd bet you could insist they do it as well. Any third party company who buys up old debts to try and collect would surely check your credit report first to see if the debt is still outstanding. If the notation is there, I'd think they'd probably stop bothering you.

On the other hand, maybe not. I still get mail for my stepmother, who passed away seven years ago. I love the "personal" letters that say they want to "follow up on our recent phone conversation." Hello? That must be one heck of a long distance call! :)

Good luck,
Dave
 

learnalot

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I'd think if you contacted the Credit Bureaus you could have a notation made in your credit report that states this such-and-such account is an error, and is not your debt. If you have anyone at Cap One you can talk to, I'd bet you could insist they do it as well. Any third party company who buys up old debts to try and collect would surely check your credit report first to see if the debt is still outstanding. If the notation is there, I'd think they'd probably stop bothering you.

On the other hand, maybe not. I still get mail for my stepmother, who passed away seven years ago. I love the "personal" letters that say they want to "follow up on our recent phone conversation." Hello? That must be one heck of a long distance call! :)

Good luck,
Dave

You can fill out a dispute form for any inaccurate information that appears on your credit report directly with the credit reporting agencies. There is a form you fill out. If the creditor is unable to validate the disputed item, it will be removed from your credit file. Whether or not it is removed, you also have the right to attach a statement to your credit file about the disputed item.
 

dougp26364

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I'd think if you contacted the Credit Bureaus you could have a notation made in your credit report that states this such-and-such account is an error, and is not your debt. If you have anyone at Cap One you can talk to, I'd bet you could insist they do it as well. Any third party company who buys up old debts to try and collect would surely check your credit report first to see if the debt is still outstanding. If the notation is there, I'd think they'd probably stop bothering you.

On the other hand, maybe not. I still get mail for my stepmother, who passed away seven years ago. I love the "personal" letters that say they want to "follow up on our recent phone conversation." Hello? That must be one heck of a long distance call! :)

Good luck,
Dave

The bad debt information was removed long ago (took two times as Cap One tried to sneak it back on there after removing it the first time). The major problem is this bad debt information keeps getting resold to collection agencies in a bundled package and it still has my contact information on it. Once I contact them and give them the last 4 digits of my SS# and verify that the DOB they have is incorrect, they remove my information..........only to sell the bundled information to the next unscrupulous collection agency to start the process all over again.

The biggest issue is that this debt is so old, they couldn't collect on it legally anyway. They're buying the debt for pennies on the dollar and trying to bully someone into paying it, even though it's long since been uncollectable by law.
 

dougp26364

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You can fill out a dispute form for any inaccurate information that appears on your credit report directly with the credit reporting agencies. There is a form you fill out. If the creditor is unable to validate the disputed item, it will be removed from your credit file. Whether or not it is removed, you also have the right to attach a statement to your credit file about the disputed item.

It's all been done. My credit report is accurate but it doesn't stop these bozo's.

I suppose I could move and change my phone # but that seems a bit extreme. My guess is this will continue until I make those changes, which has two chance of happening, slim and none and slim is looking pretty sick right now.

Captial One created this problem and it doesn't appear it's going to go away anytime soon. Unfortunately these are all independant collection agencies and Cap One is long ago out of the picture except that they're the one that created the problem.

Needless to say, I can tell you what's NOT in my wallet.
 

rickandcindy23

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Why don't credit card companies have to take the responsbility for giving cards to people with little or no accurate information? Just a name and former address matched and nothing else. That's unconscienable. But it's not at all uncommon. It's not just Capital One who does this stupid stuff. Barclay's did it to a friend of mine, whose renter filled out an application. The credit card was forwarded to my friend, who was thinking it was just a mistake.

Sorry you have to deal with it. I know it's all about venting. :)
 

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You don't even need to contact them back. Simply send them a cease and decist letter and they will no longer be able to contact you. In the letter say this is not your debt and to cease and decist all communication. Then years later when they sell it again you will have to send it to the next company.
 

glypnirsgirl

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Doug - Go to annualreport.com and pull your credit history to make sure these malfeasors have not reported this on your credit history. This is the only website that is REALLY FREE. No credit card entry required as I recall.

If they have reported it, you can used both the Fair Credit Collection Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act to your advantage.

If this continues to be a problem, I know several people that make a living suing these guys. I have personal experience with one of them because I act as local counsel for them. Send me a PM and I will send you the referral.

elaine
 

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Doug, I clicked into this to give you the scoop, and I'm pleased to see that you know exactly what's going on.

To everyone else, the main thing you have to do when you are in this situation is refuse to affirm the debt. If you affirm it, you accept that it is valid, and it becomes a problem again, it appears on your credit report again, and you will have to fight it again.

Simply refuse to affirm it.
 

dougp26364

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You don't even need to contact them back. Simply send them a cease and decist letter and they will no longer be able to contact you. In the letter say this is not your debt and to cease and decist all communication. Then years later when they sell it again you will have to send it to the next company.

I have one on file that I print out when they send me a collection notice. With phone calls it's often a message to call them and no address.

The problem is the debt keeps getting sold to another company about every 6 months. It's not been a problem getting them to stop calling or sending notices. It's the fact there's always another company willing to buy a bad debt right off for pennies on the dollar, hoping to collect enough to cover the purchase price.

At this point, the debt is so old it can't legally be collected on at all. These are just scam collection agencies out to make a fast buck. Stopping them from calling or sending notices is about as easy as getting the PCC's to stop sending junk mail or getting the up front fee companies to stop calling me asking if I want to sell or rent my timeshare.
 

dougp26364

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Doug - Go to annualreport.com and pull your credit history to make sure these malfeasors have not reported this on your credit history. This is the only website that is REALLY FREE. No credit card entry required as I recall.

If they have reported it, you can used both the Fair Credit Collection Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act to your advantage.

If this continues to be a problem, I know several people that make a living suing these guys. I have personal experience with one of them because I act as local counsel for them. Send me a PM and I will send you the referral.

elaine

I've watched my credit report closely since the original incident. So far they call once and then drop it once I confirm the last 4 digits of my SS# doesn't match their records. They've walked close to the line but haven't crossed it......yet.
 

MuranoJo

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I thought of this thread today with the news that there was a major credit card security breach which could impact a whole bunch of folks.

I realize you're living through a different scenario, but it's crappolla you have to continuously deal with this, even after 10 years.
 
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