Need Options For Removing Delinquent Info From Identity Theft
Several years ago I had a university apartment. I graduated and moved. 18 months ago I checked my credit and saw delinquent accounts from phone, utilities and cable company. I contacted them and was told that I had not paid my bills. In further conversation I found out it was for a time period I can prov I lived elsewhere. I never turned on the cable at the apartment and when I moved the phone bill was paid and the utility company owed me $235 with a pending bill of around $45. I never received my deposit refund.
When I spoke to them I found out that apparently the utilities had been contacted and my cancellationd order rescinded. Same with telephone and someone had opened a cable account.
I disputed the items and they were removed from my credit. 6 months later they returned. I have disputed 3 times with it always getting removed only to return 6 months later.
I have gotten to the point where I am willing to pay just to get them off my credit report - although it really burns me to pay bills that are not mine.
Other than paying the bills with the creditor agreeing in writing to remove the bad stuff what other option do I have?
I also have a situation with several credit cards from some charges that occurred at that same time. They all charged it off as I reported the fraud when I realised what was going on but one company marked it as a chargeoff to bad debt. Can I do anything to have that fixed?
Be careful about paying the bills. Once you do you have less control.
You need to get the vendor to acknowledge that there was fraud and therefore they should not be reporting to your credit report. In effect they are incorrectly reporting as the items should be appearing on the 'other person's' credit report if they could find that person.
Check with the Federal Trade Commission as to how one goes about preventing an item that is agreed to be not valid for your report from re-appearing.
The charge off is similar. If the CC agreed that you did not owe them the money then dispute the item and have it removed. You might find out that they did not agree, they just decided they were not going to try to collect.
The key in all of this is to obtain a letter from the creditor that confirms that you are not being held liable and that the item in question is not your responsibility. Then you can dispute the items on the report and submit a letter to the bureaus clearing the item.
I have a letter that was used by another person which works well in this situation. Send me a message if you want a copy. I prefer email.
John
[addsig]
Reinsertion requires CRAs to send you a specific reinsertion letter within 5 days of reinserting--they seldom do. If you're not getting those letters, you have grounds to demand permanent deletion ... otherwise you'll sue for FCRA violations.