It occurs to me that my hobby in writing letters about the Fair Credit Reporting Act is suddenly topical! So some quick opinionated advice:
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Everyone attached to a telephone at a CRA has scripts which are optimized for getting you off the phone and minimal ability to help.
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If someone has opened an account in your name do not call the bank and ask them to close it. You do not have or want authority on acct!
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You should file a police report locally and get the police to issue a paper copy or receipt. It doesn't matter if they investigateZ
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You will snailmail copy of that report to the bank's legal department (address available online) with a short letter.
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The contents of the letter: you did not open; correct immediately; any collections activity including reporting to CRAs a FCRA violation.
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The bank is responsible for all damages and this letter is specific written notice of your complaint. You require resolution immediately.
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You also require all communication about the matter to be in writing to you.
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Why do you write these things? Because you a) start the clock on a variety of regulatory state machines and b) signal that you know that.
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One group in the bank is scored on tickets per hour. Another's KPI is "zero regulatory actions this quarter." You only want to talk to them.
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People do not believe me on this but trust me a professional firm letter from someone who sounds competent gets to a lawyer or SVP reliably.
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Keep copies of everything, indefinitely. Keep a log of when mail was sent and when mail was received. Dropbox is your friend.
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Because of reasons that are difficult to express in a tweet, these issues can appear solved and then affect you 5 years down the line.
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In the event that happens, you want an organized file that you can mail in attached to a letter titled "intent to sue."
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You should not act like a supplicant; you owe the bank nothing as you're not in a commercial relationship with them. But: no anger.
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You do *not* want to be read as someone who is angry and needs to be talked down. You want to be read as someone collecting a paper trail.
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Yelling cannot hurt a bank. Bluster cannot hurt a bank. They are institutionally aware of this. Paper trails, though, have consequences.
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I followed up on this tweetstorm with a longer version here: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-reports/ …
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End of conversation
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