Strange debt colletions for bills that aren't mine since case was discharged

[memuzz]

I successfully discharged from my chapter 13 case last July. We filed in 2006. I have been having problems with debt collectors trying to collect on items included in my claims. My attorney is handling this for me right now. The trustee has been contacted also.

Now, I have a new dilemma. It is ID theft. I successfully finish a chapter 13 paying bills on time trying to get the credit score up. I just moved about a month ago to a new rental home. This bill has ID theft written all over it. I have moved twice since the small apartment that I rented in 2010. I was careful not to use credit during my bankruptcy case. If I purchased books it was at a local half price book store that offered books for $1. The strange part is how this collection agency got my new address. I have not given or updated my mailing address with the post office. I gave my address to all creditors, old landlord, and family. I'm not sure if anyone still uses the change of address anymore since almost all things I do are online.

What made me suspicious is that the name on the bill was my nickname, married name, and then maiden name. I haven't used my maiden name since 2005 on any bill or creditor. I use my full name for creditors. This is concerning because I never ordered any books online and don't know if they will try to pin it on my credit file.

Should I go to my local police about this? I believe that the person who moved into my old apartment maybe using my name to order things online and not paying for them. Any ideas how to stop this? Thanks.

[tobee43]

who is the creditor? does it seem someone legit?

i'm not exactly who you should go to. first i would contact the company. i know i'm dealing with a bill from sprint to my bed ridden 96 year old mother for 8k. it was another town completely where she never has lived. our atty told us to bring it to the local police? which was somewhat surprising for me, but since this is fraud, maybe not so much, plus this is happening in calif., where the laws may be different. so far we are holding our breath, the bill actually is not from sprint, but from a third party. it's obviously fraud, but it certainly is concerning.

is your bill directly from the creditor is it a 3rd party billing?

[Pjmax]

Go to annualcreditreport.com and get all 3 of your credit reports. This is the site to get your annual freebies. If you've already had your freebies, get them from each individal CRA. Don't just go by bills you're getting, look and see what's on your credit reports. Look at all the personal information carefully, as well as your account history. If it is ID theft, you will probably have to file a police report and put a fraud alert on your credit reports. But I would get your credit reports first and see what's on there.

[Pjmax]

Who is the collection agency and who is the original creditor?

[LadyInTheRed]

The strange part is how this collection agency got my new address. I have not given or updated my mailing address with the post office. I gave my address to all creditors, old landlord, and family.

Is the collection agency having your new address the only thing that makes you suspect fraud? When creditors report to credit agencies, they update your address. So, a collection agency can get your address that way. They can also get other names you've used.

This very well could be somebody who bought one of your discharged debts. But, the safest thing to do is to check your credit reports as Pjmax suggests and report ID theft to the police and reporting agencies if that is what you think is going on.

[df04527]

Too coincidental, last week We found a Cap One card 120 days late on hubby's report. Opened in Nov 2012! We don't do biz with Cap One and never have.

He called and they said someone had his birthdate and ss to open a new account but they could not USE the card until more security questions could be answered. They couldn't so the account has been sitting racking up fees. They also used a bogus address.

Needless to say (and i loathe Cap One) they did an excellent job of taking care of it by deleting the account from the bureaus and providing a year of credit monitoring and putting a fraud alert on his account with the bureaus! They made a police report for us and submitted it to ftc.gov too. Can't beat that! We also had the bogus address deleted within 36 hours.

And we are so very careful with shredding and limited use of debit and stuff like that. Scary stuff.

Call that creditor asap is the bottom line.

[memuzz]

This is not the original creditor. It is a bottom feeder third party collection agency. I do have a freeze on my credit report. Since this is not the original creditor I am wondering how they got access to my credit report. The only bill currently in my name at my new address is the electric bill. All other bills including car loans, etc are in my husband's name. I have had 2 different addresses since the apartment. I lived in a condo that I just moved out of for close to 3 years. The address on the bill is for the small apartment that I moved out of in 2010. I never received a bill at my last address.

I am going to have to get a free credit report. The only way I can receive it is by mail. I do all my banking online. I switched over to online statements for safety reasons. My husband's thought is that the next tenant of the apartment used my name from mail that was probably mailed to the former address. Never paid for it and now the book club sent it to a collection agency. Laws need to be changed in this country. Using your birth date, social security number and mother's maiden name is hurting innocent people who pay their bills. I'm not saying a big brother situation but somehow using a unique pin number would be better. Hopefully, companies will get smart and use stricter guidelines in the future for credit. Thanks for all your help.

[LadyInTheRed]

Since this is not the original creditor I am wondering how they got access to my credit report.

Companies you have no prior relationship with can do soft pulls on your credit report and get all of the same info as a hard pull. I also suspect that somebody who purchases your debt also purchases the right to do a hard pull, but don't know that for sure. Even without credit reports, it is not difficult for somebody to find your current address and other information, including the name of your husband, other relatives and neighbors. I have access to a product at work that allows me to search for people. If I had your name and any prior address, I very well could find your current address.

Have you even contacted the creditor to find out what the debt is?

[memuzz]

The debt is for a book club. As stated before, the only books that I ever bought were locally not online. The original creditor has no information and will not share it with me since they don't believe me when I say my name. They said that the phone number and payment method were not the one's on file which is very strange. This has the markings of ID theft all over it. The person who used my name gave my maiden name as the last name. They used my married name as the middle and my maiden name as the surname. I haven't used my maiden name in over 8 years to make any type of credit purchased.

I had horrible problems when I lived at the apartment building with packages and mail being stolen. The front door was not a security door and anyone could come into the apartment building and grab packages. I had ordered a special item for my husband for his birthday. We never received it. The company refunded the money. It was through eBay and was really cheap but nice. We also lost several other packages and never found out who was stealing it.

The building was in a nice neighborhood but the tenants in the building were questionable. That's why when we were near the end of our case we moved out. I'm going to have to order a credit report to see what is on there after all of this. I keep current on my credit report since the case ended. My attorney is working on some junk debt collectors trying to collect on a debt which was included in our case and was paid off and discharged. ID theft is scary and I know that you can find information online about people. Sometimes it sad though, I found out that a very close friend I had when in college passed away over 10 years ago. The internet is good most times but sometimes brings sad or bad news. Thanks.

[ValleYum]

Book clubs don't require a lot of ID to send you 12 free books if you buy 3 books at club prices in the next 18 months (or whatever their current offer happens to be). Mean people sign other people up for these book clubs and auto insurance and DVD clubs when they are angry at them all the time.

ID Theft for just a book club? IMO, doubtful. They would have tried for a lot more than a few books.

Write a letter to the CA and the OC. Tell them (1) you did not order the books (2) the name as they have it listed is NOT your legal name and (3) that you are concerned you are the victim of a prank/scam. Tell them companies of their integrity should not penalize someone for a debt they did not incur. State that you will seek further action if they do not remove this debt from collections and correct your credit report if necessary.

Also you could post on the company's Facebook page if they have one and you use Facebook - social media is very powerful - say how disappointed you are that they would send a bill to a collection agency for books you never ordered and for a name that is not exactly yours - blah blah.

This happened to me with a DVD club and I wrote a letter to them similar to the info I gave you above. It was corrected within 2 weeks. Before you get more upset and worried, try a letter to them and see if that solves your problem.

Good luck!

[LadyInTheRed]

Seems like you should file a change of address so that offers in your name will be forwarded to you instead of delivered to whoever is currently at your old address. It is so easy to check a box on a reply card. While it may technically be ID theft, it probably isn't somebody who has you're SSN.