Do I have a Lawsuit case?

[jason_grumpy]

I'm sure we have some lawyers around here.

Backstory:

Late December of last year my identity was stolen. The only place that I can think of that it was stolen from was my previous enrollment at ITT.

I caught the initial act by my cell phone provider thanking me for adding a new phone line (that wasn't mine). Subsequently during this time I issued fraud reports through the major credit agencies, and also filed a police report. Also, I ran my credit report instantly and saw several other cell phone accounts opened under my name and closed them as fraudulent.

Fast forward to now, September 2007.

Today I had the pleasure of reading a letter from one of my creditors stating my credit limit was reduced and my APR raised because of an excessively overdue bill on my credit report. Running my credit report again, I see a collections notice for $568.92 by Verizon opened in December of 2006. Not to mention I saw an excessive drop in my credit score, so bad it has slammed me back down in the low 500's. I've spent the past 2 years building it up into the lower 700's to buy a house from an excessive spending in my young adult years. This is disheartening and devastating to say the least.

After spending the last several hours on the phone with Verizon, I found out the people responsible used a variant of my name not once but twice since December of 2006 in a town less than 40 miles away (and the same town I went to ITT). They had paid the first past due account in full, then the second one was created with a new variant of my name and the same address. This account is the one they let go delinquent and is now on my credit report as a collection. This baffles me as I have had a Verizon land line account for the past 7 years with my correct name and address and have worked at the same place for over 2 years. A simple cross check of my social security number alone would have stated that I already had phone service in another town, with a different name spelling and a frresh fraud alert should have raised red flags.

With Verizon screwing my credit royally, not to mention the countless hours I've spent on this, do I have a case against Verizon for negligence and dinging my credit? I am seriously considering calling a lawyer over this, as I'm the one that has to fix this all by myself. This is Verizon's fault for letting it happen to begin with. I am sick of dealing with this, and in this case Verizon ignored my real account (not notifying me), and my fraud alerts. I've already filed a police report with my local sheriffs office for this specific fraud and opened an account with life lock. Do I have a case against Verizon?

Also, if they find the persons responsible for this (as they used a home address for the phone line), can I criminally persecute them and also file a lawsuit? I'm generally a nice guy, have never bothered anyone or filed a lawsuit, but enough's enough.

[MrBogey]

It's credit. File a dispute with the credit bureau. You may have to fax the reports to them but they have to remove invalid entries from your credit report.

Alnmost any credit gathering service has info on how to handle a dispute resolution. It's not something you generally go to court over.

You can have a civil lawsuit over almost anything. You just have to prove damage.

[jason_grumpy]

Already in process with clearing it up with police reports and such.

The damage in this case would be my credit being dinged, APR raised resulting in higher payments, credit limits lowered, dreams of a home soon destroyed, credit being denied for new purchases, etc.

My concern here is that Verizon willingly ignored a current account using the same social for 7 years in good standing for another with the same social and variants of my name, not once, but twice. Not to mention during the time they were taking me to collections they did not say one thing about the other account (even as I ordered a fax line), and ignored my fraud report on all the major credit agencies. Their actions have destroyed my credit, hence the negligence.

[MrBogey]

But the entries should be removed and once removed it should cause your credit to return to it's natural state.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by MrBogey

But the entries should be removed and once removed it should cause your credit to return to it's natural state.

Yeah, good luck with that one. People are so quick to threaten you with "reporting you to the credit companies" that they move slower than molasses when it comes to actually clearing it up and making it right.

I am sorry to hear about all this.

There should be laws against people throwing crap on your credit reports. It should NOT be allowed. It has become such common place that it's not even useful anymore. Your credit history should also not be easily accessible. Your social security should also NOT BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION - yet every company uses it for that purpose. Idiots. What did they think would happen eventually?

[Musashi]

Find out what you can before committing any money to a lawyer. I'm not sure what the story with Verizon is, but if they failed to give you notice that lead to this level of damage, they could be accountable.

And obviously, should the police find the crooks, you can sue them for al they got before they're carted off to the slammer.

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by Musashi

Find out what you can before committing any money to a lawyer. I'm not sure what the story with Verizon is, but if they failed to give you notice that lead to this level of damage, they could be accountable.

And obviously, should the police find the crooks, you can sue them for al they got before they're carted off to the slammer.

If they are still at the same home address and it can be proven it was them, then yes. I will not only press charges but sue them as well. I asked the officer i spoke to last night if they are still at the address if I can press charges. As he said, it's difficult to prove it was them.. so I'm not counting on it. Chances are they are some illegal that's already moved on.

I'm just tired of dealing with it, but Verizon should have notified me and my correct address.

[jamclaur]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Yeah, good luck with that one. People are so quick to threaten you with "reporting you to the credit companies" that they move slower than molasses when it comes to actually clearing it up and making it right.

if they do anything at all. The police pretty much told my mom "tough luck" when some lady in texas stole her identity. Because the woman wasn't spending money or getting credit cards.

She was just using my mom's name as her name to work here illegially.

And before anyone starts with the racist comments KEEP THEM TO YOURSELF.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by jamclaur

if they do anything at all. The police pretty much told my mom "tough luck" when some lady in texas stole her identity. Because the woman wasn't spending money or getting credit cards.

She was just using my mom's name as her name to work here illegially.

And before anyone starts with the racist comments KEEP THEM TO YOURSELF.

Thats bullshit dude.

This country needs something to protect it's citizens against stuff like that. We really do. Right now, we have nothing. This crap with credit monitoring clearly does not do shit.

Anyways, enough as this is getting too deep for me