Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to handle debt collectors after identity theft and protect your rights.
Understanding Identity Theft and Debt Collection
When your identity is stolen, thieves can open new accounts, take out loans, and rack up charges in your name. These fraudulent activities often lead to debt collectors contacting you for payment on debts you didn’t incur. It’s crucial to act quickly and decisively to resolve these issues.
Immediate Steps to Take when a debt collector is now attempting to collect the fraudulent debt from you.
Know the Law – There are two major laws involved, both of which are designed to help you through this situation. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) governs debt collectors and the things that they must do and things that they are prohibited from doing. For example, a debt collector is required to send you a letter explaining that you have a right to dispute the debt that they are attempting to collect from you. You have a right to demand confirmation of the debt.
Debt collectors may not:
- Call you before 8 a.m. or after 9 pm your local time;
- Call anyone other than you, your attorney or a designated individual to discuss the debt;
- Cannot call you at times known to be inconvenient to you such as at work, if you inform it that such times are inconvenient;
- Cannot call you at all if you instruct them, in writing to stop calling you.
- Threaten you with a judgment or post collection proceedings if they do not have a judgment.
The second law that you have to be familiar with is the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). This statute gives you rights to sue debt collectors, lenders and credit reporting agencies for failing to remove incorrectly reporting information on your credit reports, after you have notified the credit reporting agency. We use this statute to remove the fraudulent information from people’s credit reports. Moreover, both of these statutes allow us to collect our costs and attorneys’ fees from the defendants that we sue. This is how we provide our services at no out of pocket charge to our clients.
These statutes can be complicated which is why it is not a good idea to handle identity theft issues by yourself. Let us handle the matter for you at no out of pocket charge.
- Document Everything. Keep records of all interactions with debt collectors, including dates, times, and details of the conversations. Save copies of all correspondence.
- Place a Fraud Alerts or credit freeze on your credit reports with the major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Consider freezing your credit to prevent further fraudulent accounts from being opened.
- Report the Identity to your local police. Your police report is the key to getting the fraudulent information removed from your credit reports. You will need to attach the police report to each dispute letter that you send to each of the credit reporting agencies.
- Notify Creditors and Banks by contacting them about the identity theft. Provide them with copies of your FTC identity theft report and police report.
- Send a Written Dispute to the debt collector. Attach a copy of the police report as well. Send it by certified mail, with proof of receipt. Debt collectors will probably not work with you as they are paid a commission on what they collect. If they can defeat your claim and collect from you, they won’t care.
Let us handle your identity theft claim at no out of pocket charge to you.
Stop being a victim of identity theft and let us help you at no out of pocket charge. Call us at the Identity Theft Law Group at (404) 591-6680 for a free, no obligation consultation. Talk with an Identity Theft attorney today to learn your rights and get free advice. If you have a good case, we will not charge you anything out of pocket to pursue your claim to get your money back from the bank. You can also visit us at www.idtheftlawgroup for more information or email us at [email protected].
Attorney Gary Nitzkin
(404) 591-6680
