Since about mid-2020 I’ve been dealing with identity theft a little bit on and off. It hasn’t been a big deal as, until now kinda, nobody has successfully gotten any money out of it (at least as far as I know).
First, someone opened a checking account and attempted a loan in my name, but the bank flagged it and sent me a letter and I called them and they shut it down. At that point I filed an FTC report and put a alert on my credit account.
Several months or a year later, someone attempted a FEMA loan or something after a natural disaster in my name, but due to the credit alert, it got flagged and blocked and again I called at shut it down. At this point, not wanting to even deal with having to call banks who were so hard to reach anyway, I put a credit freeze on since I have no plans for any loans anytime soon.
Just now, apparently someone opened up an eBay account with my info and racked up a few hundred dollars in charges that they didn’t pay. It got charged off to a debt collector and I got a letter from the collector last week. Obviously I will dispute the debt as it’s not me, but…
- When I take a dispute-debt form letter, should I add to it that I know my information was stolen and I had frozen my credit as part of the rationale? Or is it better to leave that out at first?
- What happens when you dispute a debt with a collector? I assume they don’t often just walk away quietly. Do they expect some proof? What would they need. What if they insist it’s my debt?
Thanks, Fred