Has anyone been chased for owing money they don't ACTUALLY owe?

[supergolden88]

I was wondering if any of you have been victims of ID fraud or simple case of having the same name as someone that owes a lot of money... My better half is going through this nightmare AGAIN and we can't tell if it's ID fraud or debt collecting agencies chasing him for money that someone else with the same name (actually same first initial and last name) owes. It is causing us a lot of stress and time and we have nothing at all to do with it yet it will of course affect our credit history... Any advise more than welcome

grrrrrr

[Mags]

You could try posting your predicament on the message boards of http://www.moneymagpie.com/

[martell1]

Go and speak to someone at the local CAB office

[supergolden88]

we are doing all that I just wondered if it has happened to anyone else

[Huguenot]

Yep happened to me.

In the end I wrote to the lovely lady at The Guardian, Maragaret Dibben, with all the details. She didn't mess about, she went straight to the top, copied me on all correspondence, and got the perfect result!

[Huggers]

Somebody opened a storecard in my name and spent a thousand pounds on underwear in about five minutes. They had merely looked up my name on the electoral roll to match it up with something they had stolen from someone else in the same surname and assigned my address etc in their application form. The first I knew about it was when threatening bills and letters arrived at a subsequent address I had moved to.

First, I established with the store (army and navy)that my date of birth and that given by the card user were different to build up a clear picture that it wasnt me. Then I got them to put it in writing that it wasnt me and to write a letter that i could put on file in case of any credit rating problems in the future. I think this probably was all done by the firm they used to handle their storecards and debts. I think that going straight onto the offensive, making the store take the blame for giving credit so quickly, demanding more action on their part and threatening them with legal action really helped. but...this was a few years ago and i know the picture of fraud has changed a lot. They were simpler times and in all communication I managed to talk to a human not an automized machine.

[supergolden88]

the sad thing is this has all happened before about 4 years ago and we only found out when they turned us down for a mortgage because of a defaulted loan! It took ages to clear and now it's happening again. May try the Guardian route but I really think they simply target my hubby because of the last name. It's sickening that you actually waste time, energy and get stressed beyond belief simply because a debt collecting agency appears to be in the right without any proof whatsoever.

[will dex]

yes, happened to me, eventually tracked down the person who owed the money, living in ED!!!!!!!!! (BUT MANY MADDENING BAILIFFS LETTERS LATER..)