As a victim of Identity Theft, my battle with financial institutions has not been very easy. Some of them have been civil, some of them have been just absolutely ignorant, and some just lazy and uncooperative.

One bank in particular, let’s call it the “Great American Bank”, is refusing to do what is right. They are alleging that I have opened an account with them; however, the very first time I have heard of that account is when I have received a letter from their attorney’s office, which raise a lot of questions for me. I did obtain my credit report and there it was plastered there tarnishing my reputation.

I disputed that account with the “Great American Bank” and their attorney. It did not work. So I went ahead and I disputed this account with all 3 major Credit Reporting agencies (Experian is just like the “Great American Bank”-I get headaches from dealing with them). Equifax is the agency that actually contacted the “Great American Bank” as part of their investigation. No other agency had done that!

So, I got a call from a representative of the “Great American Bank”, who sounded as if I was so honored to have been contacted by her. She was very stern, cold, patronizing and treated me like I was a criminal. Maybe they are trained to be that way, I do not know. She was trying to justify the usage on the account. She was trying to say that my SS# appears to have been assigned to me after someone died. This is where I had to stop her and give her a piece of my mind. My SS# never belonged to anyone, my SS# is a recent number and I have not heard of the Social Security Administration recycling the numbers.

Finally, I got an Affidavit for an ID theft Claimant from the “Great American Bank”, I submitted it with all required information. About 40 days later I received a letter from the “Great American Bank” stating that they were not able to establish theft on “my account” (which I never applied for), because the received a payment from my banking account on a certain day. Hmm, interesting. Of course, they did not send any supporting documents that they based their investigation on. Just as I was thinking about requesting the information, I received another letter from them stating that I recently requested some documents from them, but they were not able to send them over to me, because they were not able to establish the crime. I was only thinking about requesting the documents!

My apologies for my rant, but I had to just vent it out. I am telling you, sometimes is not very easy dealing with the businesses and/or creditors. Anyhow, if you are a victim of Identity Theft and you are dealing with creditors, make sure that you submit, in addition to all requested information, your request for documents pursuant to Section 609(e) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681(g)).

When requesting your information, make sure you make your request in writing, provide your identification and a police report. I suggest you send it via certified mail. The creditor/bank must provide you with the requested information within 30 days.

Request the following information:

• Application records or screen prints of Internet/phone applications

• Statements

• Payment/charge slips

• Investigator’s summary

• Delivery addresses

• All records of phone numbers used to activate the account or used to access the account

• Any other documents associated with the account.

If they do not cooperate, make sure to submit your complaint to 609eRecords@ftc.gov.