Skylynn Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I have tried to keep my credit perfect and have had 2 whammys that I am dealing with. I would love to know if this one sounds right because you just dont know who you can trust. This is what happened...Ballys Gym is on my credit report and it says: opened 7/94 and last active 2/3 and I owe $536. Well, never in MY LIFE have I, or would I join a gym NEVER, nor have I ever co-signed for someone else. So knowing this had to be a mistake, I sent the 3 credit bureaus a letter disputing it, and to my total complete SHOCK I was sent a letter back that said that Ballys verified that it WAS in fact MY account, therefore the CBs would not remove it. This was nuts! It said "TransUnion Hawk alert was completed on applicant by searching name, ss#, and address. No fraudulent activity found" Well, what a total waste of time spent waiting for this useless information! I mean they (Ballys) already HAD to have had all that info ALREADY if they were on my credit report in the first place right??!! So I spoke to an attorney friend briefly who does not specialize in credit but did tell me that if I was sure that this was not my account, I may want to consider small claims court and leave them with the burden of proof, but that I should try calling them first and checking to see that if they could give me proof.This is the scary part...I called Ballys and told them there is no way this is my account and that I wanted to see a copy of MY signature, copies of membership info, bills or past due bills sent to me to prove it was my account and told them I had contacted an attorney who said I should get proof from them but be careful about giving too much personal information. Well he basically scoffed at this as if I was lying, telling me to have my attorney call them because an attorney should know better than to think Ballys would give ME that information, because they will not do that UNLESS I first GIVE them a copy of my drivers liscence, a copy of my social security card AND my signature written out 5 times on a piece of paper. I said "well if I do that, what is to keep you from copying my signature down onto a contract and saying that you had it all along?" He said very cocky "we dont have a scam department where people sit all day faking up contracts ma'am" Well, how do I know that???? I mean how do I know that they dont make a commission off of what they collect and would cheat people to make more money...I mean it HAS been done! He acted like I was rediculous, which is funny because I would not be calling them if I had not been cheated somehow in the first place by having an account thats not mine. I had no other choice & I sent him the info via fax and am really scared I should not have (especially after the lecture I got from my attorney friend about being more careful with giving out my information.) Ballys said it would take two weeks to check it all out and to call back in two weeks. Am I being too paranoid? I mean why in the world should I have to give out all of MY personal information to them when I can prove that its on my credit report? Its not like I am insane and feel like picking some stranger at random, pretend to be them & spend hours fixing thier credit! Any advice to ease my fear would be so greatly appreciated. I will post the other whammy in another post because its a totally different situation. What a mess!! Thanks in advance,Skylynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anti-something Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 wow. first thing i would do is get a fraud alert on your CRs!go to the identity theft part of the forum and read up, i am not saying that is what this is, but its a good possibility and you need to make sure you are protected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahntara Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Okay, I'll jump on this one.To ease your fear. Put yourself in their shoes. Someone calls claiming to be, oh, well, anyone... and she says there is a Bally's account on her credit report and could you send over all the personal information you have on her.Just like you felt uneasy releasing this information, so would some business, who would be held liable under certain laws and regulations about sending out personal information to someone who was not even willing to identify herself. Make sense? So, you can calm down a bit and understand that verifying your identity for any company to forward your own personal information is perfectly reasonable.And your attorney is correct. You must be extremely careful in providing your personal information. Identity theft is one of the fastest crimes in the country. I also caution against doing this. But sometimes, there is no best answer, you just gotta do what you gotta do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylynn Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I certainly see where you are coming from BUT why ask for social AND Drivers lisence before at least checking to see if my signature matched and then go from there? I mean it would be pretty bizzarre that I could even come close to faking someones signature in hopes that it matches what he has. PLUS 5 times I had to write my signature with providing ss card and DL...it just seemed extreme, but its done. AND what do you think the possibilities are of them making phony copies? Not too long ago I ordered a box of checks and they were stolen before even getting to me. It was such a mess! I was told it could have been the postal service or even someone at the bank itself or anyone in between...its just so hard to trust anyone. IF they do copy my info and make it look like it WAS my account, only I know the truth, right? So what would I do next??How can I cry fraud if that was already rejected as I mentioned above. And what kind of case do I have to fight it if the CBs dont ask for originals? Thanks again,Skylynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocDon Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Skylynn,What do you think you do when you're being acused of something?Write their executive offices. File a police report for ID theft. File complaints with the FTC and their state Attorney General. They are supposed to have safeguards in place to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen - the FTC requires them to.Put the burden on them - make them run around proving it's not yours. You have a lot more power than you know - take advantage of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anti-something Posted September 23, 2004 Report Share Posted September 23, 2004 what DocDon said!and in case you misunderstood my post.. i wasnt meaning ballys was going to commit a fraud against you (that is something i highly doubt) but more for the fact this account just 'appeared'theres several reasons this could happen, ballys just screwed up somewhere and 'think' you are the person they are after, or someone stole your info and opened this account.either way, fraud alerts, police report, id theft affidavits, FTC complaints are definitely a good idea.it will always remain they need to prove you are the responsible party here, the burden of proof is upon them to prove its your account, it is not up to you to prove to them it isnt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylynn Posted September 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2004 Thanks all of you..great advice and I did some filing today...Doc, thanks to you I felt very confident & empowered in my quests to fix all this. So I have to say a personal thank you to you. (especially in the situaltion with Cingular) I am wondering also, after I get the copy that proves this was not my account, should I also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau?Its so irritating the time spent on something I will never be compinsated for. So I want to take advantage of every right I have to help keep them from doing this to others. Had that guy not been so RUDE to me, I would not feel so strongly about it, but he had no right to treat me like garbage and no one should have to go through that. I understand that this is not a perfect world and mistakes will happen but respect is something we all deserve. After its all said and done I am going back to where I bought my car and hopefully can get refinanced. I learned some great life lessons in the last few days, I am very grateful for all of your help.Skylynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocDon Posted September 25, 2004 Report Share Posted September 25, 2004 I knew ya had it in you Skylynn File complaints all over town if you heart desires. Take out a small classified ad. Whatever you'd like to do, knock yourself out.Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylynn Posted September 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2004 classified ad, hell im going for the front page!!! WOOOOOHOOOO ok I better calm down lol I am having flashbacks from old cartoons IM GOING TO RULE THE WORLD!!!! lolololol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocDon Posted September 25, 2004 Report Share Posted September 25, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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