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It occurs to me that my hobby in writing letters about the Fair Credit Reporting Act is suddenly topical! So some quick opinionated advice:
Do not pay for credit monitoring. You're statutorily guaranteed three free credit reports a year. That's sufficient.
Free options also exist through many banks these days; they use them as aquisition/retention channels. Amex and Capitol One both offer.
If someone opens a loan or CC in your name, deep breath: you are going to lose some time but not money. You haven't been stolen from.
You will be inclined to do things over phone, because credit reporting agencies and banks push people to it (and lately apps). No. Calls.
Everyone attached to a telephone at a CRA has scripts which are optimized for getting you off the phone and minimal ability to help.
If someone has opened an account in your name do not call the bank and ask them to close it. You do not have or want authority on acct!
You should file a police report locally and get the police to issue a paper copy or receipt. It doesn't matter if they investigateZ
You will snailmail copy of that report to the bank's legal department (address available online) with a short letter.
The contents of the letter: you did not open; correct immediately; any collections activity including reporting to CRAs a FCRA violation.
The bank is responsible for all damages and this letter is specific written notice of your complaint. You require resolution immediately.
You also require all communication about the matter to be in writing to you.
Why do you write these things? Because you a) start the clock on a variety of regulatory state machines and b) signal that you know that.
One group in the bank is scored on tickets per hour. Another's KPI is "zero regulatory actions this quarter." You only want to talk to them.
People do not believe me on this but trust me a professional firm letter from someone who sounds competent gets to a lawyer or SVP reliably.
Keep copies of everything, indefinitely. Keep a log of when mail was sent and when mail was received. Dropbox is your friend.
Because of reasons that are difficult to express in a tweet, these issues can appear solved and then affect you 5 years down the line.
In the event that happens, you want an organized file that you can mail in attached to a letter titled "intent to sue."
You should not act like a supplicant; you owe the bank nothing as you're not in a commercial relationship with them. But: no anger.
You do *not* want to be read as someone who is angry and needs to be talked down. You want to be read as someone collecting a paper trail.
Yelling cannot hurt a bank. Bluster cannot hurt a bank. They are institutionally aware of this. Paper trails, though, have consequences.
I followed up on this tweetstorm with a longer version here: kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/ide…
