Identity thieft - Debt responsibility?

[Henro]

Murph,

It's not the container but what's inside that counts! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

That being said, my wife would say "empty is empty..." /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

So what can I say... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[frank_f15]

I will jump in here, you are right on the credit cards, i have opened up many to get free stuff or a discount, when i bought my large tv and entertaiment center, if i opened an accout with the store no interest for 1 year, paid it off in 3 months and never closed the card, so i guess it still shows as an active card? don't they look at that, that you have an open card and not used it in 8 years?

 

[Ozarker]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What is the difference a regular theft & identity theft? I you tractor is stolen you would still owe the bank for the note. If insured the insurance company would pay you the value but you are still responsible for the debt. )</font>

The difference is that if I purchased the tractor it is a debt that I actually contracted for and have budgeted to pay. Assuming I pay, my credit history isn't harmed.

If my identity is stolen and the person buys tractors, cars and runs up the max on three or four credit cards, I probably can't handle that level of debt on my income. And my credit is ruined for future debt since I probably don't know what has happened until I start getting collection notices for unpaid debts.

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I guess in a stretch this could be related...say someone steals my identity and buys a tractor or tractor parts, for example... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

This morning I was reading an article about the new bankruptcy law Congress passed.

This part caught my eye:

<font color="blue"> "They particularly wanted provisions that would exempt from the new bankruptcy requirements military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and people whose indebtedness is the result of financial identity theft."
</font> (my emphasis, neither of these provisions were included)

I guess I’m naïve.

It never occurred to me that someone could represent themselves as me, buy something from a seller who does not verify who the buyer is, and I (and not the irresponsible seller) could be held liable for the transaction???

Am I reading this right?

Guess I better read up a bit more in identity theft! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Buyer beware! OK..

Seller beware! Can live with that...

Unknowing third party beware! Hard to believe, but somehow I don't doubt it... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif )</font>
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<font color="red"> Learn more about this and other credit issues here!

<font color="orange"> GET THE BASICS HERE </font>
http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=410243#post410243[/url]

>

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( That's always been the big problem with identity theft, and the reason it's so popular amongst the "work hard to avoid work" crowd. The onus is on YOU to prove that it wasn't you making the purchase.

I have only one real major problem with the way that banks and credit card companies handle this whole problem. That's the way they react to situations when they happen .... I guess you could say their attitudes are more blase than concerned. Of course, the reason is because you and I end up paying for the problem ... with higher fees, higher charges, etc. Just as with shoplifting, those of us who pay the bills, carry the thieves!
The feds could have done a lot better with this whole bankrupcy thing (I have no problem with the provisions to tighten the noose .... too many people live beyond their means and then consumers who have self-discipline get to pick up the slack) if they'd put some teeth into identy theft laws, and - especially - punishment. Stop making it so easy and lucrative!!! )</font>

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The feds could have done a lot better with this whole bankruptcy thing.
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They probably would have had it been us (the consumer) supplying the under the table money instead of the bankers.

Ya get who you pay for.

***************</font>
GET THE BASICS HERE.</font>
http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=410243#post410243
*****************</font>
>

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It can be very difficult to persuade the seller, credit card company, and Credit Bureau that you really didn't make a certain purchase.

<font color="red"> It truly is guilty until you prove you're innocent. </font> A google on "identity theft" returns 10,200,000 hits. A non-biased source for information is the Federal Trade Comission. )</font>
**********
<font color="red">That's what credit scoring and reporting is all about. </font>

<font color="#666666"> GET THE BASICS HERE.
http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=410243#post410243
</font>

 

[Bird]

Yep, Frank, I shred several credit card offers every week. I have one credit card that I've had for 17 years, used regularly, usually over a thousand dollars a month, when we were traveling full time, but has only been used once in the last 10 years for less than $15 just to see if it was still active; it was. So yesterday I called to try to close that account and get rid of it. The guy says, "But you've got 5028 points" and of course I had no idea what he was talking about. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif So I went online, as he said to do, and they're supposedly sending me a $50 gift card for The Home Depot and I'll close that account when that card arrives. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif And over a year ago, I was getting an oil & filter change at the Ford dealer and they said it would be free if I'd accept a Ford credit card; I did. And now that card has never been used, so this coming week I'll try to get that one closed, too. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I also found on my credit report a couple of "finance companies?" that show open accounts even though they show zero balance and haven't been used in years; things like "no interest, no payments for X number of months" that I paid in full before that "no interest" period expired.

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( *What is the difference between a regular theft & identity theft?
If you tractor is stolen you would still owe the bank for the note.
If insured the insurance company would pay you the value but you are still responsible for the debt.
)</font>````````````````There is a world of difference between having Your tractor stolen and having your identity stolen.
Someone steals your tractor the damage is limited to the value of the tractor. Let them steal your identity and the damage can be unlimited far exceeding the value of a tractor.

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What is the differencebetween regular theft & identity theft? If you tractor is stolen you would still owe the bank for the note.

<font color="red"> When someone uses your identity to steal isn't that really the same thing? </font>
============
<font color="red"> Nope not by a long shot!
When you bought the tractor you agreed to repay the loan.
Did you also agree to repay the ID theft loan. </font>
The differences are as clear as the difference between night and day.


http://consumers.creditnet.com/straighttalk/board/showthread.php?s=&postid=410243#post410243

 

[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The laws are increasingly to protect business interests, not the rights of the individual.
Ben
)</font>
Exactly !
That's what the new BK law is all about .period.