I got a email from CK. It is opened with COMENITYBANK/SGUIDEV. Opened with 8k credit limit. So far close to 7k is spent. I filed a dispute with Equifax. What else I need to do from my side?
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My quick Identity Theft guide is here, though it’s outdated since you no longer need a police report to freeze your credit reports for free:
The /r/personalfinance reddit has a pretty good wiki here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/identity_theft/
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First step is to verify it isnt your account. Comenity does a ton of co-branded cards and buy-now-pay-later type store credit, and those partner relationships get bought, sold, and transfered all the time. So make sure the activity doesnt match one of your other accounts that you havent realized is serviced by Comenity.
Once certain it isnt yours, you need to dispute the account on all 3 credit reports. Then freeze your reports. Beyond that it is up to you - you can try to chase down the account with Comenity, which could feel like running into a lot of brick walls. Or you can wait and let Comenity eventually contact you with a statement or collection or whatever. Trying to get ahead of this is the better option, but is also often fruitless. Is there a matching inquiry on your report?
There’s also a decent chance the account has nothing to do with you, and was put on your report by error. Either someone fat-fingered the SSN, or the accountholder doesnt have a credit file so Equifax decided your file was close enough. Once the dispute is processed, you may never hear of this account again. You cant count on this being the case, but dont discount the possibility, either.
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Thanks for the guide.
Thanks for the help. I have filed a dispute with Equifax. Card is opened on Jan,9th. Already used for 7k out of 8k credit line. I didn’t spend anything that much. I traveled to abroad most of the time. I am going to file dispute with other CC agencies. I will also try calling Comenity. I typically get a message for inquiries. I didn’t receive any inquiry notification for this account.
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Funny that I disputed one purchase w/ VZW CC and it was promptly reported to bureaus. Never had that happen w/ other CCs
Pardon my ignorance… is disputing purchases a negative?
I suspect that a disputed purchase should only end up in the report if (1) the statement balance had been reported to the CRA, and (2) that balance includes the disputed amount. Otherwise there’s no point in reporting the dispute.
If account information is disputed directly with the CRA, a dispute comment (like “Dispute of account information” or “Consumer disputes this account information”) may appear in the Comments / Remarks field and stay there until the account is closed and falls off. I suppose it’s possible for prolific disputers to be a higher credit risk, but I don’t think it’s included in any scoring models – I’ve seen an 850 (FICO 08) with one such remark.
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I took that to mean the credit card passed the dispute along to the credit bureaus without him having to submit a dispute with each one himself. It never crossed my mind (until you implied it) that it might mean the credit card make a derogatory mark on his account.
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Are you certain it is not an account bought from another bank? Some years ago an extra few Chase accounts appeared in my credit report. Chase had been buying up other banks, so instead of one, I found I had 3 or 4 Chase accounts.
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It is a new account opened in MD. One transaction of $6850 with credit line of $8000 posted on the same day application submitted.
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Good chance it was one of those at-the-register credit applications, and someone fat-fingered the SSN.
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Have you contacted the bank and told them it’s not your account? The credit bureau reports what banks tell them. They are not the origin of the information. Ask the bank not to report it as your account.
Let us know how it’s resolved. Thanks.
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P.S. Comenity Bank is known for its retail cards and affiliate cards. IKEA, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Big Lots, Victoria’s Secret, BJ’s, Eddie Bauer, Sephora, Toyota Rewards Visa. Plus about 140 more.
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The relevant card is the Sportsman’s Guide Buyer’s Club Credit Card.
Has anyone ever gotten anywhere, when trying to do this by cold-calling the bank?
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I got a bank to start reporting a card to credit bureaus when they were only reporting to one, and also to change what they were reporting. It doesn’t seem different to ask them to stop reporting an account to the wrong person’s credit bureau. I don’t see why their credit card service wouldn’t listen when you inquire about an account in your name. If they say you have an account, they should very much listen. You can contact the lender to verify that they have been reporting account information to the credit reporting companies and request that they send updated information (like it isn’t your account).
The bank has a clear relationship with the credit bureau, the person in question, and the credit report.
Obviously they listen when you have an account and it’s your account. They don’t have to listen if you tell them that it’s not your account, even if they think it’s your account. OP might not even have enough information to prove that it’s his (according to them) account, since he may not have the account number and other PII may not match.
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If they are reporting an account incorrectly, it’s in their interest to listen. Why wouldn’t they? OP doesn’t have to prove it’s his account. The bank knows what they are reporting. Why do you think the bank would be hostile?
Simply because they’re not authorized to speak about an account with anyone other than the account owner. The moment you claim it’s not your account, they don’t have to speak with you. In other words, they do not have a relationship with you. They have a relationship with the CRA and you have a relationship with the CRA, but you don’t have a relationship with the bank. Your only recourse is to dispute it with the CRA, and the CRA will report that dispute to the bank, then the bank can investigate.
The above is the devil’s advocate take on the subject, not what should actually happen and not what will happen every time. It’s just an explanation of what could happen and why. It may be different if you actually have a relationship with the bank through other accounts, because then the bank should see all your accounts after authenticating you as an owner of another account.
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