I just checked my credit report using the annual free report, and found a listing for Anderson Financial Network on a Nextel Wireless account for over $500. Not only have I never been a customer of Nextel, but I had filed a previous dispute with several other Wireless Carriers and collection agencies trying to collect on this case of Identity theft.
The first time, in 2003 when I disputed this with both Nextel and the collection agency for an account that was opened in my name, I followed the correct procedures in sending them proof of my identity, as well as the police report where I filed the case - 2 years after the "account" had been set up in my name. Neither Nextel nor the collection agency at the time were ever able to offer proof that the debt was mine, other than the "your social is XXX-XX-XXXX, and you live at Street, therefore the debt must be yours."
I am now fighting the same issue, with another collection agency, and the onus is on me, to prove my innocence. I thought that in the U.S. We were innocent until proven guilty. These actions need to stop, there is no recourse for the consumer, and we are held at the mercy of the credit bureaus reporting eroneous information.
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