Last fall I received a letter from a debt collector, Gregg Morris of Patenaude & Felix (P & F) who was trying to collect a debt for Target Bank. Since I never had a Target charge card and didn't know that there was such a thing as "Target Bank." I called the office of Patenaude & Felix to find out what this was about. The woman that answered had a heavy accent. She wouldn't give me any information. I was getting very frustrated and she could hear it in my voice so she got mad and hung up on me. Mind you, I wasn't screaming or cursing. As far as I knew they were a fly-by-night fraudulent company. So I decided to correspond in writing.
I sent them a letter indicating that I had no idea what this was all about. They sent me a form to fill out and return to them with all my identifying information including social security number. They gave me a deadline to meet that, if not met, they would assume this debt to be valid and would seek payment. Not knowing who Patenaude & Felix was, I was not about to give them my information. I responded with a letter requesting documentation that linked this debt to me. If not received by my deadline I would assume this debt is not mine.in the meantime, I placed several calls to Target. It was a difficult task to get through since I didn't have the right social security, address or birthday to match the account. During these calls I spoke with several departments and was able to learn that the account had been opened by a woman with the same name as me but in a different state. They verified that the address, birth date and social security number didn't match mine.
Then in February (more than 30 days past the deadline I gave them) I received another letter from P & F with a copy of a Target bill that had my address on it. Some time between my conversations with Target late in 2008 and February the address was changed to mine. Hmmm, I wonder how that happened. I tried again to call P & F but the attorney wouldn't take my calls. I called Target to find out how my address got put on this account. They wouldn't tell me how my address ended up on an account that was not mine but they said they would correct it.
Next, I received a letter from P & F with copies of a civil suit they filed in the county court. I called the county and they verified that it had indeed been filed and that the sheriff's office would be serving me papers. At that point I called my attorney. He verified that the suit had been filed and that I needed to respond or have a judgment against me. So he tried contacting the attorney working for P & F, Gregg Morris.
I continued to try to contact Target about this but evidently there was a note on the account not to talk to me anymore.
My attorney got back to me and said that the civil suit would be dropped if I filled out the form that they had sent me previously with all my identifying information and file a police report claiming identity theft. I gave all of my information except my social security number. I even sent a copy of my drivers license. They still wouldn't drop this until I filed a police report for identity theft. The only ones who attempted identity theft is the debt collector who obviously put my address on the account. I imagine if I had given them my social security number they would have put that on the account also.
So now I will have to spend a day in court and incur attorney fees in order to get this cleared up. What really aggravates me is the time and money wasted on this when simple internet searches of public information verify that this account is not mine. Plus, there are 13 other women with my same name that come up on switchboard.com and that is just the ones that list their middle initial. Without the middle initial there are 140. Why are they harassing me?
Also, my attorney was told that I had been receiving the Target bill at my address and making payments on it for a year. A bold-faced lie. I'm sure a sopeana of Target records will verify this. But why should we waste time and money and resources over this when they know they are lying. Do they think I will just give in and pay someone else's bill?
My attorney seems unwilling to go after the debt collector for some reason. I don't know how to find an attorney who will pursue this for me. It is not really a case of identity theft because none of my identifying information was attached to the account. Attorneys that handle debt collectors only want to negotiate payment. I am unwilling to pay the debt. It is not mine. Why can't anyone understand that!
I guess I'll get my day in court but I doubt that alone will appease me.
Vicki
Export, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
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