Identity Theft Hurts

Financial identity theft happened to me.

My financial identity theft was a miserable experience.

Unfortunately, identity theft fraud can happen to you. This is my personal identity theft story.

My identity theft began in 2002 when Leasecomm, American Express, Capital One, Citi and Household Federal Savings Bank’s sloppy identity verification loan application processes enabled an identity thief to take out credit in my name, without my knowledge. But when the accounts went into default, the lenders’ failures became my responsibility and the burden fell on me to sort out the financial identity theft mess, -not the identity thief and not the lenders.

When the fraudulent accounts that I didn’t open went into default and the collection agencies called, I had to fix my credit reports.

I had to complete and mail in the notarized affidavits, copies of utility bills, my police report and my drivers license.

I had to deal with the collection agencies.

I had to place a fraud alert on my credit.

I had to place a lock on my credit files with TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.

Hello.  My name is John Barksdale and this is my personal financial identity theft story.  I created this blog to chronicle my frustration, share my personal identity theft story, help others who may be coping with financial identity theft and let victims share their identity theft stories.  Unfortunately, identity theft is pervasive in the United States and can happen to anyone. 

What is identity theft? IDENTITY THEFT DEFINITION: “Identity theft is a term used to refer to fraud that involves stealing money or getting other benefits by pretending to be someone else.  Identity theft, or more accurately, financial identity theft occurs when a creditor fails to verify the identity of the impersonated victim and issues new credit or services to an identity thief. But the victim, -not the lender, gets the blame.”

And if you have to deal with an indifferent collections agent on the phone who asks how the identity thief stole your identity, remain calm and ask them, “Isn’t that a question you should ask my identity thief?”  If you’re the victim of identity theft, be strong!  You did nothing wrong.  Unless someone has personally experienced financial identity theft, they can’t appreciate how aggravating the collection letters, incorrect credit reports, wasted administrative time and damage to your good credit can be. 

Identity theft hurts because it caused me years of emotional distress, aggravation and embarrassment.  Please feel free to leave your story here, I’m not selling anything, nor will your information be sold by me to anyone.  Let’s talk, because identity theft hurts!

I’ve uploaded copies of my identity theft collection letters, police report and resolution letters.  I hope you find them useful.

In this post I share my story so you can read about the beginning of my personal identity theft nightmare.

In this post I share with you the police report that was filed on my behalf.

In this post you’ll see that American Express issued a credit card to my identity thief which perpetuated my identity theft headache. 

In this post you’ll see that Household Bank issued a credit card to my identity thief on my behalf without my knowledge or consent.

In this post I share my identity theft resolution letter(s) with you.

In this post I share my collection agency experience(s) with you.

In this post I share with you how I put an end to my careless lender-enabled identity theft nonsense.

You may contact me at identitythefthurts@gmail.com.  

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I’m not an attorney, therefore, don’t take any opinions or ideas in any of my posts as legal advice.  In any legal situation, always consult a professional.

I hope you find these identity theft and fraud assistance websites useful.  

Federal Trade Commission Identity Theft Website 

US Department of Justice Identity Theft and Fraud Website

Ms. Mari Frank’s excellent identity theft website.  Amazing resource.

The Identity Theft Resource Center is an excellent advocacy website for victims.

An identity theft discussion with an expert panel.

Tell the credit card marketers to stop mailing you their unsolicited “pre-approved” offers.

Michelle Sybesma created a wonderful site where she shares her personal identity theft story and offers help. Her story bears many similarities to my own.

The Social Security Administrations Identity Theft “Electronic Fact Sheet“.

The Victims Assistance of America is an advocacy group for the victims of identity theft.

Americans for Fairness in Lending exists to raise awareness of abusive credit and lending practices and to call for re-regulation of the industry.

MyFICO provides an identity theft booklet titled “Identity Theft and You”.

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