good news, bad news

[Idaho]

Today the dirt bag who committed fraud against my daughter appeared in District Court today and pleaded guilty to the fraud that he perpetrated against her. He is even willing to sign a letter to the effect that it was all his doing and that he is solely responsible. The judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation even though his attorney asked the judge to use the same pre-sentence info discovered by Bonneville County last month in their sentencing and used by Power County last week because the judge wants to hear from the victim. That is the good news. My daughter and I got on the phone with the financial institutions involved and one of them is willing to talk and is sending a fraud packet to us. We are hoping that they will take their rightful place as victim and accept court ordered restitution. We even have a fraud ticket number with them. (Hey, I'm reaching for hope here give me a break) Now hopeful we call the second bank, actually their collection agent, that was a mistake. At this bank the dirt bag took out a credit card and charged up $9,000 in bills, with interest and penalties it is now at over $15,000!!!!! We told the rude woman who answered the phone what happened in court and asked if they would be willing to step in as victims and take the court ordered restitution. She said no. That my daughter is the victim and that my daughter needs to go to court after Mr. Dirtbag and make him pay back the banks $15,000. She even acknowledged that the fraud was against my daughter and that the dirtbag spent the banks money but it is still my daughters, the real victims, responsibility to spend her money to recover the banks money to clear her credit. At that point I indicated that it was ridiculous for the bank to take that attitude because my daughter could file bankruptcy and clear her name then the bank would not get anything. Rude woman then said that I just earned my daughter 7 years of bad credit and proceeded to yell at me while I was yelling at her and she hung up on me.

So, we need real legislation in this country to hold banks accountable for giving out credit like it is candy to any body who calls or fills out an application with someone else's info and then willingly holds the victim accountable!!!! Am I wrong here? No wonder banks make so much freakin money. I wonder if I can find a law firm willing to take this bank to court for mental distress or something? I am sick of this mess. Dirtbag will go to jail, never pay back a cent and my daughter, even if she gets a court ordered judgment will still be the loser. Where is the judgement in that?


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[mrfuni]

Yours is a sad story Idaho. Although I do not have an answer for you, I agree the system sucks and there is no justice for your daughter, the victim, no matter what the outcome is from the case.
I can only wish you and your family the best as you try to work through this mess. Short of standing outside the bank with a sign of protect I don't know what else you can do. Maybe someone on the forum will have an idea for you.

[cactusjack]

Well put, Joe.

Idaho, the wheels of justice turn slowly and are not always moving in the right direction. I'm sorry that your daughter has to go through this. There are a lot of scumbags in society and more often than not, the victim has less rights than the criminal. Thanks for the update. I have been following this since you first discussed it several months ago.

[beezer]

What a bummer

That is a bummer...sorry Idaho...those credit companies are pretty evil beings....they are more then willing to give credit to people with bad credit and then charge them more interest...and i'm sure i'll be getting credit applications for my 16 yr old any day now!!

Sorry about your daughter and hope everything works out for her!

[socwkbiker]

Idaho, did you speak with anyone else at that bank? If it was just that person, call them back and speak with the collection manager. Report the harrassment to the manager and inform them that you are contemplating contacting the Fair Trade Commission under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA). This should generate some conversation. Keep moving up though if you don't get results.

If you don't get anywhere with them, ask for their fraud division or their legal department and discuss the court order with them.

Hope this helps some.

[Idaho]

I appreciate the simpathy you guys. The thing that really bothers me is that we are all in this together and don't even know it. If someone steals your identity and commits fraud against you the bank will hold you, the victim with the SS#, responsible to go after the perp to get their money back. That is exactly what the collection agent told me. We need to raise a loud voice to get this changed. Banks must be held accountable for easy credit that puts victims in the middle of a nightmare.

[blowndodge]

Idaho, victims are not held responsible due to indentity theft. The institution that accepted the fraudulant documents are responsible. This is federal law and the bank should know this. As SWB stated get a hold of someone with half a brain in the bank and explain this to them. They know the law. It's a pain in the arse for you and your family but the bank is responsible not your daughter.

[ringadingh]

Sounds like a tuneup with a baseball bat would be a lot more rewarding. I had a favorable judgment in a case years ago and to this day have never seen a penny. It was up to me to keep track of this persons whereabouts to collect. Its impossible to do when they are so transient. Good luck and best wishes in your case.

[Idaho]

Brad, I need to do some research on the federal laws. The collection agent quite clearly told me that the fraud was committed against Kate with her social security number, that dirtbag spent the banks money accordingly but that it is HER responsibility to go after HIM and return the banks 15 thou. By the way, the credit limit on that POS card was 5 grand, he charged it up to nine. How does that happen? I thought banks monitored that sort of thing.

The ignorant collections agent cast doubt on Kate saying that "there was no way he spent all of this money by himself". When we tried to explain just how he did that she broke in reading down the list of charges for hundreds of dollars at a time right over top of me when I was talking. Things went downhill when I called her ignorant.

[jussmatt]

Idaho....I too have been following your saga for some time now.... I hate that it's turned this way, but I'm w/ SWB & BD here. I would not even mess with the "local branch" types. Personally, I think most of them are unqualified to deal with anything like this. If you go more towards the "Corporate" side of the bank and their controllers you might get further. Since I'm sure they deal with more legal issues than most "tellers". All else fails.... a good lawyer might not be a bad place to go either..... they're not cheap, but neither is $15000!!! Good luck bud....I hope you can get somewhere!!!

[Idaho]

We have actually been dealing with fraud and legal departments in the one bank. They seem to be receptive. My mistake was calling the collection agency for the other bank to try to reason with them. They are only interested in getting their hands on the money no matter what. They don't want to wait on restitution payments. I'm am going to call my lawyer tomorrow and ask for a referral to a local banking attorney. I'm hoping that we can get an agressive one who will take the case for a percentage and then go after the bank for the kitchen sink. In the meantime I have downloaded the FTC Fair Dept Collection Practices Act and I'm reading it. Not finding much hope so far.

[skimo]

All I can say is Idaho must be one screwed up state. I have never seen or heard of such a thing in Florida. I work for probation here in Florida and the dirt bag here is ordered to pay via restitution order. I have never really seen the actual victim of identity theft listed on the order its always the banks or financial institution who are out the money. The state attorney office has victim advocate who prepares the restitution orders before sentencing to ensure the victim is not being held liable for the money owed to the banks. The restitution order make the dirt bag accountable to pay the banks. Its not setup to pay the actual victim so they in turn can pay the bank, that's just silly. The restitution order here is criminally liable and a civil judgement against the dirt bag. So if the dirt bag does not get it paid while on probation or prison, it hangs over his head the rest of his life. And banks, collection agents can hound him all they want.

I feel your pain man.....I hope it all works out. On a much smaller scale I had a bank tell me it was my responsibilty to get their money back when they paid one of my bills that they weren't even supposed to pay and they held me accountable.....It was only 244 dollars but it pissed me off just the same! Countrywide paid my homeowners insurance after I had already paid it because I don't have an escrow account. and then they turn around and try to charge me an extra 60 bucks a month for a 244 dollar bill that I had already paid. Then all of the sudden its my responsibility to get their money back from American Family for a bill I never even asked them to pay. boy was I pissed!

[MarkG]

Idaho, you might try this site if you haven't already seen it.
Identity Theft Resource Center
This link takes you directly to a section on some of the stuff that has been discussed. Then you can back it into the main site for more information.

I would suggest finding the institution that lost the $15k and deal with them. They have the authority to pull the collection account back. As the other guys have said, this will need to be elevated to higher levels to get rid of the morons.

If nothing else, ask the judge what to do when there is an opportunity. Might save some extra attorney costs. Best of luck getting this mess straightened out.