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DISCLAIMER: This article is based on a complaint. The defendant has not responded to the complaint to present its side of the case. The claims mentioned are accusations and should be considered as such until and unless proven otherwise.
A retailer and the company it uses to issue its store-branded credit cards are facing a Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuit because they sent a new card to someone else with the same name as the plaintiff instead of the plaintiff and all of the subsequent transactions showed up on the plaintiff’s account and credit report.
The Background: The plaintiff went shopping in July and when she went to make a purchase using her store account, she was told her account was on hold because of a fraud alert.
- The plaintiff went home and looked up her account online and found unfamiliar transactions from stores she did not shop at.
- When the plaintiff looked up her credit report, she found that all three credit reporting agencies were reporting the unfamiliar transactions on her report. She also saw the address and other personal information for the individual with the same name.
- The plaintiff reported the fraud and identity theft to her local police, who were able to contact the individual with the same name who used the card.
- But this is where the situation takes a turn because it was not necessarily a case of identity theft. The defendants issued the card to another person with the same name, but a different Social Security number, date of birth, and address. How this meant the transactions ended up on the plaintiff’s credit report is not explained in the complaint.
The Claims: The defendants are accused of violating Section 1681n and 1681o of the FCRA by negligently and willfully failing to comply with the requirements imposed on furnishers under Section 1681s-2(b) of the FCRA to investigate disputes.
- The complaint also accuses the defendants of violating state law in Wisconsin.
