Cell phone fraud

What is the name of your state? MS.
A relative obtainted my SS# and obtained cell phone service with ALLTELL. The phone is in his name, his address, but my SS#. He has ran up a $953 unpaid bill and it is now showing up on my credit report. I have contacted him but he denies using my SS#. I have contacted ALLTELL and requested a copy of the contract. I was told that was not available to me. I was also told my only recourse would be to contact all 3 credit reporting agencies and request a copy of my credit report and then file a dispute against that debt. I have not signed any contract with ALLTELL, nor have I given my permission for phone service. ALLTELL will not even tell me what location(city) the transaction took place so it is impossible for me to confront the service rep that handled this transaction. I would have a few unanswerable questions for that person. The relative is a deadbeat so collecting from him is hopeless, besides, it would still be on my credit report as a paid collection rather then unpaid collection. Do I have any recourse against ALLTELL? These people will not co-operate in any way, shape, or form.

Do as alltel told you and get the credit reports then dispute them. The credit reporting companies will obtain the 'proof' of your contractural obligations and from that point you can show that although it was your ssn, it was not your signature.

You should also be contacting an attorney to explain to you the avenues open to you against altell. They are trying to spin this as "it's not our fault" but a judge may have another opinion.

Get a local attorney's opinion on any action.

"Do I have any recourse against ALLTELL?"
*** If you mean legal action against them, no.
Contact their (Alltell) security or collections department and make a fraudulent credit complaint. They will likely make you sign an affidavit that this is not your account. The fact that you claim it is in his name and your SSN shows that they did not do a proper account check when they granted the service to him. I can't imagine that being their normal practice so it is possible that Alltell has additional internal problems that their security folks should be aware of.

Also, you can ask them to validate their claim against you (they are the original creditor, so the FDCPA does not apply to them, but as a major creditor they would probably validate anyway). Then once they do that, you can file a dispute with the CRA's and get it removed from your record.

And if Alltell refuses to validate (not FDCPA), then simply file your 'dispute' with the CRA's anyway. With the clear issue of right name, wrong SSN, the CRA's should catch on fairly quickly.

Thanks for the advice. I requested ALLTELL's "financial responsibility dept." send me a fraud affidavit. I was told they do not handle fraud accounts in that manner. They simply turn it over to a collection agency and report it to the 3 credit bureaus. I even "begged" them to sue me in small claims court. That way they would have to produce a document with my signature, which obviously they do not have. They refused that also.

JETX, what is FDCPA?

FDCPA is the "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act". And though it only applies to 3rd party debt collectors, most large creditors are familiar with it and will voluntarily agree to its requirements.
It can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/

Since Alltell is being obstinate, just go ahead and dispute with the CRA's (Credit Reporting Agency's). Send your 'dispute' letter to EACH of the 'big-three' by certified RRR.
Go to: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/repair/Repair.shtml#4

A sample letter can be found at:
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/

For contact information, go to:
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/creditreports/CreditBureauContactInfohtm.shtml

JETX-

Thanks alot, really appreciated.....

drummer