Help! I recently received a legal document stating i was being sued for a loan i didn't apply for. When I called the lawyer to find out what when the loan was signed, he stated that it was dated March 1990. I lived in Germany from 1989 until September of 1992. Obviously it is a case of mistaken identity or someone got a hold of my information(like my mom) and posed as me. I am lost and confused with the steps I need to take to resolve this matter. I am living in NC and I'm being sued in the state of New Jersey. I have 23 days from the date the notice was mailed to me to respond, it was mailed July 11th to my in-law's home in Jersey , i received the forms July 30th. Please help time is running out for me.
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Falsely Accused
- Thread Starter Yvette
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To begin, I wonder whether service was proper -- that papers were served to you properly. I also wonder whether the court has jurisdiction over you out of state. But that is a side issue.
Stealing identities has become rather rampant, especially with social security numbers being so easily obtained these days.
I just dealt with this kind of a problem for a client who was threatened with suit for opening a brokerage account.
First, if you have a friend who is an attorney, this is easily handled with him as intermediary. Just so that you know, what I'm writing is how I handled the matter and that you can take it AS IS!! If you take charge, make sure to say as little as possible except that you believe that this is a case of a mistaken or stolen identity, that you know it is incorrect and can easily prove it if necessary. However, you would like information to assist with this putting this matter to rest. They shouldn't have a problem sending you what they have since that is their basis for stating that you owe them money.
They will likely not believe you at first. Make sure you don't lose their cool and try to keep them clam. You may want to contact the attorney directly (who may ask you if you are represented) -- make sure that you do NOT agree to accept any papers for litigation, e.g. accept service of summons and make sure that if you do deal with them, that you both agree (writing is preferable) that what you are discussing is for the purposes of potential settlement of the matter and that nothing can and will be used in court as a result of such proceedings and that you are not making an appearance in this matter. Hopefully they will also agree to an adjournment so that you can work this out. I'm not saying that you are responsible for this but hey.... who knows?
You should obtain the information that they have. Paperwork with your signature is preferable because you can easily tell that there is a forgery that has been committed. Likely you will have to sign some type of affidavit when all is said and done.
On a side note, without making any suggestions, it might not be such a bad idea to have all the paperwork go where it was sent rather than giving them your current information. It might seem that they went after you based on a past address.
This is just off the top of my head. If you didn't take out the loan or authorize it and it is a forged identity, then you aren't responsible for it regardless of what the paperwork says.
Good luck and let us know how things turn out.
Stealing identities has become rather rampant, especially with social security numbers being so easily obtained these days.
I just dealt with this kind of a problem for a client who was threatened with suit for opening a brokerage account.First, if you have a friend who is an attorney, this is easily handled with him as intermediary. Just so that you know, what I'm writing is how I handled the matter and that you can take it AS IS!! If you take charge, make sure to say as little as possible except that you believe that this is a case of a mistaken or stolen identity, that you know it is incorrect and can easily prove it if necessary. However, you would like information to assist with this putting this matter to rest. They shouldn't have a problem sending you what they have since that is their basis for stating that you owe them money.
They will likely not believe you at first. Make sure you don't lose their cool and try to keep them clam. You may want to contact the attorney directly (who may ask you if you are represented) -- make sure that you do NOT agree to accept any papers for litigation, e.g. accept service of summons and make sure that if you do deal with them, that you both agree (writing is preferable) that what you are discussing is for the purposes of potential settlement of the matter and that nothing can and will be used in court as a result of such proceedings and that you are not making an appearance in this matter. Hopefully they will also agree to an adjournment so that you can work this out. I'm not saying that you are responsible for this but hey.... who knows?
You should obtain the information that they have. Paperwork with your signature is preferable because you can easily tell that there is a forgery that has been committed. Likely you will have to sign some type of affidavit when all is said and done.
On a side note, without making any suggestions, it might not be such a bad idea to have all the paperwork go where it was sent rather than giving them your current information. It might seem that they went after you based on a past address.
This is just off the top of my head. If you didn't take out the loan or authorize it and it is a forged identity, then you aren't responsible for it regardless of what the paperwork says.
Good luck and let us know how things turn out.
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