Credit Cards, Rating, Repair Non-customer sent to collections, credit affected, illegal?

[danielwilson888]

A Washington state medical clinic has mistaken my wife for one of their customers. They have sent several bills to our address, have forwarded her to collections, which has placed derogatory items on her credit history and significantly lowered her credit score, recently disqualifying her for a mortgage loan. We called the collections agency at the bank who said the only information they used for this was my wife's first and last name, and the street address. The bills by mail we have received indicate a person with a different middle name, and the address does not precisely match any unit designator in the rental area, indicating either an error or fraud on the part of the real customer. I'm in the Army and we are covered by Tricare and go to the on post hospital, and have no reason to go to this clinic.

I ask how can they do this without fully verifying her identity? Have either the clinic or collections agency violated any laws in doing this? What can we do?

 

[Proserpina]

Did your wife actually notify them the first time she received a bill?

In other words I'm asking what your wife has done to fix things.

 

[Betty3]

Hopefully your wife didn't ignore several bills sent to her in error without contacting the clinic.

 

[army judge]

In many cases someone has used the victim's name and details to get medical services.
Inform your wife to dispute the erroneous charges. She should endeavor to fix this mess.
Someone may even have stolen or counterfeited her ID.