Union Energy set up a fraudulent account

[faq_]

HELP!!

While in university i rented a house for 8 months abd moved out.
About 2 years later I recieved a notice from Collect Corp stating that I owed money for an account from a company I had never sighd up with or even heard of for that matter. The account was set up 6 months after I moved. I ordered a copy of my credit report and noticed an R9 rating from this company. This answered the question as to why I was denied a loan for my final year in school.
When I called the company they denied any involvment with my ruined credit and refused to resolve the problem. I was unnable to return to school.
After repeated requests the company forwarded a notice to the collection agency to correct my account.
My question is this, the utility company made no attempt to contact me to see if i wanted their services, let the bill run for 2 years, never tried to verify if i was accually the tenant, and never tried to locate me to at least send me any of their fake bills.
They even found my "account" with the use of my social insurance number which is confidential and they wont tell me where they got it from.
Is this fraud? Is this identity theft? If so, how long di I have to file a claim?

The course I had applied to is now only open to applicants with a bachelors degree in science. I do not have this and would require 4 years of schooling to complete, which means I will never finish this course because they ruined my credit.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Re: HELP!!

This sounds to me like a big problem and you should take a look at the FTC web site with regard to identity theft:

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

This will explain to you how to fill out an identity theft affidavit that you can use to combat the problems you are facing and compel the companies to correct the inaccurate credit report. Send ALL your correspondence via some type of certified mail and, at the very worst, a proof of mailing if a signature is not possible (which it should be.) An affidavit is a statement made under oath, in this instance being that the person who claimed to be you was not you and that you did not incur the debt claimed.

Additionally there is an area on how to clean up your credit report.

Best of luck to you and I hope this information helps!

Originally posted by faq
While in university i rented a house for 8 months abd moved out.
About 2 years later I recieved a notice from Collect Corp stating that I owed money for an account from a company I had never sighd up with or even heard of for that matter. The account was set up 6 months after I moved. I ordered a copy of my credit report and noticed an R9 rating from this company. This answered the question as to why I was denied a loan for my final year in school.
When I called the company they denied any involvment with my ruined credit and refused to resolve the problem. I was unnable to return to school.
After repeated requests the company forwarded a notice to the collection agency to correct my account.
My question is this, the utility company made no attempt to contact me to see if i wanted their services, let the bill run for 2 years, never tried to verify if i was accually the tenant, and never tried to locate me to at least send me any of their fake bills.
They even found my "account" with the use of my social insurance number which is confidential and they wont tell me where they got it from.
Is this fraud? Is this identity theft? If so, how long di I have to file a claim?

The course I had applied to is now only open to applicants with a bachelors degree in science. I do not have this and would require 4 years of schooling to complete, which means I will never finish this course because they ruined my credit.

 

[faq_]

It was the company itself who set up the account, not an accuall person. They claim they got my information including SIN from a "spresd sheet" and that I was not permitted to contact the source of info. They have infact corrected the false report to my credit file, but this doesnt help me with the dammage accually caused.
The house was vacant for at least 2 years after I left due to water dammage I believe, so there wasnt anyone using any utilities to begin with.
I have contacted the Better Buisness Bureau or Canadas equivelent, and sent all forms and credit notices. The baisically told me that it was an 'Accident" because I had lived there previously. I had never had the service before and had never been contacted by this company and therefore do not see this as an accident and rather an act of fraud. They did a search for people who might live there and opened an account in my name.
If I had had the service and the company "forgot" to end my billing OR if there was a mistake with a name crossover, i would call that a mistake and I wouldnt be so upset.

Does this change the circumstances?