Mistaken Identities

Jurisdiction: 

Area of Law: 

Question: 

There is a couple living in my town in Georgia that have a lot of personal information that is similar to that of my wife and I. Their first and last names are the same as ours (with different middle names) and they even live at the same street number on two different streets! They share the same bank, mortgage company and insurance companies. Their debts often get put on my credit, they bank mixes up our bank accounts all of the time. We have to pay bank fees every time they mix things up, which is not fiar becuase it is not even our fault. I have had my car repossesed because they cancelled their insurance, which made our auto finance company repo our car. We had to pay hundreds to get our car back...again not our fault. Is there anything legally that we can do to solve this? ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

Selected Answer: 

DakotaLegal's picture

There are a range of

There are a range of important things for you and your wife to do, since the mistakes that are being made are not your fault, or even strictly speaking excusable mistakes. So we’ll look at holding some specific companies responsible for the costs of their errors. Ideally, this will send a message loud and clear to be more careful with your data. Georgia was a leader among US states, passing protections for victims of identity theft way back in 1998. But ID theft in Georgia is also big business, and the state is #7 in the number of cases each year. I’d say take a look at the law and see just how your facts match up to a complaint: http://www.georgiahealth.edu/ipi/GAIdentityTheftLaw.pdf. The bank you deal with may have unlawfully released your information, for example. You can even calculate costs in this case, including possible damage to your reputation.
 
While noting your suggestion how the “other” couple is seemingly innocent of wrong doing, that is not an assumption I am making. They have a burden here, too. So do the major credit reporting agencies. Hopefully, you have been regularly checking your credit reports. If you need to challenge the information on your credit score, here’s a useful booklet explaining your legal rights to challenge these errors… http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.pdf.
 
I will suggest a call to the Georgia Bar referral service, http://www.atlantabar. org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=46,so you can identify (a) an expert in identity theft and commercial bank liability and (b) a skilled lawyer in that field who can give you a free consultation or even send a letter to the “impersonating” couple.
 
Is There Identity Theft Involved?
 
Since it appears your identity benefits this couple, let’s also backtrack to be sure there is some protection against their possibly not-so-innocent use of your identity. At any rate, the goal here is to try and shift some of the burden of property identification off your shoulders, and onto the people who are enjoying at least some of the benefits of being you. You may need to contact law enforcement, and here’s the process of what happens then… http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-topics/identity-theft-instructions-for-victims.
 
Creative Options?
 
It is also possible for you to develop other, different or “discrete” identities that don’t use your Social Security or names. This might be done through incorporating. Some of the advantages to working in a corporation could include shielding some personal assets…except that not all the protections of a regular corporation apply to the sort of corporation I’m talking about here (a closely held corporation). You might set up a living trust, or a small business.
 
Carefully “build a case” by having specific records (receipts, estates, witnesses, expert estimates) of what this is costing you. You can use the Georgia small claims court system to police these wrongs. Do not accept that it is an innocent error that “just happens.” I’d like to see you, for example, sue the repo company for its error, by using a magistrates (small claims) court. http://consumer.georgia.gov/ consumer-topics/magistrate-court.
 
You can also (at some risk of having your bank account closed….so consider getting a new, back-up banking relationship) make a complaint against the banking procedures misused in your case with Georgia state regulators: http://dbf.georgia.gov/.

All Comments

DakotaLegal's picture

There are a range of

There are a range of important things for you and your wife to do, since the mistakes that are being made are not your fault, or even strictly speaking excusable mistakes. So we’ll look at holding some specific companies responsible for the costs of their errors. Ideally, this will send a message loud and clear to be more careful with your data. Georgia was a leader among US states, passing protections for victims of identity theft way back in 1998. But ID theft in Georgia is also big business, and the state is #7 in the number of cases each year. I’d say take a look at the law and see just how your facts match up to a complaint: http://www.georgiahealth.edu/ipi/GAIdentityTheftLaw.pdf. The bank you deal with may have unlawfully released your information, for example. You can even calculate costs in this case, including possible damage to your reputation.
 
While noting your suggestion how the “other” couple is seemingly innocent of wrong doing, that is not an assumption I am making. They have a burden here, too. So do the major credit reporting agencies. Hopefully, you have been regularly checking your credit reports. If you need to challenge the information on your credit score, here’s a useful booklet explaining your legal rights to challenge these errors… http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.pdf.
 
I will suggest a call to the Georgia Bar referral service, http://www.atlantabar. org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=46,so you can identify (a) an expert in identity theft and commercial bank liability and (b) a skilled lawyer in that field who can give you a free consultation or even send a letter to the “impersonating” couple.
 
Is There Identity Theft Involved?
 
Since it appears your identity benefits this couple, let’s also backtrack to be sure there is some protection against their possibly not-so-innocent use of your identity. At any rate, the goal here is to try and shift some of the burden of property identification off your shoulders, and onto the people who are enjoying at least some of the benefits of being you. You may need to contact law enforcement, and here’s the process of what happens then… http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-topics/identity-theft-instructions-for-victims.
 
Creative Options?
 
It is also possible for you to develop other, different or “discrete” identities that don’t use your Social Security or names. This might be done through incorporating. Some of the advantages to working in a corporation could include shielding some personal assets…except that not all the protections of a regular corporation apply to the sort of corporation I’m talking about here (a closely held corporation). You might set up a living trust, or a small business.
 
Carefully “build a case” by having specific records (receipts, estates, witnesses, expert estimates) of what this is costing you. You can use the Georgia small claims court system to police these wrongs. Do not accept that it is an innocent error that “just happens.” I’d like to see you, for example, sue the repo company for its error, by using a magistrates (small claims) court. http://consumer.georgia.gov/ consumer-topics/magistrate-court.
 
You can also (at some risk of having your bank account closed….so consider getting a new, back-up banking relationship) make a complaint against the banking procedures misused in your case with Georgia state regulators: http://dbf.georgia.gov/.