There is a credit account that is fraudulant on my account how do i report?

[fionastory99]

After filling my taxes, I was alerted of a credit card that I opened a year ago and only made one purchase on and then immediately paid off and never used again. I do not have possession of the card itself and basically forgot about it. Now it has a balance of over $1000 and is negatively affecting my credit score. What can I do?

[Opus 17]

Immediately call the lender and report the fraud, and stop all future charges.  

(Alternatively, maybe the lender reported someone else's perfectly fine account on your credit report by mistake and it happens to be the same one you recently opened.)

By law, if you inform the lender in 60 days of the fraudulent charges, they can make up responsible for up to $50.  You can be held responsible for older charges.  However, many lenders will not hold you responsible for any false charges if you can prove it.  You will have to work with the lender's security department to figure out how this happened that you weren't getting bills or emails.  (Potentially someone logged on to your account and changed your address and email address?)

Then I would check all your other online accounts.  Change all your passwords (yes, this sucks and will take forever).  Don't re-use passwords.  You can get a secure app to keep track of multiple passwords if you prefer.

If the lender gives you problems about removing the charges from your credit report, there are other steps you can take later.  But most lenders will work with you to cancel the account, block the fraud, and reverse the damage, if you can prove it wasn't you making the charges. 

[sunsets55]

contact all 3 credit bureaus as well as the credit card issuer, telling them you did not authorize the $1000 bal.  also, if you have to contact the bbb online *better business bureau* and even your atty. general of your state.  they deal with stolen identity and fraud cases.  

[Opus 17]

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@sunsets55 wrote:

contact all 3 credit bureaus as well as the credit card issuer, telling them you did not authorize the $1000 bal.  also, if you have to contact the bbb online *better business bureau* and even your atty. general of your state.  they deal with stolen identity and fraud cases.  

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If the bank is reporting a lawful debt to the credit bureau, there is nothing that you as a customer can do by complaining to the credit bureau.  (You do have the right to attach a 300 word statement to your credit file, so you can explain the situation. but you can't remove the charge.)

You have to deal with the bank to get the charges cleared from your account.