While companies often have a series of hoops for consumers to jump through, such as filing a police report, there are also issues where the “identity theft” is created by the corporation. More and more companies are withholding services from consumers based on obligations from family members, relatives, or people you don’t even know that these corporations have decided you owe. We have seen a lot of these actions with utility companies, cable companies, phone companies, and other services that almost every consumer wants or needs. Maginnis Law is investigating Duke Energy LLC, a North Carolina-based electric company, along with Online Information Services Inc. (OIS, for short) for rejecting proper documentation associated with identity theft or, alternatively, for Duke’s unlawful assignment of obligations on accounts of relatives or family members to utility customers. Recent lawsuits have been filed against Duke alleging exactly this sort of behavior.
Violations of consumer law by creditors and their collectors
According to the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, 7% of adult Americans (over 17 million people, for those keeping count), have their identity stolen every year. More and more consumers have become intimately and painfully familiar with identity theft and the disastrous consequences it entails, not only in the short term, such as immediate financial losses incurred when banking security is breached, but also long-term, much more insidious effects, such as when the actions of the fraudster directly affect credit reports, impacting a consumer’s ability to secure a mortgage or car loan.
As anyone who has ever been through debt collection can attest, the process, even when correctly initiated and handled, is at best deeply stressful and troubling, and its effects on daily life can last for a long time after the account has been settled. But what happens when the problem extends beyond the actions of the fraudster, as when a collector disregards ironclad proof of blatant fraud of the identity theft sort for the sake of continued collection attempts?
The law is on your side, and the experienced attorneys at Maginnis Howard are here to make sure it stays that way
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) exists to protect consumers from these violations and their effects on personal finance, privacy and credit reports. If you, a family member or a loved one have fallen victim to identity theft and have then faced a creditor willfully refusing to revise the account or simply failing to have adequate identity theft prevention procedures in place, you can sue for actual and punitive damages incurred for every violation of FCRA protocol. North Carolina also provides significant protections from inappropriate conduct by creditors with its unfair debt collection statutes and unfair and deceptive trade practices act.
If Duke Energy or any other corporation is withholding services from you or attempting to collect debt from you that is owed by someone else, whether it be a family member, relative, or someone you don’t know, contact us immediately for a free consultation. We take identity theft, debt collection, and credit reporting matters on a contingency basis, meaning that you do not pay our firm anything unless we collect money for you.
Additionally, if you are receiving collection calls or issues on your credit because of an identity theft, our firm can help walk you through the process or working with creditors and the credit bureaus to have the collection efforts stop and the bureaus fix the problem, all at no cost to you. If they don’t fix the problem, we can file a lawsuit on your behalf to make them fix the problem, and recover damages and attorney fees on your behalf.
Speak to an attorney at Maginnis Howard today. We know how difficult and taxing these situations can be, and we will treat you with the respect and dignity you deserve. Call us directly or use our web application to contact us and we will get back to you shortly. We offer free consultations, and our lawyers will take the time and care to make sure you are fairly compensated.
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