My last name… my husband’s last name… is quite common. It has been in the top 10 most common names in the United States through the last 3 census periods. So perhaps the surprising thing isn’t that I’m having a problem with a case of mistaken identity, but that it’s taken this long for one to affect me.
I am well aware that there are many people who share my name, and unfortunately, it seems that quite a few of them are deadbeat jagoffs. When we applied for a business line of credit a few years ago, each of my partners and I received a document listing bad debts incurred by people with the same or similar names. One of my partners has a fairly uncommon surname and his document had one, count ’em, one listing of someone who was not him. Another partner’s document had a few more listings, but still quite short. Our prez has a surname that is usually in the top 100 most common names, and he had four or five pages to check. I had a dozen pages, listing many deadbeat jagoffs who shared my name, but were not me. A dozen pages, with over 100 listings. We all signed off on our sheets to certify that we were not the deadbeats on their lists, and I really haven’t thought about it often until now.
Apparently, the most stupid, careless, non-detail-oriented skip tracer in Chicago decided that my information was the closest match for someone sharing my name who is fifteen years younger, of a different race, and who was being evicted for non-payment from a property in a neighborhood I have never lived in. The property owner and their lawyer did not seem to find this a bad match, and are attempting to collect that jagoff deadbeat’s debt from me and/or my company.
The attempt will fail, as it is not exactly difficult to prove that I am not the scumbag they are looking for. But it is still a pain in the ass for me, my company and our lawyer as we have to waste the time to address it and make sure that their stupidity doesn’t affect me or the company in any way.
This is not a case of identity theft (obviously that was the first thing I checked out), just a case of mistaken identity. For that, I am glad. But I still don’t understand how my information would have been considered even a remotely possible match to this person’s. Even just the information that would be considered public record would show me living in the same place (nowhere near the address in question) for 19 years and married to the same person (who does not share the same name with the scumbag’s husband) for 16 years. I’ve tried to be responsible in all of my financial dealings over the years, as has my husband, and my credit report reflects that. I am still seriously pissed off that anyone could even consider that I am that deadbeat piece of crap.
Yes, I am being judgmental, because it’s my name and reputation that are being trampled on.
UPDATE: Following a discussion between our company’s lawyer and the property owner’s lawyer, everything has supposedly been straightened out. The court order documenting this will be forwarded to us on August 12. Hopefully end of story!
(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 22 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 179 of 274)
Indigo says
What a PITA! I’ve been there, done that. I wrote about it here http://www.menomoneefallsnow.com/blogs/communityblogs/43789747.html it’s my community column.
I hope you can get it all squared away!
:mingle:
.-= Indigo´s last blog ..The one about how obsessed with my teeth I am =-.
kathi says
Wow, your experience sounds much worse than what I have had to deal with. Our lawyer thinks it should be solved pretty quickly. He has contacted the property owner’s lawyer regarding the huge discrepancy between the actual culprit and me, and hopefully this will blow over soon!