Product: Debt collection

While seeking pre-approval to buy our first home last year, we discovered that someone had opened a fraudulent credit card under my name and the mailing address I had at the time. The card was a Priceline Visa Rewards card opened through Barclays Bank of Delaware - something I never would have done as I've never used Priceline and my wife handles all of our travel. The thief racked up several charges without our knowledge. They linked the account to their/another email address so we werent aware of the existence of the account, let alone the login or other access details. My significantly damaged credit report showed an account opening date of XX/XX/XXXX. 

We attempted to dispute the charges with Barclays multiple times, unsuccessfully and with much difficulty At first, we couldnt even get into their phone system, because the system required account details that only the person who set up the account would have. 

When we finally managed to get to a person, they said their fraud department was experiencing technical difficulties and wed have to call back later - this happened multiple times over a period of days- and seemed awfully suspicious. 

After several attempts, at least one of the agents in fraud that we spoke to looked at the details of the account and said it was clear to them from the email associated with the account and the charge pattern that it was fraudulent. 

Nonetheless, Barclays sent letters in the mail saying that they had " investigated '' the charges and determined they were not fraud and I was liable on what basis they did not say. We took the following actions : We filed an FTC complaint We requested a fraud alert on my credit report through XXXX We filed a police report with our local police department were promised a follow-up from them but never received one When we filed the FTC complaint through IdentityTheft.gov, we sent Barclay 's all the necessary paperwork, including a demand for a letter explaining their findings and actions, including all relevant account information - full charge details, the email address associated with the account, etc. They have failed to provide any such information - or, indeed, any information that we could use to prove the account does not belong to me and that I am not responsible for the charges. 

At some later point, we were able to hack into the account which was disturbingly easy and were able to discover the email address associated with the account : XXXX. If I remember correctly ( unfortunately it seems we didn't take a picture of this, or just can't find it ), the fraudulent purchases were dated early XX/XX/XXXX, at a time when my I would have been at work ( a physical, in-person job that does not involve a laptop and where I barely get any cell reception ), continuing into a period where we would have been on a vacation that my wife had booked and paid for and where I had spent a significant amount of time driving and would not have been able to make any purchases. 

We have received multiple calls and letters attempting to collect, some even suggesting we settle to pay half the amount. On Mon. XX/XX/XXXX, we received a notice of a lawsuit against us in the mail postmarked XX/XX/XXXX. We can not afford to pay a debt that isnt ours, to take this credit hit, nor to have a money judgment held against us for twenty years. This has caused us incredible stress and we were lucky we were still able to get approved to buy our house- though we are paying an even higher interest rate mortgage as a result. We could only just afford to do that, and only based on the hope that, if rates ever drop, we might be able to refinance down the line... But the damage done by Barclays ' refusal to remove these charges from my credit report, their relentless pursuit and the prospect of a money judgment against me, virtually ensures we'll never be able to refinance our mortgage, or even to eventually get an affordable car loan. 

Almost no one ( save the one agent who agreed it looked like fraud and told us she'd get it taken care of ) at Barclays Bank of Delaware has shown any interest in listening to us, or any sense looking at the details and patterns of the account itself, which seem like obvious fraud to any reasonable person. Instead, they continue to pursue us- saying that because the account was under my name and address, it has to be mine and I must be responsible for it. In a world where so much of our personal data is easily available to all kinds of bad actors, it should take more than knowing my name and address to open up a credit card account and make charges without my knowledge and then demand I pay for them. If that's the standard, who could possibly protect themselves or has any recourse against identity theft? It feels like we're caught in a predatory cycle with no way out - a cycle that was designed to ensnare consumers who are not legally savvy and without the resources to fight back.