Consumer complaint received 2021-08-21
Company: CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION
State: MI
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Auto debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
On or around XX/XX/XXXX I received a copy of my consumer credit report from XXXX  and XXXX  upon careful examination of my reports I discovered an auto loan that was open in my name that didn't belong to me with Credit Acceptance corporation in XXXX Michigan. Since I had been an ongoing victim of identity theft since XXXX I immediately reached out to the credit bureaus explaining to them that I had not opened a car loan account with Credit Acceptance and sent them my I.D . theft affidavit that I had filed with the Michigan Attorney Generals office in XXXX. I asked them to contact Credit Acceptance on my behalf and provide me with a wet ink contract that bears my signature and contract with the company binding me to this debt. After two months with no response I became frustrated. So on XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to Credit Acceptance and told them that this account didn't belong to me and could possibly belong to a family member with the same name. I spoke with someone name XXXX in the Compliance department. She had me fax over my I.D . a copy of my birth certificate and a copy of the I.D.theft affidavit. I went on to tell her that I was an ongoing victim of identity theft. She reassured me that she would get to the bottom of the matter and get with me as soon as possible. Months went by with no word from her or the company. Repeated numerous calls were made to the company attempting to resolve this matter. When someone finally contacted me the person told me that they knew that the account didn't belong to me and that it was more than likely opened up by a family member with the same name. They also informed me that it was nothing that they could do about it and that it would be up to me to go after this person. Furthermore they told me that this debt would remain on my credit report. After experiencing my identity stolen and me doing everything that I thought possible to do to prevent from this happening again I felt devastated. How could a company put a debt on your credit report even after they found out that you were not the one who opened the account? Why weren't they required to produce the wet ink contract that was signed at the time of this account being opened? So fast forward five years and this account is still on my credit report adversely affecting my credit score and damaging my credit worthiness. Ive sent numerous letters to the credit bureaus disputing this account and asking for them to make Credit Acceptance show proof or verification of this debt with a wet ink contract bearing my name and signature. All to no avail. Ive also asked them to show me their method of verification. They respond the same as usual and tell me that the account was verified and it is still on my credit report. So in another good faith effort Im reaching out to the CFPB in hopes of getting these items removed off of my credit report for good.Thank you in advance for your time and consideration regarding this matter.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation