Consumer complaint received 2016-07-25
Company: ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC.
State: AZ
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Credit card
Issue: Cont'd attempts collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt resulted from identity theft

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX is married to my son XXXX XXXX and she obtained my personal information ILLEGALLY somehow and obtained credit in my name. She obtained a revolving line of credit with XXXX XXXX whom issue Medical credit cards through XXXX XXXX. She obtained this card XX/XX/XXXX. She had medical procedures done that ended in the amount of {$7500.00}. I when I was issued a court document to garnish my wages is when I found out about this account. The statements were in my name alone so I thought they were somehow my bills so I contacted the company Midland Credit Management , Inc . They represented themselves as the creditor and threatened to take me back to court and i explained to them I had no idea what they were talking about and that I did n't owe this money to them.They had obtained a judgement against me in court without me even knowing they took me to court. Then they mentioned XXXX 's name to me and I explained that she was my daughter-in-law and they said it was our account together. that 's all they would say tell me. I questioned her about it and she said she had to go it was nothing it was a mix up. My son went to the court and brought a document for me to write I agreed to co-sign if XXXX paid. they told me it was for XXXX XXXX that it was all a misunderstanding. I believed my son and did what he said to do I 'm going to be XXXX yrs. old I do n't know anything about these things. My son then went and filed the court document he said everything was okay and fixed. Then i was issued the garnishment for my wages that I initially mentioned. This creditor would call me and threaten to take my savings and my wages so i was scared I paid them. They refused to tell me what i was paying for. The orignal creditor XXXX XXXX told me they had no more information on the account since it was bout out as a write off account over 4 years ago. My Granddaughter XXXX XXXX XXXX contacted them but when she called credit care she asked for the fraud department. The investigator she spoke with his name was XXXX, he found the accont by the last XXXX digits # XXXX and he had my granddaughter verify some information of mine then he proceeded to explain that XXXX obtained the credit cards in her name with mew as a co-signer but she pit that I resided at her home which is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, AZ XXXX. My address is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX AZ XXXX. I have lived here since XX/XX/XXXX. I had never noticed that the statements had her address on them. i just seen my name on them when the collection agency sent me an envelope full of them. this is why i thought somehow they were mine until my Granddaughter started to look into this for me and that 's when we realized my identity has been stolen, my signature was forged and credit was obtained in my name fraudulently. The detective in the fraud dept @ XXXX XXXX is opening up an investigation and he said it will take 30 days. XXXX also obtained credit at XXXX XXXX financed through XXXX XXXX in my name in XX/XX/XXXX and this same company Midland Credit Management received a judgement against me to pay this bill also. The merchandise was delivered to their home but everything was in my name. When my granddaughter contacted them they said they could n't find the acct. due to being sold to Midland credit management and because it is 8 years old. They do n't care they treat me like i did something wrong. I have a limited income and have to pay these judgments against or this company will take all my money. I need help please.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation