Consumer complaint received 2023-08-09
Company: Grain Technology, Inc.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX an account with Grain Technology was opened up by my former assistant without my consent, knowledge or authorization. The account was connected to a XXXX XXXX account which was also opened without my consent, knowledge or authorization as this apparently is a line of credit that can be used to withdraw funds into an account, backed by a debit card. 

Grain Technology came into my awareness when going through my accounts with an investigative team in XX/XX/XXXX at that time I discovered that there was a balance owed in the amount of {$1000.00}. I moved forward to pay the account off and received a confirmation that the balance was {$0.00}. No further charges or attempts to charge were made and to my knowledge the account was resolved. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, I received notification from my credit bureau that this company, Grain Technology, was reporting meas 30 days late on one bureau and 60 days late with another one for the amount of {$13.00}. I reached out to Grain Technology about the error and made numerous attempts to get this rectified as there was no communication ( statement or emails ) sent from Grain which reflected any additional money owed. I sent numerous emails to this company and received automatic responses from XXXX XXXX, called the phone number they have listed which is a voicemail with no live person who ever answers or returns phone calls to the customers. and contacted the credit bureaus to dispute the late payments reported. I also found unbelievable information online from thousands of other people with complaints similiar to mine ... some who had no knowledge of the account and some who paid the account off but were still being reported negatively on their credit reports. 

I then was able to receive a link to make payment to Grain for the amount alledgedly owed in the amount of {$13.00} however no statements or communication from Grain was received between XXXX and when the late payments were reported in XXXX. I paid the anount of {$13.00} to Grain on XX/XX/XXXX. No other balance was owed. 

I continued to try to reach out to Grain to get the matter straight as in the meantime, the disputes that I filed with XXXX, XXXX and XXXX all came back as the account was verified by Grain to be legitimate. That was not the case. 

Finally to no avail, I completed an FTC affidavit for identity theft as technically, I never opened this account with this company. I sent the affidavit to all three bureaus with XXXX immediately acting and removing this report from my credit report. 

XXXX and XXXX did not remove the account from my credit report and submitted a traditional dispute to Grain Technology with a turn around time of 30 days for an update.of the late payments that began to be reported to my consumer reports for 30,60 and 90 day late payments in the amount of {$13.00}. 

After pleading with XXXX and XXXX several times, neither did anything to remove this account from my report even after receiving the FTC identity Theft Affidavit I sent am email to Grain Technology one last time to let them know the account was unauthorized and the result of identity theft. I received a response from a lady named XXXX who told me that in XXXX of XXXX I did a facial recognition and submitted my identification card to them. Therefore the account was not a fraudulent account. She went on to say that the account was charged off and due to my identity theift claim I was no longer allowed to use the account. Lastly she advised that I was liable for the amount owed, however there is no amount owed to Grain Technology. I explained to her that I very well may have did a facial recognition as that was during a time when I was grieving the loss of my Son and my Father and my assistant at the time would ask me to put my face in the camera because a creditor needed to authenticate my identity. Additionally I also let her know that the account was not opened by me as it was opened two years prior to any facial recognition or identitifaction being sent to Grain and the bank account with XXXX XXXX that was being used had been closed due to identity theft as well. 

Lastly I let Grain know that I was requesting proof that the {$13.00} was owed to them and asked them for a copy of the statement showing that amount was owed as no statements were ever sent to me communicating that. I also received a statement on XX/XX/XXXX stating that I owed XXXX cents with a past due balance of XXXX cents due the month before. But Grain did not send any statements requesting payment for XXXX cents in XXXX or XXXX. They sent the statement after the due date was passed and it was going on another 30 day late payment for XXXX cents. Imagine that. 

I had perfect credit until this company ruined it with bogus actions. This is not a legitimate company and has cost thousands of consumers turmoil as they are a ghost company who seems to be creating bad business experiences for people with and without their consent. 

Please stop this company from doing any further business in the United States. They need to be fined and the owners need jail time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation