Class Action Claims Comenity Bank Refused to Cooperate with Identity Theft Investigation

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A woman claims in a proposed class action removed to California’s Eastern District that Comenity Bank’s policies related to identity theft violate state law. According to the plaintiff, the bank not only fails to inform customers that their identity theft claims must be submitted in writing, but routinely refuses to provide requested documentation for disputed accounts.

The plaintiff in the case says she noticed in 2017 and 2018 that several financial accounts had been opened in her name by an unauthorized person using her information. One such account, the suit says, was for a “The Limited”-brand credit card that the woman says she discovered only when Comenity Bank began calling her to collect on a debt. Though the plaintiff says she orally informed the bank that she was a victim of identity theft and that the account was not hers, the defendant, the case alleges, never advised her that such a claim must be submitted in writing.

In August 2018, the lawsuit goes on, the plaintiff mailed a letter to Comenity Bank in which she enclosed a copy of a police report regarding her claim of identity theft and requested that the bank provide copies of the application for the disputed credit card and any signatures and bills associated with the account. In September 2018, the woman supposedly sent a copy of the letter to another Comenity Bank address designated for credit reporting complaints. In response, the bank, the case says, sent the plaintiff a letter dated October 7, 2018, in which it rejected her claim of identity theft without providing any of the requested documentation.

Per the complaint, the woman sent Comenity Bank in December 2018 another letter in which she again requested documentation for the disputed account and asked the bank what identifying information was used to open the account. According to the lawsuit, Comenity failed to provide any of the requested information.

The lawsuit claims the defendant violated California law by failing to send requested information and documents related to the plaintiff’s identity theft claim within 10 days of receipt of a copy of her police report or her request that the bank inform her of what categories of identifying information were used to open her account.