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Debt – identity theft – negotiated settlement
A bank had taken legal action against the complainant to recover a debt incurred in his name by another person making unauthorised and unlawful use of his identity. The complainant, who had never been a customer of the bank in question, eventually succeeded in having the judgement set aside, but had to take time off work to deal with the problem, and was naturally very worried and distressed about it.
With the assistance of a community law centre, the complainant approached the bank claiming that it had failed to take proper steps to identify its account holder. The bank investigated the complaint and made an offer of settlement of $10,000.
Mr K considered that his loss exceeded $10,000, and agreed to submit a schedule explaining how it was calculated.
Nothing happened for some months and the complainant then approached my office.
The bank was still willing to negotiate, but had not received the schedule. With the assistance of my investigator, details of the claim were provided. It turned out that a large part of the claim was based on Mr K’s loss of employment, which was only indirectly connected to the debt recovery action. The investigator discussed with Mr K’s solicitor the provisions of my Terms of Reference and the sort of compensation that might be expected if I investigated his complaint and found in his favour. Mr K then decided to accept the bank’s offer of settlement.