Debt Collectors: Responding to a Suit Over Fraudulent Discover Card Account

(New York)
in Fall 2001 at around just a few months after my father and I bought a rental property and had problems with getting a male and female couple who were "squatting" in the basement illegally, out, as the police refused to physically remove them without a court order, I found out someone or some persons were using my Social Security Number with their name at their residence(s) including in New York and California addresses simultaneously.

i wrote letters to each Credit Card Company/Bank on the credit report that I did not have an account with.

Capital one and MBNA responded in writing and phone providing info they had credit cards issued to a "Sandro Mendez" and "George Mera" with my SSN at a different address in New York that I have never lived at but that I did own as rental property for a short time. They issued letters saying they deleted the account.

Discover Card responded by sending me statements showing someone elses name and an apt number (227) that does not exist at my rental property because it was a 2-family house without apartment numbers. I wrote a response letter to Discover confirming that is not my account that they should delete it, the account isn't in my name and it is a fraud account if it bears my SS#. At the same time my father and I hired a lawyer and quickly sued the unknown squatters in our basement for illegal occupancy and holdover in that property we just bought, and at the hearing date they did not appear so we got a default judgement (order to vacate) then when we went back to the house we learned they had finally fled so we broke down the door and installed new locks, we ended up selling the house at a loss because we were miserable with the crime that had already taken place.

in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 i filed police reports about the incident since the Discover accounts they opened were still on my credit file after checking again and again, and sent it to discover they did not respond. all of those yrs passed i did not receive anything until today i receive a summons on behalf of whatever collections company bought Discover's account. i just called the attorney listed at the bottom and he literally said "i don't care if its a fraud account", "you can either pay it or i will see you in court". so i said see you in court then. the summons he mailed me was not delivered in person and it doesnt have an index # and it doesnt say when i have to appear, it just says i have to "answer" it.

i am wondering in such a case where i have copies from discover showing their statements attached to my social sec # but in a different persons name and address, also have police reports recording the incident of id theft fraudulently opened credit cards at the brief rental property held, copy of judgment ordering mr john doe ms john doe to vacate, copy of social security number trace that banks use to confirm if a ss# matches name and in my case there are over a dozen names associated with my ss# and 3 totally different birthdates/years, as well as dozens of address from NY to CA and all inbetween, what sort of countersuit does one file when they are answering to a fraud account (According to discover account closed somewhere around 2001, i'm hoping, since i notified them again again its a fraud account, and they never sent me collections letters till now) now in 2006 after so many years of writiing them letters telling to delete the fraud account ironically now i am being sued ( i could afford to sue them as i have been unemployed for 2 years now and i am an NYU graduate and employers are ready to hire me until they pull my credit and tell me things like " i have too many aliases, names, addresses, and too much debt associated with my credit file" also although i previously owned my own home i can no longer have a house in my name so i am living with my significant other since 2004 who pays ALL my living expenses).

because i cant get a mortgage anymore although prior to 2001 my credit score was 750. tried dozens times over, they always say well you owe discover $15K, score is like 300. 1 laywer told me if i dont have $5,000+ in legal fees to spend then i should just wait 7 yrs. can i countersue DISCOVER BANK for all the cumulative damages pro se, also how do i request a jury for this to get maximum impact (new york civil court). i called some lawyers asking to do it on contingency and they say they're too busy, they require a $2500 retainer just to START the case and all kinds of crazy things like that.