KYOTO – A woman here has sued consumer loan firm Acom Co. for 1 million yen in damages after the firm continued to press her to repay a loan that was taken out by someone with a similar-sounding name, it was learned Tuesday.
In the lawsuit filed with the Kyoto District Court, the woman maintains she suffered emotional anguish as a result of the Tokyo-based firm’s repayment demands, which continued even after the mistake was confirmed.
According to the lawsuit, a local Acom branch contacted the Kyoto Municipal Government in April 2001 to receive a copy of the resident registration of a borrower to confirm the party’s address. However, the city issued a copy of the plaintiff’s register.
The woman’s name and that of the real borrower are pronounced the same way, but differ by one kanji.
After the woman told Acom that they were making demands to the wrong person, the loan company apologized and promised to delete her personal information from their files.
However, a different branch contacted the woman in August, telling her to repay the loan. Concerned that her data had not been erased as promised, she requested a written apology from Acom executives, but was refused, the lawsuit said.
She filed the suit in November.
Acom officials have acknowledged they failed to delete the woman’s data from their computers after the mistake was first brought to their attention, thus leading to the second repayment demand.
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