Man fights to prove he's alive after bank reports him as deceased

HOUSTON – Jose Antonio Lopez is not only alive and well, he invited Channel 2 into his home in Cypress to prove reports of his death by a credit card company have been greatly exaggerated.

"I even asked them, Synchrony Bank. I said, 'Do you have on record my death certificate?' And even, 'You don't have a death certificate because you are talking to me on the phone. How are you going to be talking to a dead person?'" he said.

For Lopez and his family, the last 10 months have been no laughing matter.

He showed us paperwork from Synchrony Bank -- from which he has several credit cards -- that mistakenly reported him as deceased in January.

The mix up has caused Lopez's credit rating to plummet because over the past several months his accounts have accumulated interest and late fees -- but he couldn't pay them because he was listed as dead.

"They have charged me interest, they have charged me late fees," he said. "And like I say, they report on the credit bureaus charge off, which is a negative."

Ironically, Lopez is a loan officer and understands the implications of a poor credit rating. All he's asking for now is a clean slate.

"Is somebody there? Anybody that I can call or anything that I can do to fix this situation?" Lopez asked. "Because it's really affecting me. Affecting me ... and I don't know what else to do."

Channel 2 reached out to Synchrony Bank on Monday evening and are waiting for a response on Lopez's situation.


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Emmy Award-winning anchor, husband, dad, German Shepherd owner, Crossfitter, Game of Thrones junkie, chupacabra hunter.