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Your mother is a criminal. You need protect your credit from her. Whether you wish relationship or not is up to you. I'd guess crooks probably will not stop.
There are 3 credit bureaus. Look up their contact info online and "Freeze" your credit. This means nobody can use your social security number and other info to open up any more credit in your name. But if you wish to open anything, you can notify them.
Get your free annual credit report from each agency. This will show if you have any other credit card accounts or loans you did not take. Then you will know how big this problem is.
For only $4,000, it will be better to pay it off than try to prove identity theft and end up with bad credit during that time & lots of your time lost in your efforts to clear it up....
First I would call Discover and tell them your Mom has been playing fast and loose with your card and that you want a new card with new number sent to you. And that she is NOT an authorized user. Get your email as the contact email & get a paid post office box instead of sharing any mail address with your mother.
What she did was commit fraud using your identity. It is a criminal offense. Depending on what her terms of her release are, it could send her back to prison.
If it is more than just this one $4,000 which you could pay back over time, you will need report it as fraud to law enforcement and the affected credit card companies, but it will likely be a long time before your credit is cleared up. I've known people who have had similar happen but for more money & it has been a nightmare to get all traces of it to disappear from their credit scores.
I am sorry this has happened to you. I doubt suing would accomplish anything u less she has assets & in some states a house would be protected from judgement.
Last edited by historyfan; 05-06-2018 at 10:27 AM..
You need to get a copy of your credit report from all three credit reporting agencies and check for any other accounts you don't know about. As others have said you need to freeze your credit.
As for your mom your only option is to pay it or file a police report on her for identity theft and go through the process of having the debts removed for being fraudulent. I would at the very least put your mom on notice that the next time she does this you are going to the police.
I see this on reddit personalfinance and legaladvice all the time. It is very sad.
Exactly. I have read of parents ruining their children's credit & not finding out until they try to get a credit card in their 20s. It is despicable.
05-06-2018, 11:09 AM
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It seems like it's well past time to do some self-preservation.
At this point even if you pay it, you'll still have the problem of the major delinquency which could keep you from being able to get an apartment on your own. You need to report it for your own sake. If your mother really is a criminal who's offended again, she should face the consequences. You shouldn't be ruining your own finances and credit for the sake of someone who willfully opened unauthorized cards and racked up a bunch of debt in your name.
If she did it once, she'll do it again, especially if you show her that you won't do anything about it.
Your mother is a criminal. You need protect your credit from her. Whether you wish relationship or not is up to you. I'd guess crooks probably will not stop.
There are 3 credit bureaus. Look up their contact info online and "Freeze" your credit. This means nobody can use your social security number and other info to open up any more credit in your name. But if you wish to open anything, you can notify them.
Get your free annual credit report from each agency. This will show if you have any other credit card accounts or loans you did not take. Then you will know how big this problem is.
For only $4,000, it will be better to pay it off than try to prove identity theft and end up with bad credit during that time & lots of your time lost in your efforts to clear it up....
First I would call Discover and tell them your Mom has been playing fast and loose with your card and that you want a new card with new number sent to you. And that she is NOT an authorized user. Get your email as the contact email & get a paid post office box instead of sharing any mail address with your mother.
What she did was commit fraud using your identity. It is a criminal offense. Depending on what her terms of her release are, it could send her back to prison.
If it is more than just this one $4,000 which you could pay back over time, you will need report it as fraud to law enforcement and the affected credit card companies, but it will likely be a long time before your credit is cleared up. I've known people who have had similar happen but for more money & it has been a nightmare to get all traces of it to disappear from their credit scores.
I am sorry this has happened to you. I doubt suing would accomplish anything u less she has assets & in some states a house would be protected from judgement.
i dont think you need to sue her, its not your debt.
Of course it's his debt, the card is in his name.
So if I understand correctly this is your biological mother but you really did not know here until 5 1/2 years ago. So she entered your life to try to reclaim a relationship she lost because she was in jail for a crime. Then she steals your credit and will not allow you to talk to her or the credit card company about it. I am a bit unclear about how her bank comes into play but the bottom line is sorry, you mom is a crook and you are just another victim.
I understand you may need her for housing, thanks to her your credit and debt could prevent you from finding a home of your own. I'm not sure suing is the answer but you need to work to pay that off and make sure mom never has access to your personal finances. She simply can not be trusted.
I read through this thread twice, and I'm still confused.
OP, there is probably a Legal Aid in your area. This service is free for lower-income people.
I strongly recommend that you phone them and schedule an appointment and then tell them your story and see what they recommend.
You've gotten some good advice on this thread about freezing your credit and such, but I sense that you need some in-person help to do that and make sense of your situation. Legal Aid would be a good first step.
Next, you may also want to talk with your county social services about where you can live, again if you are lower income/disabled. They should be able to help you with housing and/or get you on the right track.
My sense is that your mother has taken advantage of your credit and that you don't really understand all of the implications of that.
First, I'm planning to move back to New Jersey next month so I have a place to stay and my mother won't kick me out the house once she hears about this.
It all started in mid January when I received a letter from Discover that I owed them over $4,000. I called Discover and told them I didn't know anything about opening a card with them and I told them the purchase made on the card were not by me. They said I was fully responsible because why they had my mother's e-mail address, the account was in my name and they had my social security information. I gave the letter to my mother and I figured she would take care of it. She had since told me not to speak with or contact these people. Discover called me just about everyday until late March when I finally agreed to pay the monthly balance due so it doesn't affect my credit.
I figured I transferred all the information to my name. However, I found out my monthly payment for last month went through my mother's bank. The lady said she needed to speak with my mother for her permission to refund that balance and debit it from my bank instead, but now my mother got pissed off and told me not to give them her information. I honestly feel she is getting away with something that she should be her responsibility and not mine. Could I possibly lawyer up in this situation? If so, what's the process I should take? Thank you.
By the way, I currently live in Dallas, Texas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lae60
I'd recommend that you call the police and file an identity theft complaint. Then send a copy of that to Discover and all three credit reporting agencies and say that this debt is a part of identity theft. They will take it off your report. Then also ask them to place a note on your credit reports freezing it unless they call you at a specific number to verify it is you.
Once it is identified as identity theft with the police report the issue should go away....and the police can deal with your mother, and you may get restitution funds to make you whole, not pay the bill but recover what you already paid on the bill. And your mom will pay into the restitution fund that the DA controls to pay you back and pay Discover.
That is the correct course of action.
Either you'll do that, or you'll continue to whine and cry about it.
So if I understand correctly this is your biological mother but you really did not know here until 5 1/2 years ago. So she entered your life to try to reclaim a relationship she lost because she was in jail for a crime. Then she steals your credit and will not allow you to talk to her or the credit card company about it. I am a bit unclear about how her bank comes into play but the bottom line is sorry, you mom is a crook and you are just another victim.
I understand you may need her for housing, thanks to her your credit and debt could prevent you from finding a home of your own. I'm not sure suing is the answer but you need to work to pay that off and make sure mom never has access to your personal finances. She simply can not be trusted.
im not sure if you are being sarcastic or not. if someone else obtains your personal information and fraudulently gets a credit card in your name and spends money; that is your debt? im pretty sure it is their debt and their crime.
the only issue here seems to be that the OP may have somehow taken on the responsibility after the fact. it isnt really clear though from reading the initial post.
im not sure if you are being sarcastic or not. if someone else obtains your personal information and fraudulently gets a credit card in your name and spends money; that is your debt? im pretty sure it is their debt and their crime.
the only issue here seems to be that the OP may have somehow taken on the responsibility after the fact. it isnt really clear though from reading the initial post.
It may be mom's crime but the OP is most certainly responsible for the debt. At least for now. If he fails to pay that stays on his credit record Now in time he may be able to work that out, but then maybe not and it remains his issue.
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