Back in January, I applied for a credit card. I only have two (one for a department store and another student card with a low limit). I wanted a card with a higher limit to use for emergency repairs to my aging car. I make all my payments on time and have never gone over the limit. I should have been a shoe-in for a new card.
So, Mom, I was surprised to see a denial of credit letter come in the mail. I was even more surprised to see why they denied me credit. You see mom, the credit card company said that
[ul]
[li]“One or more of [my] past or present accounts is reported with deliquency of 120 days or greater [/li]
[li]One or more of [my] past or present accounts is reported with deliquency of 90 days or greater [/li]
[li]One or more of [my] past or present accounts reflect delinquency of 60 days past due[/li]
[li][My] consumer credit report reflects a recent deliquent credit obligation of 60 days past due”[/li][/ul]
How could this be I wondered? I only have two cards.
Then it hit me. I remembered back to the last time this happened. It was a few years ago when I was still living at home. I came to you with the denial letter and you explained it to me. A while back you had intended to put me on as an authorized user for a card you were applying to. By "accident" you actually put me down as being a co-signer for the card. Considering that you had to give them my social security number and somehow forge my signature, I am not seeing how the hell it was an accident. After making several late payments (if you paid at all), those deliquencies came to find their way onto my credit report. You then claimed to have fixed the problem, taking my name off of the card.
So I turned to you again dear Mom when I saw this letter. You nonchalantly replied "Oh it must have been from one of my old accounts that I never paid off." What the fuck?!?!?! You did it again, after I repeatedly told you I didn't want anything at **all** to do with your credit cards?!?! I am only 21 fucking years old. I have my entire life ahead of me. One day I would like to have my own car, rent an apartment, who knows, maybe even own my own house. All of these things require me to have good credit. Now thanks to you I could have to pay more for all of these things if I even get approved at all. All because I believed that my mother wouldn't lie to me.
So now what do I do? Report you for fraud? Or should I sue you like you ex-friend almost did. I can only hope that when my free credit report comes back in a few weeks it isn't as bad as it was for him. You see, you can't put down someone as a co-signer without telling him, run up $18,000 in debt, not pay any of it off, then not expect him to be pissed off when the collection agencies come after him.
I kept quiet the last time this happened, brushed it off as being the "accident" you claimed it was. I kept quiet when my sister told me that you were selling your prescription pain pills to "friends". I also kept quiet when one of those "friends" came into my room at night, looked through my drawers, then claimed to be looking for the bathroom when I caught him. But God help you if my credit report comes back tarnished because of you. If that's the case, then all hell will break loose.
Wow. I don’t envy your situation one bit. That has to be fraud on her part, though IANAL. I wouldn’t want to be at your Thanksgiving dinner if you end up giving her a criminal record (not that she doesn’t deserve it).
My condolences – that’s a bad situation to be in, and I’m not really sure what can or should be done.
Seriously, be glad that you got the credit cards and the aging car before your mother started messing up your credit – in my own case, I didn’t realize what had happened until I started having problems getting credit cards (even the student ones) and utilities. I realized it when I was hooking up my telephone in a new apartment and the phone company required large deposits to hook up a phone. I figured it was just because it was my first time, but when I talked to others and they didn’t have to pay anything with their first phones, I figured out what had happened. :mad:
By the way, did you request credit reports from just one credit reporting agency?
In my case, the credit card company turned me down based on a report they got from Trans Union Corp., so I'm entitled to a free report from that particular credit bureau. Are there many others out there? Based on a search of the web, I've found out about three and all charge around $30 or so to get a report form them. Unfortunately, I can't really afford to pay for the others.
To start, I'm going to see what this report says, possibly talk to a lawyer, and go from there. Trans Union is the bureau that reported the deliquencies, so they should know at least *something* that I can start off with.
There are three credit bureaus: Transunion, Equifax and Experian. Contact all of them IMMEDIATELY and file an explanation as to what happened. Be persistant - it is worth it to get this resolved. Your mom’s behavior is akin to identity theft.
I had a coworker who had a similar problem. She was 20 years old, and had just moved to California to live with her mom after several years of living with her dad in Arizona. She pulled her own credit on a lark, not expecting to see anything, since she didn’t have any credit cards (I work in the mortgage industry, we can pull credit reports), and to her surprise, she had several delinquent accounts - all of them utilities in California, and all of them from when she was living in Arizona. It was a tough situation, made worse because she was living with her mom at the time and was afraid to confront her and ruin their relationship.
Good luck. Conflict with parents isn’t fun, but your mom was beyond wrong in what she did. Her actions were illegal, and you can’t let her get away with it.
Good advice. Next, contact each of the affected banks and start a fraud case. As someone who works in the industry, I can tell you that the banks will approach your mother to see if she is willing to take responsibility for the balance. If she does, your credit will be cleared. If she does not, an investigation will start as to who actually used the account. If her signatures are on the sales receipts, bingo
Warning, this is not a quick process. Even with the best case scenario, banks usually update the credit bureaus every 30 days with account status. The bureaus themselves can take 60-90 days to update from there. Be persistant and cooperate as much as possible.
Also when you call the credit agencies, have them put a fraud alert on your report. This should stop any further activity by unauthorized people (your mom)
This is horrible and there is no excuse for your mom’s behavior. At least if you had screwed up her credity, you could plead youth. Good luck getting this all straightened out - with persistence, I’m sure you can.
The only good thing I can see about your mom’s behavior is that it makes me (and probably a lot of moms like me) feel way better about our various shortcomings as parents.
Get fraud alerts on your credit report, and file a police report.
This is going to take a while to straighten out, but as you said, you have your whole life ahead of you. Best spend a little time now so you won’t have to suffer big time in the future.
I’m sorry that this happened to you DoperChic. It’s a difficult situation. Hopefully Philster (who is an account manager at one of the major credit bureaus) will check in with some good advice.
It sounds as though your mom has a problem with spending. She should contact Debtors Anonymous, and then she should be forced to confront the consequences of her actions.
Another peace of advice, document EVERYTHING! Who you talk to on the phone. What you talked about. What they are going to do. Stuff like that. Also, try to make an outline for a plan of action to get your credit back into shape. And like said before, be patient. Depending on how bad the situation is, it could take anywhere from 6 months to 7 years to straighten out your credit.
My school expenses were split three ways among my mother, my father, and myself. Imagine my surprise when, as a recent college graduate, I was informed that I defaulted on several thousand dollars’ worth of student loans. Not only had my mother provided her share of my tuition by taking out student loans in my name, but she also neglected to inform the loaners that I was graduating a semester late, so I defaulted before I even learned I had the debt.
Eh, what the fuck are you gonna do when your mom is a female version of Hannibal Lecter? I’ve just resigned myself to perpetual bad credit and, truth be told, it’s actually worked in my favor by preventing me from running up additional debt.
One thing is certain: I’ll never do the same to my children, should I ever have them. My curse shall one day be their gift.
“Lord, I thank you for the problems of other people, because they sure put mine into perspective. In your Name, Amen.”
Seriously, Doperchic, that is some bad stuff you got there. Don’t let it slide - it could mess up your credit forever, and that costs you when it becomes time to look for a mortgage or car loan.
She created the problem, you shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences.
I was responsible with my credit, my twin brother was not. I agree with these replies, a good history is more important than you would imagine. My brother was unable to buy a house for nearly five years after I purchased mine. He pays 4% more in interest on his mortgage (Even now, nobody has a real interest in refinancing him). Just those two things alone equal several thousand dollars.
Credit is important. I think hardygrrl has the least harmful suggestion. Call the banks and see if they’ll fix it. If they feel it’s aggregious, they’ll contact the authorities, but they may be willing to fix it themselves.
DoperChic, I feel your pain. Truly. I applied for a credit card about 3 months ago and was denied. I applied for another one about 2 weeks ago and was denied again. I ordered a copy of my credit report, but I’m scared of what it might say because of what my brother has been through.
When we were kids, my dad was tens of thousands of dollars in debt, which meant that our utilities were turned off, and his credit cards were canceled. Instead of paying them off, he opened new accounts in my brother’s name, which he then (surprise!) didn’t pay. He also opened numerous bank accounts in his name and wrote bad checks. When my brother was 18 he tried to buy a car and got a copy of his credit report. He found out that he owed various people and companies something like $50,000. It took him years to prove to people that he was under 18 at the time, and it wasn’t his debt. He checks his report periodically, and still finds things.
My father also did this in my mom’s name (They were divorced at the time), and she had to file for fraud also. I know he probably has things in my name, and I’m scared to check. Having bad credit is a difficult thing to go through, especially when you didn’t cause it.
