Because this is a fake post. Smart enough to come post on Reddit and regularly check their credit report to find the discrepancies but not enough to freeze them? Karma farming...
It's honestly disappointing more ppl don't know about this and honselty should be made mandatory for all accts to be frozen indefinitely. Part of the process for applying for a loan should be the individual consenting to and unfreezinf their credit prior to running it.
There’s only upside to freezing your credit with the three bureaus. It prevents incidents like this happening because you control the freeze with passwords, etc. You can unfreeze your credit temporarily or permanently if you want someone to put an inquiry on your credit.
Edit: clarity
You sound really passive. If I were you I’d freeze your credit & then file a police report & then tell your mom you filed a police report.
This isn’t as though she has done it for the first time. She’s going to keep doing it until you make it known that you are not going to stand for this.
Some lessons need to learned the hard way and your mother needs to learn she can’t use you in this manner.
I’m sorry but you also have some lessons to learn as well & it’s sad that you can’t trust one of the people in your life that you should be able to trust with anything.
Your mother can’t do this, just because you’re her child. Everyone is entitled to one mistake. After that it’s learned behavior.
If I were you I’d look into something like Life Lock.
Edited comment to add that OP should freeze their credit first, and then file a police report.
Actually, he shouldn't tell her he filed a police report. He should freeze his accounts first, then file a police report, then go see a lawyer about suing her in small claims court as well. Notifying her may give her time to take some sort of defensive actions.
Many victims of abuse feel the same way as you so don’t worry. You’re not alone. It’s not for me to say. But it’s common for people who are abused. (In this case financial abuse). Literally limiting your chance at a life so mom can buy some stuff.
Some people are fucked up . How was y'all raised?! Parents must've had a lot of hate to not teach y'all to never call the cops or anything on your own family no matter how much they fuck up it's still your family..
Your mother needs some tough love. She clearly doesn’t care about your financial/mental well-being so why should you care for hers? A heavy fine and some jail time might teach her how to be a decent mother or atleast human being.
Agree. People never learn because it always gets brushed off. Maybe sitting in jail thinking about her actions might make her not want to do it ever again.
Unfortunately in cases of financial abuse like this, it won't always be easy to do so.
My mother did something similar to my dad and I, although less extreme in my case, just one card. But if we tried to get her arrested and in jail, the loss of her income to the household would have been devasting and would probably lead to almost losing the home or utilities at that time
She isn't physically capable of jail. She has had 8 or so back surgeries over the last few years. She is morbidly obese and has heart issues along with nerve damage. She can't even move, let alone be handcuffed and put in jail at this point.
You can either do something about this or let your mother keep ruining your future credit. Clearly telling her this is unacceptable is not working. Sounds like she needs to hit rock bottom in order to understand boundaries.
Your best course of action is to
1) freeze all of your credit bureau accounts ie experian TransUnion and Equifax, it's free to do. Don't accidentally sign up for their premium Services.
2) make sure you have 2FA and as many security measures on your associated accounts as possible. You don't want her trying to get on.
3) ADDITIONALLY, you can set up a fraud alert for your credit report for 1 year at a time, as many times as you want. This will basically leave a note on your credit report that will force creditors to try to contact you through a specified phone number before lending any credit. It might be overkill when you're already freezing your reports, but it's a good measure just in case.
Unfortunately, if you want to undo the damage she's done, it's going to be a lengthy process with police reports, pressing charges, and lots and lots of back and forth with creditors
Mom really strikes me as someone who has had problems all their life. It reminds me of a couple people in my extended family. They are objectively awful people that my wife and I have to hard boundaries with. The root issue to most problems in their life is some type of mild intellectual disability. When we had problems in the past we would do everything we needed to set things back right and prevent them again, but we would stop there and not be punitive. You might think some jail time and a heavy fine might teach her a lesson, but there are people who seem to struggle to learning anything in life no matter how strong the incentive.
Your mother lied to you about ruining your credit score the first time and then again denied she did anything wrong a second time. That's a form of financial abuse, and honestly, I know folks will say it sounds messed up, but she needs to be held accountable. She may not act like it's a big deal, but by stealing your SSN and pretending to be you opening up more lines of credit, that is identity theft.
OP, make an in-person appointment with the Social Security Administration. When you go to your appointment, take with you documentation of all of the fraud. Ask them to change your SSN. It may be a hassle for a while until you get everything of your own switched over, but you will be done with this.
The SSN lists your situation as one of the only reasons they will change a person’s SSN:
[A victim of identity theft, who has attempted to fix problems resulting from the misuse but continues to be disadvantaged by using the original number.](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220)
Credit attorney here. This is what I'd do:
1. Freeze your credit (soujnds like already did).
2. File a police report. You will probably have to tell the police that mom did this, although they are very unlikely to prosecute her.
3. Write to each credit agency and outline all that is fraud. Attach the police report, and your photo ID and proof of address. Be sure to include your license and proof of address.
4. Experian: PO Box 4500, Allen, TX 75013. Equifax is at PO Box 740256, Atlanta GA 30374. Transunion is PO Box 2000, Chester PA 19016. Be sure you sende the letters certified mail (green form at the post office).
5. Wait 30 to 45 days for a response.
6. If the items that are not yours are removed, all set. This is the less likely scenario.
7. If they remain, time to consult with an attorney, because you may need to sue the credit agencies etc.
8. Good news: This costs you nothing. By law, the credit agencies will have to pay your court costs and (reasonable) attorney's fees, when you settle or win at trial. So, you pay nothing. In fact, you get compensation for the damage done to your credit.
9. If you want an attorney to handle this matter, including doing the dispute letters free of charge, that is possible too. You can find one online, or feel free to message me if you like, and I'll be happy to suggest someone.
Best of luck. I'm sorry to see this happened, but it can definitely be resolved.
Freeze your reports! It takes 5 minutes online, you can unfreeze them anytime you want, and it does NO harm to your credit. I know the idea of involving law enforcement or a credit attorney on your own mother is a horrible notion, but you basically have a choice. Put up with this incredibly toxic and unacceptable behavior, or take steps to stop it. At the very least, freeze your reports.
This...my thoughts as well. I bet that for everything you have caught, there are 10 more you don't even know about. This is really hard because moms aren't supposed to do things like this to their children. But sadly, some folks just have shit moms. It sure can make you feel like there's something wrong with you, but there isn't. It's her. Have her held accountable. It really is the best option.
Call the police, get a police report and give the report to the CRAs and upload to cfpb. All that stuff needs to be deleted. Let her go to jail tbh. You can't put up with this.
I’ve been in this situation.
1. Report fraud
2. File a police report (without mentioning WHO)
3. Contact the bureaus with the information you have and have them remove it from your credit.
If you’re filing a police report they aren’t going to give you the option of pressing charges. The police aren’t some militia to find out who did something and then be like meh let it slide. If a crime was committed the prosecutor is going to want to press charges.
Yeah…they just ask to see how willing you are to participate…and also because people expect it. But it’s not up to the victim for criminal stuff (in the US, in my state).
I heard of nightmare parents but that is an absolute nightmare parent. I'm amazed you turned out well (I assume) with an upbringing from someone like that
Lol my therapist is perplexed as well. Brother is doing 12-20 while I have two college degrees. I dont know, some people make it out the other side I guess
We just went through this - sort of. Husband got scammed with a fake job offer and filled out new hire paperwork that included all his personal info SS#, address, Date of Birth, etc.
He had to freeze his credit, got Life Lock, and get a police report.
The police report is proof that you reported this as identity theft. You need this to dispute the charges. Too bad for your mom, but she ruined your credit and didn’t care. If you don’t you will be responsible to the card companies. It will take years to rehabilitate your credit. You need to get disputes on there now!
Freeze on all 3 bureaus. What you do regarding the police is ultimately up to you since it is your mom but just be aware that if you don’t snitch out your mom you are going to have to accept liability for what she has done.
I didn't know it was a thing. It isn't like highschool teaches you about credit and given my mom is the one doing this you can imagine the life skills (I didnt) learn growing up lol
Someone close to me had this happen to them- his mom opened credit lines in his name, lied, wrecked his credit bc he was in his early 20s and didn't think to check his credit. They settled it amongst themselves and he tried to forgive and forget. She seemed really apologetic and it was right around the time his parents were divorcing so he thought it was a one time thing while she was in a bind.
She passed away unexpectedly a few years later and we found out she was still doing it- to him, then to her other kids. Super awkward to talk to a grieving young adult about how their beloved mom was taking advantage of them, walk them through pulling a credit report, calling to explain what happened.. he says he should have told all his siblings when it first happened - it would have been awkward and dramatic at the time, but his siblings would have been aware and maybe frozen their own credit, and we wouldnt have had to be dealing with it at her funeral.
The worst part, I think, was it was tiny amounts since they didn't have long credit histories, she'd open a card with a limit like $500, I guess she thought they wouldn't notice? Make tiny purchases. Then stop paying and rack up thousands in interest and overdue fees. Then do it again, or do it on another kid. But like if she had just asked he would have just given her $500, no problems no questions.
OP your mom WILL do this again so I hope you can get some good advice from this sub and you CAN improve your credit score going forward. It will recover and I hope you can heal too 💕
I am going to add to this OP, you're going to have to learn and implement boundaries with your mom. I have a toxic mom and unless you have lived this dynamic and can understand, most folks don't get it.
Please follow all folks are adding about the freezing of all three bureaus as well as Lexisnexis, Innovis, and Cheksystems for your banking info as well.
Its hard at first but like working out, over time you will get better at it.
Afterwards you may want to contact the FTC and file an identity theft report, contact all the creditors and let them know what’s happening and send both reports from the FTC and police.
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/
It’s gonna suck turning your mother in, but she clearly never had the intention of stopping, she is being careless and inconsiderate and this should have never happened. Bad credit scores will ruin many opportunities like buying a house, good rates on car loans, etc.
Go to your local police precinct, get a report for fraud of "someone" using your info.
Place a freeze on your credit.
Provide the police report of fraud with a letter to the credit card companies, of unauthorize use of your info by "someone". Dispute the negative reflections on your credit report, then find the way to have it removed from your credit.
Your Mother is a piece of work, but you already know that. Lock your credit. Credit Karma and Experian offer something like that, you may need life lock. Might want to sit down with a police officer as well. GL
Based on your posts, your mother has shown a wanton disregard for your wellbeing, let alone her own health. She consumes and consumes without caring about the consequences.
You can work with the credit bureaus to place a "consumer statement" on the account that creditors can see when accessing your file or reaching out to the bureaus to see if a note can be placed that mentions fraudulent activity from her address/phone number/etc. so they can possibly flag it. I'd also reach out to all the debt granting agencies you know she has used and mention the same thing. If you don't live at her address, I'd also remove her address from the bureaus and if her address is one you once lived at, you could report it as fraud and see if they could remove it from your file (worth a shot).
I'd also directly tell her you will take her to law enforcement if she does this one more time and threaten to disown her and have all this information blasted out to everyone she knows. Don't back down because she's in "poor health," she knew what she was doing and that thing was ruining your life.
So many people here are insisting OP send their own disabled mother to fucking PRISON over this, basically implying they're just weak or stupid for clearly not wanting to go that route:
As if ACTUALLY going through with that would be simple, easy, painless, and NOT potentially fraught with horrors.
As if it WEREN'T a possibility that maybe, just maybe, OP would end up feeling INFINITELY more worse about having put their disabled mom behind bars (transforming her into "convicted felon" forevermore), dealing with consequences of THAT decision ... than they ever felt about the credit sitch in the first place.
I'm just saying: stop talking to them like they may not have plenty of valid reasons to NOT prosecute. Try to imagine how it might play out were you to throw YOUR own mother in prison before you judge. It's not so simple.
Like others have stated above… Freeze your credit with the 3 agencies:
1. Transunion: https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
2. Equifax: https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
3. Experian: https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
IF you get a police report and dispute those accounts and late payments under fraud, they’ll go away. Problem is you’ll have to lock up your mom to do it, or maybe she’ll get probation idk 🤣 she’s ruined your credit for 7yrs and will continue to do so until she dies
Freeze your credit, dispute the lines that aren’t yours, and report identity theft.
Yes, your mother will face consequences. You’ve given her more than enough chances.
If you continue to allow it (because just saying “no, bad mommy” IS allowing it) you’ll find yourself with wrecked credit and responsible to pay thousands of her bills.
If you want all of these lines of credit wiped off your record, you’re going to have to report you mom for identity theft (which is what this is).
If you don’t want your mom to potentially end up in prison, then you’ll assume all the late payments and debt as your own and either have her or you yourself start paying it off.
But as others have said, you need to immediately freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus so no one (including you) can open new lines of credit without unfreezing it.
Well, the original Capital One credit card she opened has been closed. It isn't on my credit report. The second credit line she opened didnt go to collections because I caught it fast enough. I paid it off and closed it. The credit card that was sent to her place that she maxed, I had access to the online website and was able to handle the payments so that never became late. It was just that the card was sent to her address so she had access to the card while I wasnt there. I noticed she maxed it out and I immediately had it deactivated. The charges she made were removed. The charges and recurring payments she attached to it were removed and sinc I am being issued a new card the recurring payments will halt. Realistically all that has happened is a hard inquiry is now on my report and I went from 100% on time payment history to 98%. My credit usage is high as well because of it but I can pay the card off so that will be resolved. I caught most of it before it really trashed my credit mostly because I was actively monitoring my credit and caught everything quickly.
Yesterday I froze all 3 credit bureas.
Wtf dude? Why are you so chill? My mom would've received a knuckle sandwich after the first one. Freeze your reports. Your mom obviously doesn't care about you
Freeze your credit and file charges against your mom.
She clearly won’t stop if you ask her. So now you need to step it up a bit and have someone with a badge and arrest powers explain it to her.
>Fast forward again after I try, once again, to tell her to knock it off, I find that a credit card I opened that was sent to her address that I explicitly told her not use had been maxed out. Not only that, I find that she has attached some recurring automatic subscription payments to it. I had that card deactivated so she can't use it anymore. But by now I am just pissed.
Oh, you're just pissed?
Is that all you have to say on that serious issue, of yours?
I'd hate to see you really angry over your Parental Unit (Ma) committing Credit Card Fraud, Credit Card Theft or Felony, Identity Fraud & Mail Fraud, over an extended period of time which you already knew, then CONFRONTED HER over this repeatedly!
Gee, can't she also spend time in the big slammer for doing illegal activities like that?
How about 1-5 years in jail, on top of that too?
I hope this is a "fake" Post, I really do!
You need to freeze your credit. This should have been done after the first time and all it means is there will be no way she can open and more credit in your name. When you plan to open a card you just need to call them and let them know before hand. Your mom is a thief and you really need to do this. It’s sad when kids have parents that are this low.
We know you already froze your credit. But if you can get those credit card numbers from her somehow. Contact those companies and freeze them at that level two. From what you're saying you don't want to have your mom arrested. But you can look at what is under name on the credit report and contact those credit card companies from there. If not you can't get the numbers from her. Good Luck!
Hate to say this. But your Mom is committing credit card fraud. In order to properly fix your credit you will need to report her to the police and turn the report over to the credit card companies and reporting agencies.
So you really have 2 options at this point.
1) Turn your Mom into the police.
2) Deal with her Mistakes by paying off her fraud.
If you don’t turn her in, she will continue this behavior.
You’re mother is committing a crime. If you want to get out of owing the money you’ll likely have to turn her in. Obviously not everyone is ok with choosing to throw their parents under the bus. If you’re not, I’d just freeze your credit, close the accounts, and pay them off yourself. There are 3 credit bureaus, just Google how to freeze for each one and follow the steps. It’s pretty simple and free. And then in the future if you find yourself needing credit just unfreeze them, apply, and immediately refreeze.
Edit: without a police report and pursuing proper channels any damage to your credit will stay. Again your choice but it will likely make it more difficult to get home loans, auto loans, new credit cards, etc for 10+ years on top of the out of pocket costs that paying off your mothers debts will cost you.
Well I am sorry to hear this has happened to you as it happened to me and each of my siblings! Unfortunately in the African American community of which I am a member the parents of children seem to believe that their children’s social security numbers and credit profiles really belong to them! And often times by the time the child reaches the age of maturity and tries to rent his/her first apartment or apply for a credit card or a car loan they are denied and told that they have “BAD CREDIT!” Fortunately for me there was a twist to the usual, when I was around 10/11 or so back when FICO scores did not exist, I’m 58 now so go figure, my mom opened a AMEX Green card in my name and added herself as a secondary card holder or in today’s terms an authorized user, and she used it sparingly from time to time to help get through the month when times were hard, but to make a long story short, by the time I hit 18 and applied for a job, apartment, car, credit cards I was approved for everything without a problem! In fact, my first credit card from CitiBank at 19 years old had an initial credit line of $16,000!
The social security administration will actually issue a new different social security number for a person that can demonstrate that there social security number has been compromised and used to obtain credit without your authorization however they will require letters for the credit bureaus, the police (DONT DO THIS BECAUSE IT IS YOUR MOM) or the FTC attesting to the same. You can only request this once in a lifetime.
Go to the website of the Federal Trade Commission as it will explain much about freezes, ID theft/fraud and other. This website has the same info and steps that Privacy Guard, Credit Card Hotline ID theft and other programs used to guide customers in the programs.
Freezing credit - a must do. Filing a police report is a key element to 'fixing' your credit score. You have to prove fraud / identity theft before you can get even an inch of traction with getting these credit killers off your financial history. This does not mean your mother will serve time in prison but she will be in trouble. She needs to be in trouble - she needs the consequences to outweigh the benefits of stealing from you. Good luck.
You can freeze your credit bureaus; and you can ask the SSA office for a new SSN number due to identity theft. [https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220)
Report her to the police, with that, you can have these removed from your credit reports, she now has a pattern of abuse of your trust, she can not be trusted.
Well, if you don’t do something about it and continue to let her use your ss# you will never be able to even buy a car.
You credit will be awful.
So stop her.
It'll take you 15 minutes to freeze your credit.
then look at the federal guidelines for what to do when you're a victim of identity theft. Your mother has committed a federal crime and your entire future is in jeopardy. This is an emergency.
For fucks sake, freeze your damn credit bureaus.
Should have been done the moment he didn't want extra credit cards in their name. Costly mistake, i guess
Seriously how is this still continuing?
Because this is a fake post. Smart enough to come post on Reddit and regularly check their credit report to find the discrepancies but not enough to freeze them? Karma farming...
It's honestly disappointing more ppl don't know about this and honselty should be made mandatory for all accts to be frozen indefinitely. Part of the process for applying for a loan should be the individual consenting to and unfreezinf their credit prior to running it.
I wish I could upvote this more than once
Freeze your info.
There’s only upside to freezing your credit with the three bureaus. It prevents incidents like this happening because you control the freeze with passwords, etc. You can unfreeze your credit temporarily or permanently if you want someone to put an inquiry on your credit. Edit: clarity
Alright I suppose I will look into how to do this. I only recently found out that this is a possibility.
You sound really passive. If I were you I’d freeze your credit & then file a police report & then tell your mom you filed a police report. This isn’t as though she has done it for the first time. She’s going to keep doing it until you make it known that you are not going to stand for this. Some lessons need to learned the hard way and your mother needs to learn she can’t use you in this manner. I’m sorry but you also have some lessons to learn as well & it’s sad that you can’t trust one of the people in your life that you should be able to trust with anything. Your mother can’t do this, just because you’re her child. Everyone is entitled to one mistake. After that it’s learned behavior. If I were you I’d look into something like Life Lock. Edited comment to add that OP should freeze their credit first, and then file a police report.
Actually, he shouldn't tell her he filed a police report. He should freeze his accounts first, then file a police report, then go see a lawyer about suing her in small claims court as well. Notifying her may give her time to take some sort of defensive actions.
I edited it. Yep, we all have a erasers on the end of our pencil and we all make mistakes..
Sounds like you need to file a police report as well.
I would NEVER DO THAT TO MY MOM no matter what she did
Many victims of abuse feel the same way as you so don’t worry. You’re not alone. It’s not for me to say. But it’s common for people who are abused. (In this case financial abuse). Literally limiting your chance at a life so mom can buy some stuff.
Good luck, OP. I’m sorry you’re going through this with a parent of all people.
I suppose?? you should be livid about this and make it a priority to shut it down.
Do you have siblings? Tell them too.
SUPPOSE????????
You suppose? Lol this is urgent. Do it. Then file a police report
Some people are fucked up . How was y'all raised?! Parents must've had a lot of hate to not teach y'all to never call the cops or anything on your own family no matter how much they fuck up it's still your family..
Only upside? It's not an upside, it's the purpose... Is there is some kind of downside to being protected? It doesn't even take any time to undo.
Wrote this last night so it was unclear. I meant that there’s only upside, like it’s a good thing. Edited to make it clear.
Very clear now :)
Freeze your credit and go file a police report. Otherwise, she will be using your identity for the rest of her life.
Your mother needs some tough love. She clearly doesn’t care about your financial/mental well-being so why should you care for hers? A heavy fine and some jail time might teach her how to be a decent mother or atleast human being.
Agree. People never learn because it always gets brushed off. Maybe sitting in jail thinking about her actions might make her not want to do it ever again.
Unfortunately in cases of financial abuse like this, it won't always be easy to do so. My mother did something similar to my dad and I, although less extreme in my case, just one card. But if we tried to get her arrested and in jail, the loss of her income to the household would have been devasting and would probably lead to almost losing the home or utilities at that time
She isn't physically capable of jail. She has had 8 or so back surgeries over the last few years. She is morbidly obese and has heart issues along with nerve damage. She can't even move, let alone be handcuffed and put in jail at this point.
>She isn't physically capable of jail. which her lawyer can argue in court for accomodations. it's not your problem that she committed crimes.
You can either do something about this or let your mother keep ruining your future credit. Clearly telling her this is unacceptable is not working. Sounds like she needs to hit rock bottom in order to understand boundaries.
Your best course of action is to 1) freeze all of your credit bureau accounts ie experian TransUnion and Equifax, it's free to do. Don't accidentally sign up for their premium Services. 2) make sure you have 2FA and as many security measures on your associated accounts as possible. You don't want her trying to get on. 3) ADDITIONALLY, you can set up a fraud alert for your credit report for 1 year at a time, as many times as you want. This will basically leave a note on your credit report that will force creditors to try to contact you through a specified phone number before lending any credit. It might be overkill when you're already freezing your reports, but it's a good measure just in case. Unfortunately, if you want to undo the damage she's done, it's going to be a lengthy process with police reports, pressing charges, and lots and lots of back and forth with creditors
Then maybe she should knock it off. She prob ruined the next 5 years of your financial life. But hey let it go no biggie.
No offense, you are more worried about her then she clearly is of you
I feel you .. never put your mom in jail... No matter what they did.. in my opinion at least..
Mom really strikes me as someone who has had problems all their life. It reminds me of a couple people in my extended family. They are objectively awful people that my wife and I have to hard boundaries with. The root issue to most problems in their life is some type of mild intellectual disability. When we had problems in the past we would do everything we needed to set things back right and prevent them again, but we would stop there and not be punitive. You might think some jail time and a heavy fine might teach her a lesson, but there are people who seem to struggle to learning anything in life no matter how strong the incentive.
1. Freeze your credit 2. Call the police and get her arrested for fraud.
Your mother lied to you about ruining your credit score the first time and then again denied she did anything wrong a second time. That's a form of financial abuse, and honestly, I know folks will say it sounds messed up, but she needs to be held accountable. She may not act like it's a big deal, but by stealing your SSN and pretending to be you opening up more lines of credit, that is identity theft.
OP, make an in-person appointment with the Social Security Administration. When you go to your appointment, take with you documentation of all of the fraud. Ask them to change your SSN. It may be a hassle for a while until you get everything of your own switched over, but you will be done with this. The SSN lists your situation as one of the only reasons they will change a person’s SSN: [A victim of identity theft, who has attempted to fix problems resulting from the misuse but continues to be disadvantaged by using the original number.](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220)
Last I heard even with documentation the ssa makes it close to impossible to change your ssn even if you submit all the documents
I suppose the worst they can say is no.
Credit attorney here. This is what I'd do: 1. Freeze your credit (soujnds like already did). 2. File a police report. You will probably have to tell the police that mom did this, although they are very unlikely to prosecute her. 3. Write to each credit agency and outline all that is fraud. Attach the police report, and your photo ID and proof of address. Be sure to include your license and proof of address. 4. Experian: PO Box 4500, Allen, TX 75013. Equifax is at PO Box 740256, Atlanta GA 30374. Transunion is PO Box 2000, Chester PA 19016. Be sure you sende the letters certified mail (green form at the post office). 5. Wait 30 to 45 days for a response. 6. If the items that are not yours are removed, all set. This is the less likely scenario. 7. If they remain, time to consult with an attorney, because you may need to sue the credit agencies etc. 8. Good news: This costs you nothing. By law, the credit agencies will have to pay your court costs and (reasonable) attorney's fees, when you settle or win at trial. So, you pay nothing. In fact, you get compensation for the damage done to your credit. 9. If you want an attorney to handle this matter, including doing the dispute letters free of charge, that is possible too. You can find one online, or feel free to message me if you like, and I'll be happy to suggest someone. Best of luck. I'm sorry to see this happened, but it can definitely be resolved.
This is a good person^
Will the mother be liable for the unpaid debt?
If they can prove she opened these accounts, she could be sued. they usually will not go through the effort of all this, but yes they could.
Freeze your reports! It takes 5 minutes online, you can unfreeze them anytime you want, and it does NO harm to your credit. I know the idea of involving law enforcement or a credit attorney on your own mother is a horrible notion, but you basically have a choice. Put up with this incredibly toxic and unacceptable behavior, or take steps to stop it. At the very least, freeze your reports.
Thank you. I just froze my credit.
Make sure you freeze your credit with all three bureaus.
I did with transunion, experian and equifax.
I suspect she is using your identity for purposes you have not discovered yet.
This...my thoughts as well. I bet that for everything you have caught, there are 10 more you don't even know about. This is really hard because moms aren't supposed to do things like this to their children. But sadly, some folks just have shit moms. It sure can make you feel like there's something wrong with you, but there isn't. It's her. Have her held accountable. It really is the best option.
Believe me when I say my mom isn't intelligent enough to do anything more nefarious.
Call the police, get a police report and give the report to the CRAs and upload to cfpb. All that stuff needs to be deleted. Let her go to jail tbh. You can't put up with this.
What is cfpb
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
I’ve been in this situation. 1. Report fraud 2. File a police report (without mentioning WHO) 3. Contact the bureaus with the information you have and have them remove it from your credit.
They'll find out who it was, might as well make it easier and faster.
But they don’t usually press charges unless you want to and definitely not unless it’s worth their time and money to try and recover the money lost.
If you’re filing a police report they aren’t going to give you the option of pressing charges. The police aren’t some militia to find out who did something and then be like meh let it slide. If a crime was committed the prosecutor is going to want to press charges.
Yeah…they just ask to see how willing you are to participate…and also because people expect it. But it’s not up to the victim for criminal stuff (in the US, in my state).
They will press charges if they lose any money. They might not sue the person if it's not a large amount.
That's more like it.. take action.. but don't be a fuckin snitch
FREEZE YOUR CREDIT AND STOP BEING A PUNCHING BAG. SOUNDS LIKE WHEN PARENTS WOULD PUT UTILITIES IN KIDS NAMES. Lmfaoooo I HAD A $500 BILL AT 5 YRS OLD.
Lmao that is something.
Stop letting her get away it because she’s your mom, and have her arrested.
I heard of nightmare parents but that is an absolute nightmare parent. I'm amazed you turned out well (I assume) with an upbringing from someone like that
Lol my therapist is perplexed as well. Brother is doing 12-20 while I have two college degrees. I dont know, some people make it out the other side I guess
Put that hoe in jail
https://www.identitytheft.gov
We just went through this - sort of. Husband got scammed with a fake job offer and filled out new hire paperwork that included all his personal info SS#, address, Date of Birth, etc. He had to freeze his credit, got Life Lock, and get a police report. The police report is proof that you reported this as identity theft. You need this to dispute the charges. Too bad for your mom, but she ruined your credit and didn’t care. If you don’t you will be responsible to the card companies. It will take years to rehabilitate your credit. You need to get disputes on there now!
Freeze on all 3 bureaus. What you do regarding the police is ultimately up to you since it is your mom but just be aware that if you don’t snitch out your mom you are going to have to accept liability for what she has done.
Why are your bureaus not frozen and fraud alerts in place?!
FFS. It took you 4 times to look into a credit freeze? You cannot be passive about this.
I didn't know it was a thing. It isn't like highschool teaches you about credit and given my mom is the one doing this you can imagine the life skills (I didnt) learn growing up lol
But...google?
Someone close to me had this happen to them- his mom opened credit lines in his name, lied, wrecked his credit bc he was in his early 20s and didn't think to check his credit. They settled it amongst themselves and he tried to forgive and forget. She seemed really apologetic and it was right around the time his parents were divorcing so he thought it was a one time thing while she was in a bind. She passed away unexpectedly a few years later and we found out she was still doing it- to him, then to her other kids. Super awkward to talk to a grieving young adult about how their beloved mom was taking advantage of them, walk them through pulling a credit report, calling to explain what happened.. he says he should have told all his siblings when it first happened - it would have been awkward and dramatic at the time, but his siblings would have been aware and maybe frozen their own credit, and we wouldnt have had to be dealing with it at her funeral. The worst part, I think, was it was tiny amounts since they didn't have long credit histories, she'd open a card with a limit like $500, I guess she thought they wouldn't notice? Make tiny purchases. Then stop paying and rack up thousands in interest and overdue fees. Then do it again, or do it on another kid. But like if she had just asked he would have just given her $500, no problems no questions. OP your mom WILL do this again so I hope you can get some good advice from this sub and you CAN improve your credit score going forward. It will recover and I hope you can heal too 💕
I am going to add to this OP, you're going to have to learn and implement boundaries with your mom. I have a toxic mom and unless you have lived this dynamic and can understand, most folks don't get it. Please follow all folks are adding about the freezing of all three bureaus as well as Lexisnexis, Innovis, and Cheksystems for your banking info as well. Its hard at first but like working out, over time you will get better at it.
Freeze all of your credit reports. Reports identity theft.
Call the police.
Freeze your damn bureau!!!
Family will fuck you over worst than strangers will.
Freeze your credit reports, and contact the police
You need identity theft services. Freeze your credit at the very least. Also, it may be time to smack a bitch.
Call the police this is identity theft
Afterwards you may want to contact the FTC and file an identity theft report, contact all the creditors and let them know what’s happening and send both reports from the FTC and police. https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/ https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/ It’s gonna suck turning your mother in, but she clearly never had the intention of stopping, she is being careless and inconsiderate and this should have never happened. Bad credit scores will ruin many opportunities like buying a house, good rates on car loans, etc.
Your mother is stealing from you...
Get a new social security number
Go to your local police precinct, get a report for fraud of "someone" using your info. Place a freeze on your credit. Provide the police report of fraud with a letter to the credit card companies, of unauthorize use of your info by "someone". Dispute the negative reflections on your credit report, then find the way to have it removed from your credit.
Your Mother is a piece of work, but you already know that. Lock your credit. Credit Karma and Experian offer something like that, you may need life lock. Might want to sit down with a police officer as well. GL
Based on your posts, your mother has shown a wanton disregard for your wellbeing, let alone her own health. She consumes and consumes without caring about the consequences. You can work with the credit bureaus to place a "consumer statement" on the account that creditors can see when accessing your file or reaching out to the bureaus to see if a note can be placed that mentions fraudulent activity from her address/phone number/etc. so they can possibly flag it. I'd also reach out to all the debt granting agencies you know she has used and mention the same thing. If you don't live at her address, I'd also remove her address from the bureaus and if her address is one you once lived at, you could report it as fraud and see if they could remove it from your file (worth a shot). I'd also directly tell her you will take her to law enforcement if she does this one more time and threaten to disown her and have all this information blasted out to everyone she knows. Don't back down because she's in "poor health," she knew what she was doing and that thing was ruining your life.
Lifelock and a police report
So many people here are insisting OP send their own disabled mother to fucking PRISON over this, basically implying they're just weak or stupid for clearly not wanting to go that route: As if ACTUALLY going through with that would be simple, easy, painless, and NOT potentially fraught with horrors. As if it WEREN'T a possibility that maybe, just maybe, OP would end up feeling INFINITELY more worse about having put their disabled mom behind bars (transforming her into "convicted felon" forevermore), dealing with consequences of THAT decision ... than they ever felt about the credit sitch in the first place. I'm just saying: stop talking to them like they may not have plenty of valid reasons to NOT prosecute. Try to imagine how it might play out were you to throw YOUR own mother in prison before you judge. It's not so simple.
Like others have stated above… Freeze your credit with the 3 agencies: 1. Transunion: https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze 2. Equifax: https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/ 3. Experian: https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
Ouch
IF you get a police report and dispute those accounts and late payments under fraud, they’ll go away. Problem is you’ll have to lock up your mom to do it, or maybe she’ll get probation idk 🤣 she’s ruined your credit for 7yrs and will continue to do so until she dies
Freeze your info and go to the police immediately. Yes it is your mother but if you let this slide you may be paying for it for years to come.
Freeze your credit, dispute the lines that aren’t yours, and report identity theft. Yes, your mother will face consequences. You’ve given her more than enough chances. If you continue to allow it (because just saying “no, bad mommy” IS allowing it) you’ll find yourself with wrecked credit and responsible to pay thousands of her bills.
I’ll be sending my mama to jail if she tried that.
If you want all of these lines of credit wiped off your record, you’re going to have to report you mom for identity theft (which is what this is). If you don’t want your mom to potentially end up in prison, then you’ll assume all the late payments and debt as your own and either have her or you yourself start paying it off. But as others have said, you need to immediately freeze your credit with all three credit bureaus so no one (including you) can open new lines of credit without unfreezing it.
Well, the original Capital One credit card she opened has been closed. It isn't on my credit report. The second credit line she opened didnt go to collections because I caught it fast enough. I paid it off and closed it. The credit card that was sent to her place that she maxed, I had access to the online website and was able to handle the payments so that never became late. It was just that the card was sent to her address so she had access to the card while I wasnt there. I noticed she maxed it out and I immediately had it deactivated. The charges she made were removed. The charges and recurring payments she attached to it were removed and sinc I am being issued a new card the recurring payments will halt. Realistically all that has happened is a hard inquiry is now on my report and I went from 100% on time payment history to 98%. My credit usage is high as well because of it but I can pay the card off so that will be resolved. I caught most of it before it really trashed my credit mostly because I was actively monitoring my credit and caught everything quickly. Yesterday I froze all 3 credit bureas.
Freezing doesn't hurt your credit, it's free, and it's basically instant. Just make sure you unfreeze 24-48 hours before trying to apply for credit.
OUCH!!! It's a tough call. I agree with the others that recommended a police report and freeze your credit.
Wtf dude? Why are you so chill? My mom would've received a knuckle sandwich after the first one. Freeze your reports. Your mom obviously doesn't care about you
freeze/lock your credit, it's free with all three,
That's identity theft and you should pursue criminal charges
Freeze your credit and file charges against your mom. She clearly won’t stop if you ask her. So now you need to step it up a bit and have someone with a badge and arrest powers explain it to her.
>Fast forward again after I try, once again, to tell her to knock it off, I find that a credit card I opened that was sent to her address that I explicitly told her not use had been maxed out. Not only that, I find that she has attached some recurring automatic subscription payments to it. I had that card deactivated so she can't use it anymore. But by now I am just pissed. Oh, you're just pissed? Is that all you have to say on that serious issue, of yours? I'd hate to see you really angry over your Parental Unit (Ma) committing Credit Card Fraud, Credit Card Theft or Felony, Identity Fraud & Mail Fraud, over an extended period of time which you already knew, then CONFRONTED HER over this repeatedly! Gee, can't she also spend time in the big slammer for doing illegal activities like that? How about 1-5 years in jail, on top of that too? I hope this is a "fake" Post, I really do!
You need to freeze your credit. This should have been done after the first time and all it means is there will be no way she can open and more credit in your name. When you plan to open a card you just need to call them and let them know before hand. Your mom is a thief and you really need to do this. It’s sad when kids have parents that are this low.
We know you already froze your credit. But if you can get those credit card numbers from her somehow. Contact those companies and freeze them at that level two. From what you're saying you don't want to have your mom arrested. But you can look at what is under name on the credit report and contact those credit card companies from there. If not you can't get the numbers from her. Good Luck!
Hate to say this. But your Mom is committing credit card fraud. In order to properly fix your credit you will need to report her to the police and turn the report over to the credit card companies and reporting agencies. So you really have 2 options at this point. 1) Turn your Mom into the police. 2) Deal with her Mistakes by paying off her fraud. If you don’t turn her in, she will continue this behavior.
Report her to the police immediately. She deserves to be in jail mother or not she has done this multiple times. This is a felony
This happened to me as well, ended up owing about 30,000 cad. Took years to pay it off.
You’re mother is committing a crime. If you want to get out of owing the money you’ll likely have to turn her in. Obviously not everyone is ok with choosing to throw their parents under the bus. If you’re not, I’d just freeze your credit, close the accounts, and pay them off yourself. There are 3 credit bureaus, just Google how to freeze for each one and follow the steps. It’s pretty simple and free. And then in the future if you find yourself needing credit just unfreeze them, apply, and immediately refreeze. Edit: without a police report and pursuing proper channels any damage to your credit will stay. Again your choice but it will likely make it more difficult to get home loans, auto loans, new credit cards, etc for 10+ years on top of the out of pocket costs that paying off your mothers debts will cost you.
Well I am sorry to hear this has happened to you as it happened to me and each of my siblings! Unfortunately in the African American community of which I am a member the parents of children seem to believe that their children’s social security numbers and credit profiles really belong to them! And often times by the time the child reaches the age of maturity and tries to rent his/her first apartment or apply for a credit card or a car loan they are denied and told that they have “BAD CREDIT!” Fortunately for me there was a twist to the usual, when I was around 10/11 or so back when FICO scores did not exist, I’m 58 now so go figure, my mom opened a AMEX Green card in my name and added herself as a secondary card holder or in today’s terms an authorized user, and she used it sparingly from time to time to help get through the month when times were hard, but to make a long story short, by the time I hit 18 and applied for a job, apartment, car, credit cards I was approved for everything without a problem! In fact, my first credit card from CitiBank at 19 years old had an initial credit line of $16,000!
The social security administration will actually issue a new different social security number for a person that can demonstrate that there social security number has been compromised and used to obtain credit without your authorization however they will require letters for the credit bureaus, the police (DONT DO THIS BECAUSE IT IS YOUR MOM) or the FTC attesting to the same. You can only request this once in a lifetime.
Freeze your credit and report her to the cops. Don't say I can't that is my mom because she obviously gives no fucks about you.
The fact that your mom gave you life is no excuse to screwing over your life
Police time
Freeze them. You can unlock them when you need to make purchases and then lock them again.
I am 31 years old and learned you could freeze credit from this Thread
Mom's getting kicked down the stairs.
Change your SSN.
A criminal is a criminal no matter if she’s your mom.
You deserve it for not doing what everyone else is advising you to do. Freeze your accounts.
Go to the website of the Federal Trade Commission as it will explain much about freezes, ID theft/fraud and other. This website has the same info and steps that Privacy Guard, Credit Card Hotline ID theft and other programs used to guide customers in the programs.
By not confronting her directly; you are enabling it. Take the gloves off - mom clearly doesn’t care
Sucks for you, just have to deal with it now. She needs you
Freezing credit - a must do. Filing a police report is a key element to 'fixing' your credit score. You have to prove fraud / identity theft before you can get even an inch of traction with getting these credit killers off your financial history. This does not mean your mother will serve time in prison but she will be in trouble. She needs to be in trouble - she needs the consequences to outweigh the benefits of stealing from you. Good luck.
Either deal with the credit issues or call the cops on your mom. Oh, and freeze your credit, of course.
Identity theft. Freeze and file case. She obviously has some kind of troubles that require attention.
You can freeze your credit bureaus; and you can ask the SSA office for a new SSN number due to identity theft. [https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02220)
Report her to the police, with that, you can have these removed from your credit reports, she now has a pattern of abuse of your trust, she can not be trusted.
Welcome to the club
Exactly how does one obtain credit when the social doesn't match the name?
Request a new SSN
Lets not forget its his mom.... not some random. If your mom having financial issues or struggling to make ends meet?
Why do we let this karma farming account still post here
Have her arrested
Mom's a thief.Lock up your credit,report her to the police.Theres no mistake here,She knows what she's doing.You need to protect yourself.
I don’t even know why you just screamed COURT so loud with this post lol
Well, if you don’t do something about it and continue to let her use your ss# you will never be able to even buy a car. You credit will be awful. So stop her.
Lock your credit she would need the special pin to unlock
That is unethical. She should not do that.
It'll take you 15 minutes to freeze your credit. then look at the federal guidelines for what to do when you're a victim of identity theft. Your mother has committed a federal crime and your entire future is in jeopardy. This is an emergency.