This is a way bigger problem than people seem to realize, and sales reps for cable companies will set up an account in a child’s name knowing full well they’re under 18. Just to get a sale.
Every cable company has a fraud department, if this happened to you call customer service for the company your account was opened with and file a complaint. They are required by law to expunge the debt.
I will always reblog this shit when I see it. Why? Because this happened to me when I first moved out on my own and would have ruined my life if I didn’t have supportive friends and roommates with better credit scores. My mom ran up a ton of bills in my name and got a hold of an unused checkbook of mine, writing checks on an account I never touched anymore. I moved out on my own and found I had a credit score in the 300s and tons of debt. I was already homeless at the time; luckily I was moving into an apartment with a friend with a much higher credit score and enough money in savings to cover the subsequent security deposits, trusting me to pay her back since she knew me already and knew I had a job.
How to fix this:
1. Cut that asshole out of your life. You don’t need someone who doesn’t give a shit that they’ve ruined your adult life. If they say they’re sorry, let’s be real – they’re probably not. They’re just fucking sorry they got caught. Fuck them.
2. Pull a yearly credit report (for free at annualcreditreport.com) and consider paying out the money to lock down your credit so people need to get approval before opening a new line of credit in your name.
3. Write the companies for more information on the debt and to dispute it, letting them know that it’s an identity theft issue. If you were underage at the time, they will need some sort of proof but they will have to remove it. Do all of this via Certified Mail with Return Receipt. Keep all documentation including copies of letters, tracking numbers, etc. well organized. I recommend scanning everything as well and saving copies onto some sort of cloud storage just in case anything happens to your physical copies (but definitely keep those physical copies as well, *at least* for eleven years after disputing. Sometimes those debts sneak back on there two or three years later. Sometimes you have to get lawyers involved if any of those companies take you to court. Lawyers will want physical copies of your physical copies if possible.)
4. Report it to the police and FTC (for the Americans in the crowd.) If you’ve moved out of the same county/state that your parent lives in or that you lived in at the time, this may get tricky af. If the local police department is overloaded and understaffed, they’ll try to push you off to another county. Be patient and persistent. File in as many places as you can. Yes, identity theft is a crime. There is a chance that your parent will be arrested, particularly if they have priors. You’ve got to be prepared to do what you have to do. A lot of times it does go unpunished though. I know in my case it did. My mom continues to do this with others in her life. The police have done nothing and she’s not learned her lesson at all. At least my credit score is mostly fixed though. You can access the FTC’s identity theft information here: https://www.identitytheft.gov/
5. If you’ve been taken to court on anything, you will need to get a lawyer. If you’re low income, check with the local or state bar association to see what options you have for a free or discounted legal service. If you are a college student, even part time, you may have access to free legal services through your college. If you have to pay to hire an attorney, it is worth the cost to dispute it. Depending on how much debt it is and what state it occurred in, you could be stuck with that for 20 years. There’s also a chance that they can take anything you own (like your car) to cover that debt if you live in the same state. Get it cleared out. You do not want your life to be a total fucking disaster all the way into your late 30s/early 40s. (And trust me – if you don’t get your credit cleared up, it will be. You will be disqualified from certain jobs – even some retail positions! You will struggle to get housing. Everything you do that involves credit will cost more money – turning on electricity, getting an apartment, getting your own cell phone account, buying a car, getting vehicle or renters insurance…
Until everything is fixed, there is definitely a feeling that the entire world is out to get you and that you will never get caught up. Please stay on top of this and get that shit straightened out.
I’m not a lawyer so my info only comes from my own personal experience and not any sort of actual training in this. However, if anyone is going through this and ever wants to talk to someone who has been there before, feel free to hit me up. Again, not a lawyer so can’t really give legal advice but am always happy to give support and remind you to drop toxic people from your life, no matter who they are or how they’re related to you.
@deadcatwithaflamethrower signle-boost?
Definitely worthy of the boost.
And on the flip side, if you want to do the exact opposite of this for your child:
Make them an authorized user on a credit card you KNOW you can always pay down, as early as the card company will let you, and just don’t give them the card. You’re giving them a future gift that will pay many dividends—not a way to buy bubblegum when they’re six.
When they turn 18, they will have multiple years of good credit already.
My sister had her husband do this for me by making me an authorized user on their card. It jumpstarted my credit and gave me something to build on.
I can’t recommend making a minor an authorized user on a card – the idea gives me hives as a parent – BUT – it is a good way to build credit if you have none or your credit has been damaged. @dadhoc was pretty much a full cash economy (which is way better than having credit card debt, lemmetellya) but that also meant they had no credit when we got together.
By adding them to my credit card as an authorized user, their credit followed that card, and by the time we were ready to buy a house, they had the credit for us to be able to do that without a problem.
punkpixel 