First question: My husband and I are looking to move from my parents house into an apartment in the next month or so, should I wait until we move out before messing around with the creditors? ...Because don't apartments look at your credit? I have a lot of stuff going on, on my credit report so, let's get to the questions! Unfortunately, my mom put my name on a lot of bills and I can not afford to pay a $4,000 utility bill. I am trying to find a way to dispute this stuff without stating that I know who the person was that did this. Basically I want to dispute it without filing police reports for "identity thief". 1: Cable/Cellular bill my mom used in my name, placed in 2009. 2: Electric bill that I don't know who is from at all, placed in 2013, five months after we moved back into my parents house. So we were not paying any electric bills at the time it was place on my report. Also the name of the company is NOT the electric company we used before moving. Never used this company at all! 3: Another utility bill ($4,000) my mom used in my name, placed 2011. These are the main ones I want off of my credit. There are two others that I know will be much more difficult to clear up, if they can be cleared up at all! I do not currently have any of these bills in my possession. Should I send a letter to the companies first, requesting all the documentation on these bills. (What sample letters do you recommend) Or should I go straight to the credit bureau to dispute them? (Again, what sample letters do you recommend) What kind of information should I send with each letter and what kind of proof do I need for each one? Thanks in advance for any help!
You could offer a pay-for-deletion on this one. Since it's from 2009 it's not going anywhere for a while, unfortunately. I would suggest sending a debt validation (DV) letter to this company if you believe the debt is not yours. Hopefully electricity was turned off and the company is on the wrong for charging you those additional months. If they can't validate but you don't see the items removed from your credit reports, that's when it's time to dispute with the credit reporting agencies (CRAs). Unfortunately I'm not sure what you should do about this one. If this is a legitimate debt that for whatever reason has been placed in your name, it's unfortunately going to stay there until it's resolved, be it by settlement, paying for deletion or otherwise. Then again, if it's not legit and you don't think this debt should be in your name then ask for validation from the company. Hope this helps!
