I was talking with a friend of mine about my credit repair journey and he asked me a question that I had no idea about. His son applied for a credit card in his dad's name. Ed then charged it up and was late on many payments. By the time my friend found out about it, it was close to being charged off. Luckily they were able to pay it off in full. Of course now my friend's CR's are messed up with these late pays. What do you think he should do. He's already disputed his son's address off of the CR's. Thanks.
1)Dispute with the CRAs (TU,EX,EQ) 2)Dispute with the OC 3)Send goodwill letters to OCs if they validate
Make this guy pay it back. This is stealling from your own parents. When I need something from my father I ask. Usually he says no, but that is life.
Have the kid arrested!! This kind of stuff is crazy. If a stranger were to do this, the victim would be banging down the courthouse doors to have this guy strung up. Your kid doing it to you is no different, especially if he's over 18. He'll have to at least file a police report or a report at the prosecutors office and then after he has those documents, he can follow up with the CRA.
My sister did this to me. $5800 charge up and not one payment made. 1) I went to the police. 2) told the fraud dept to deal with it and remove info. 3) they placed the debt in my dads name. 4) he paid it! balmes me 5) sister still gets free ride
There was a time I would have suggested that he dispute it till his hands fell off, especially since I wouldn't have wanted to get the son in trouble, but NOW I would say I totally agree with this quote. We on this board understand how painful it is to have damaged credit, and how important it is now that we are repairing/repaired it. I am of the opinion that you should let nothing get in your way of having good/excellent credit, even if it means filing a report against relatives if they 'steal' from you. I don't mean to offend anyone, but that is my opinion.
Don't worry about offending someone. The only people that would be offended by your opinion are peole who STEAL. We let alot of people off for doing alot of bad things in this country. I see plenty of parents causing more harm to their kids than helping them by not "getting them in trouble". Hell, my mom would go and buy back from pawn shops all the stuff my brother stole from our house. She did this at least THREE times. All under the cloak of "he's my son" "I don't want him in trouble" yadah, yadah, yadah. Well, he's 43 years old today and it's a good month for him, b/c he's being PAROLED from PRISON this month. She just damaged him more by not showing him, at an early age, that actions have consequences. Sorry about the tiraid but I'm sick and tired of people covering for people, especially parents covering for their kids actions. I completely understand why a parent feels the way they do, but everytime you let emotions get in front of what's right and wrong, that only helps blur the distinction in the kids mind between the two. Well, I'm done. Sorry if I offended anyone
Here is a continuation of my story. - in 97 when this happened I couldn't consolidate or get any loan - found it difficult to make ends meet just got married to my loving young spender (nothing for her to spend!) - made decision to eat instead of repairing damaged credit. (If I only knew then what I know now) -lived in the debtors prison five years. -mentally scarred because father continuously bails out older sisters leaving me to fend for myself. -However, I now have strong convictions of what is right and wrong. - My sister the taker is wrong! she'll ultimately have to meet God. But, she should have went to jail.
Someday, when dad is gone or moved on, she'll take money from the wrong person or place and she'll find herself in jail. Jus tmaintain your cool and know that you are doing the right thing.
I think your friend is, by telling you his tale of the woegegone sone, is really asking "how can I get my pristine credit rating back without hurting my son who stole from me, obviously believing I'd bail him out if only to save my own reputation?" Is that about it? Yep, I think so. ANSWER: Dad CAN'T bail out son without son being forced to face some tough consequences. So, throwing my hat in with all the others above, tell Dad to file a fraud claim just as he would with any stranger...or don't whine about it anymore.
Thanks for all the advice. The son actually already paid the card off. I don't think he'll do anything that will have a chance of getting his son into hot water. I'll give him his choices and let him decide if the perfect credit is worth his son. Thanks. Dave
Don't hold me to this one... but I remember reading something to the effect that... if someone gets credit in your name or charges on your cards without your initial permission... but then you find out about it and you agree to either pay it or let them pay it without filing affidavits of fraud...then in essence, the debt becomes yours... or if you know of the fraud and don't report it... well, that sounds like an accomplice, now doesn't it (knowledge of intent/ actions to defraud the cc co by the son) To the practical side, if the father pays the son's fraudulently obtained account... his actions tell the credit card company the debt is his.... If he had filed the fraud paperwork, he could get out of the credit reporting issue.. but now, what leg does he have to stand on? None... especially if he paid with his own bank account (online or via check). If it's fraud, why didn't he report it? (that's a fair question for any cc company to ask)... so... I think he has no real basis for dispute right now.... except to dispute with the bureaus and hope.. But... he can try to set up either the bureaus or the OC by disputing (find a real error) and ask for a procedural description at the time the dispute is submitted.. likely you won't get one... then he gets the TU freebee violation of no "in dispute" notation... or maybe he could set up the OC by disputing the history and if the OC doesn't mark the trade line... well, setting up OC and CRAs for later lawsuits (or threats) is pretty easy due to their incompetence... Plus there's the holidays coming up and some disputes fall through the lazy holidays but really...even if the father wants to report the son now... I wonder how / if he really could... and I don't get the feeling he's going to do that or else it'd already have been reported upon learning of the account... as an aside, I have several friends who did this... to family or friends... and I know of ones reported to the police and ones not... and frankly, I think the lesson is learned by getting some court time... some probation time... getting picked up by the sherrif and getting to be processed... it leaves quite the impression I hear...
