This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/bestofredditorupdates by /u/Choice_Evidence1983 on 2024-06-26 04:01:03+00:00.
I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/Creditwhacked, account now suspended
Originally posted to r/CreditScore
Mom opened several accounts in my name and tanked my credit score. Now she’s saying I should be grateful to her for giving me $30,000 in debt. Need some guidance.
Trigger Warnings: financial fraud, possible identity theft, manipulation
Original Post (unddit): May 1, 2024
This all started about a year ago when I was about to graduate college. I got a bill in the mail for a credit card which I knew wasn’t mine. I’ve always paid my one credit card on time and it was from a different company. My mom said she added me on her credit card as an authorized user, which is why I received that bill. This ended up being red flag number one.
Fast forward to about a month ago and I’m looking into new apartments as I’m moving for my job. I found one I liked and applied for it, not thinking anything of it as my salary was well over their minimum requirements. I received an email saying my application was denied. A few days later, I got a letter in the mail explaining it was due to my credit.
I figured it had to be a mistake so I ended up taking a look at my credit score for myself. This was I think the first time doing it since I got my credit card a few years ago. I was floored when I saw my score - 490 - and I had several accounts in collections.
After some crying, I decided to call the electric company which one of the collection accounts was for, and they confirmed the address was my mom’s current address. I got in touch with one of the credit card companies I saw and the listed address was the same. I really didn’t want to believe my mom opened these accounts so I called her about them last week.
My mom claimed to have no idea about the accounts and said I probably got hacked. She had never really done anything to betray my trust in the past so I (foolishly) believed her at the time. One of my friends said I should report it to the police or otherwise I could end up owing tens of thousands of dollars. I made a police report and gave them all of the information.
I called my mom and told her about the police report and she said I needed to call and cancel it because it wouldn’t do any good. She tried saying it was just wasting their time and I should call it off and just ignore it. Of course I told her I couldn’t do that because I didn’t want to be on the hook for what ended up being around $30,000. She said I had to do it because she opened the accounts.
We went back and forth for about 20 minutes and I was pissed. She finally said I just needed to “take the hit on this one” and declare bankruptcy. She literally told me I should be grateful to her for letting me go to college so I should cancel the police report before they find out it was her. Between scholarships, grants and a small amount of student loan debt, she didn’t pay for anything at all.
I’m kind of conflicted, I don’t really want my mom to go to jail but from what I’ve read, declaring bankruptcy would basically prevent me from doing anything with my credit for a few years and it would take a full decade to drop off.
There are 9 accounts total with 3 in collections. What would you guys do?
Comments
CDIFactor: You did the right thing by filing the police report. Her denying responsibility and then deflecting to you are signs this isn’t the first time she’s done something like this. You should follow the steps at identitytheft.gov and freeze all of your credit bureaus immediately. Dispute all of the fraudulent accounts as well.
Update June 19, 2024
Update to my OP: Mom opened several accounts in my name and tanked my credit score. Now she’s saying I should be grateful to her for giving me $30,000 in debt. Need some guidance.
It’s been several weeks since I posted but things are starting to get better for me with my credit, though my family isn’t happy with it.
I didn’t cancel the police report as I wasn’t going to “take the hit” on $30,000 in debt that wasn’t mine. My mom and I have always gotten along alright growing up and even through college when I’d come back home for the summers. I didn’t hear anything back from the police after the initial report other than a call from an investigator a couple of days afterward. He didn’t really give me too much other information. I disputed all of the accounts with the credit agencies and a couple of the accounts are already gone with the police report number.
On Monday, my sister calls me and tells me mom has been arrested. Apparently she was on her way to work when she got pulled over and the cop immediately addressed her by name. She was told she had a warrant and was arrested on the spot. She spent Monday night in jail and saw a judge yesterday - 4 counts of felony identity theft (the actual name for it is something else in legalese), at this point, the police still hadn’t contacted me.
She ended up getting released on recognizance as she has never been arrested in her life and her only ticket was for expired tags 20 years ago. She hasn’t called but I’ve received calls from both of my sisters, my uncle and my grandfather. The calls ranged from telling me I should drop the charges to one of my sisters absolutely screaming her head off at me. I ended up calling the police yesterday and speaking with a different investigator about the situation. He said it looked like the warrant came out a couple of weeks ago and an officer probably ran her plate and the warrant was connected leading to the traffic stop. He said it looked like everything had been turned over to the prosecutor’s office and for more information I’d need to speak with them.
I tried calling my mom and there was no answer, I tried texting and the same thing, even though it shows read. I’m unfortunately still conflicted about sending my mom to jail. She’s been in there a night already and from what I was told, she didn’t take it well. The prosecutor’s office isn’t open today but I’ll be calling tomorrow. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Additional Information from OOP
OOP: I forgot to add but I was able to find an apartment for my new job, which I start in a couple of weeks. The fact that I made the report made the apartment application process work out.
Comments
MtnMoose307: Do not contact your mother. This case is now in the legal system. If she does try to contact you, do not reply, answer, or acknowledge.
Good for you. YOU had no choice to do this. I can’t believe your family isn’t buoying you up. Go no contact. She was arrested for a VALID complaint. There’s no reason or excuse for what she did to you.
Hang in there.