Rebuilding Your Credit

[Kurt213]

Hi everyone... I'm new to the forums and a newbie when it comes to anything credit related.  I definately look forward to learning and bouncing back from my credit issues.  With that said, here is my situation.

I'm currently 23 years old, I have around 10k in credit card debt that stems from around 5-6 years ago.  My mom actually opened up 3-4 credit cards under my name and ran up the debt.  Now I don't recall ever signing for a credit card or agreeing for a credit card. (I was probably under the age of 18 as well)  At this point,  the debts have been transfered over to a creditor.  As of today, I have not paid anything to the creditors or to the credit card companies. 

My main question is, what's the best way in moving forward from this situation?  Is it too late to dispute all the charges and claim fraud??  

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

[jesslyn]

Just clarifying some terms first.  Your accounts have gone from the original creditors to some collection agencies, who are now also creditors.

What you're talking about is identity theft.  Some of the creditors may require a police report, so that's really the first thing you need to think about:  whether or not you want to file a police report against your mom.

Edited to change "not" to "now" in second sentence.  Sorry about that!

Message Edited by jesslyn on 08-06-2009 03:42 PM

[Kurt213]

Thanks for clarifying, like I said, I'm really a newbie at all this.

That's probably the main reason why it has taken me so long to try to take any action trying to get it fixed, at this point right now, I have no problem filing a police report.  I'm just worried that maybe too much time has passed.

[Kurt213]

By the way.... since I was not 18 when the card was opened under my name... does that give me any leeway in trying to get the charges off my credit report?

[BungalowMo]

---

Kurt213 wrote:
By the way.... since I was not 18 when the card was opened under my name... does that give me any leeway in trying to get the charges off my credit report?

---

Without a doubt.  It is illegal for any creditor to open an acct, cc, loan...etc in the name of a minor.

File the report.  I realize it's your mom, but....it's your credit and your future.  Take a printout of your report & your DL or Birth Cert (or both) with you to the police dept.