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Parents have Credit Cards in my name screwing my Credit Score

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Parents have Credit Cards in my name screwing my Credit Score

Hi. I really need help, coz it is getting frustrating and effecting my relationship with my parents - they have 3 credit cards in my name (It is NOT my debt, it is theirs, but with my name on the paper. They also make the payments). So, I have almost $100,000 outstanding balance ($33,000 on credit cards and  $67,000 on school loans). Having this much debt, plus I missed a couple of payments on 2 of my school loans, my Credit Score is really low. I do my best to improve my Credit Score, putting my all to lower Utilization Ratio, but it does not help because the part my parents owe is 3 times greater than all of my credit cards together.

 

In my name, they have $25,000 outstanding balance with 88% Utilization Ratio on 3 cards, I have 5 credit cards with $8,000 balance and 60% Utilization Ratio. My parents pay minimums only on the cards, always in time. But creditors keep reducing credit limits on 2 cards, and the 3-d card is closed with $4,000 balance on it. Parents can't (don't want) to pay extra on the cards. I hardly convinced them to pay $100 over the minimum on the card that has 100% utilization ratio and $14,000 balance. 

 

I got married last year, and we have dreams/plans, but everything crashes into the debts we have (even though we don't owe 3/4 of it!). I want these cards off of my hands. I talked to my parents many times, but "there is nothing more they can do". I tried to google what we can do to put the debt from my name to theirs, but couldn't find anything. Thought about Borrowing against home equity, but they live in a mobile home (info I found: hard to get a loan for it). If you guys have any ideas or suggestions, I would be more than happy to hear them. Any your help will be GREATLY appreciated!

Message 1 of 22
21 REPLIES 21
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

Why are your parents making payments on cards that are in your name? (I missed this part.)

 

Were they unable to get their own cards, and you let them open cards in your name, or is this for some debt of your own that they're helping pay?

* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 2 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

It is NOT my debt, it is theirs, but with my name on the paper. 

Message 3 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

First step is to take those cards back. Tell your parents to use their own debit/check cards. You want to stop adding anymore debt on those CCs. If you don't mind can you post all of your CC balance and APR?

 

===========

 

I want to get rid of those credit cards/high balances in my credit reports (even if parents pay them). Having them hurts my score! I can't take them back, because they are not paid, and I can't pay them off. The cards are not used anymore (in the beginning the debt was over 35k) but balance is carried through the years (over 5 years now). APR is very reasonable, that's why they don't hurry to pay the cards off. I am desparate

Message 4 of 22
john398
Senior Contributor

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

They have commited identy theft

read this article http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/08/pf/parents_financial_abuses/index.htm

It happens a lot

Also here is some good advise:

You can dispute the charge on the card. If you didn't make the purchases and parents didn't have your permission, you are not required to pay. However, there are very short time limits and you may have let the time pass. Call the credit card company and talk to them. You don't have to snitch out your parents because you don't KNOW it was them unless you saw them do it.

Message 5 of 22
laz98
Senior Contributor

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

i guess an important question to ask yourself is why did you let them run the balances up so high?

Message 6 of 22
mauve
Valued Contributor

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

Did you let them have these cards?  Is it fraud?  I'd shut down all of those cards RIGHT NOW. 


Starting Score: EQ 583 TU04 619 EX 592 (lender pull) 2010
Previous High Score: EQ 700 TU04 712 EX 726
Current Score: EQ 740 TU(Discover) 750 EX(AMEX) 747
Goal Score: 740+ all around


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Message 7 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

They are my parents, I can't put them in jail! if I shut down cards, it will hurt my score even more....

Message 8 of 22
laz98
Senior Contributor

Re: Parents have Credit Cards on my name screwing my Credit Score

OP, whether they are your parents or not, you are going to have to take SOME kind of action if you expect your situation to improve.

 

i'm not sure what your parents' situation is, that they need to use your credit cards.  you still have not fully explained why your parents are using credit cards that are in your name.  did you cosign for them?  are you just letting them use your cards as if they belonged to your parents?  i understand you don't want to hurt your parents, but they are hurting you & your wife's future by running all this debt up for you, regardless of whether they are paying it or not.  it still shows up on your credit reports as your debt, not as debt your parents are paying for you.

 

your credit score is not going to get better if you don't get the balances down & you are losing available credit every time your credit limits get cut.  closing the cards will hurt your score for now, but as long as you slowly pay the accounts down, your scores will go back up again.  i don't think you should be worrying about your scores so much as worrying about this massive amount of debt that isn't yours.

Message 9 of 22
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Parents have Credit Cards in my name screwing my Credit Score


@Anonymous wrote:

Hi. I really need help, coz it is getting frustrating and effecting my relationship with my parents - they have 3 credit cards in my name (It is NOT my debt, it is theirs, but with my name on the paper. They also make the payments). So, I have almost $100,000 outstanding balance ($33,000 on credit cards and  $67,000 on school loans). Having this much debt, plus I missed a couple of payments on 2 of my school loans, my Credit Score is really low. I do my best to improve my Credit Score, putting my all to lower Utilization Ratio, but it does not help because the part my parents owe is 3 times greater than all of my credit cards together.

 

In my name, they have $25,000 outstanding balance with 88% Utilization Ratio on 3 cards, I have 5 credit cards with $8,000 balance and 60% Utilization Ratio. My parents pay minimums only on the cards, always in time. But creditors keep reducing credit limits on 2 cards, and the 3-d card is closed with $4,000 balance on it. Parents can't (don't want) to pay extra on the cards. I hardly convinced them to pay $100 over the minimum on the card that has 100% utilization ratio and $14,000 balance. 

 

I got married last year, and we have dreams/plans, but everything crashes into the debts we have (even though we don't owe 3/4 of it!). I want these cards off of my hands. I talked to my parents many times, but "there is nothing more they can do". I tried to google what we can do to put the debt from my name to theirs, but couldn't find anything. Thought about Borrowing against home equity, but they live in a mobile home (info I found: hard to get a loan for it). If you guys have any ideas or suggestions, I would be more than happy to hear them. Any your help will be GREATLY appreciated!


 

 

I'm sorry about the situation in which you find yourself and hope that a way can be found to solve it to everybody's satisfaction.

 

You haven't mentioned whether you allowed your folks to open credit accounts in your name or if it was done without your knowledge.  However, even if it was done without your knowledge, dropping a dime on your parents -- and make no mistake about it, reporting the accounts as not yours is very likely to cause repercussions for them -- may cause you more harm than good.

 

First of all, going from 88% utilization to 60% utilization may not even have a significant impact on your credit score.  60% is still considered very high.

 

In my opinion, the first thing you want to do is limit any further exposure you have to further, new problems.  You'll need to have a frank and firm discussion with your parents and tell them that their cards must -- without exception -- be closed.  Of course, they still continue paying on the current debt, but each and every card is unequivocally closed to new purchases, end of discussion.  Then take possession of the cards, cut them up and call the card issuer to have the accounts closed.  Keeping these cards open is just an accident waiting for a place to happen -- an invitation to have any balances paid down ultimately run back up again. 

 

Any cards that are actually used by you should be kept under lock and key so nobody can access them and run up balances with them.

 

Then come up with a plan so that your parents can pay down their debt in the shortest time possible.  On $25k in debt, just paying the minimum means that the debt will not be paid of for something like 12 years if you are lucky enough to have only a 13% APR and make a 5% minimum payback each month.  If the APR is higher and the minimum payment lower, you could be looking at well over 30 years and cost you 6 times more than the original debt of $25k. 

 

Make them stick to the plan.

 

The good news is that your credit score will improve almost overnight once the balances are near being paid off.  The damage from late payments, however, is not that quick or easy to recover from.  Ensure there are no more late payments and if at all possible try to goodwill those that do appear so that the creditor removes themm from your credit report.

 

Many people have recommended that you report the accounts as being unauthorized.  Assuming you can successfully do this without committing fraud yourself, there's the very real possibility that your parents will face perhaps very serious problems.  If that's something that doesn't worry you, and the accounts really were unauthorized, then fine.  Still, I don't see your credit score improving any until your utilization is far, far lower -- especially considering your recent lates.

 

I am not at all certain how closing the accounts used by your parents will hurt your credit score.  My understanding is that accounts closed with a balance not only still report for 10 more years, but that the balance and credit limit still calculate into your utilization.  As far as I see, the only thing you accomplish is making sure that balances your parents stay down never end up increasing again.  It also prevents interest rate hikes and credit limit decreases which will actually make your utilization even worse. 

Message 10 of 22
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