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First freeze your credit. This may be the tip of the iceberg, and I would hate for more fraud to show up. Next, you have to go to the police. The longer you wait, the more you make CC's think YOU are actually the one behind this. Make the tough decision and do what you have to do. Good luck!!!
Wow, what a tough spot to be in. Who can you trust when you cannot even trust family? I know it's your brother but we are talking about your financial well-being. I agree to freeze your reports and you have no choice but to file a report against your brother if you don't want to take the hit. Sorry you are going through this but I say protect your own interests. Even if you took full responsibility of the debt to protect your brother, you would be doing him injustice. Who is to say he would not do this to someone else less forgiving. Tough love is the best love.
Frankly, over 6 grand (unless we were both flat broke) I wouldn't put my brother in jail along with it's horrible treatment and the effect it would have on him the rest of his life. I'd face him like a man and tell him the accounts have been closed and ask how he's going to pay me back before I ever considered doing that to him. Blood is still thicker than money. I for one can replace money, I can NOT however replace a brother.
I think a lot of you are talking through your hats on this one!
I would put a freeze on my credit however first thing though regardless.
I'll tell you one thing for a fact, no matter what you think of your brother now, he will only come out of the prison system a much worse person and very resentful of you for life, you will no longer have that brother. Think about that before you listen to these "OH I GOT COJONES" blowhards. These people MAY watch a little too much "Doctor" Phil at times............
Been lurking for a few months. Most of your guys have great advise but I think the op may be mislead here. Though he hasn't logged on since the initial post so hopefully he called his parents to ask for advise.
I agree with Wolf3 and RyVision.
We don't know enough about what is happening.
How old is his brother for one. Is he young and foolish? We all have done things that we wish we wouldn't have when we were young.
Did the bothers have a feud? Some siblings do the stupidest things when fighting.
Calling the police in either of the above scenarios would be bad. His brother and maybe parents and siblings would never forgive him.
Or is the brother a rotten apple. In that case then sure call the police.
Otherwise I think it best to call the parents if they are still alive and get there input.
Best case would be that the parents would pay off the dept and op submit goodwill letters explaining what happened to have any late dates removed off his credit report.
Like RyVision said any call to the police would pretty much end any good life that the brother could have had......
I sure couldn't do that to any of my brothers even if they did something as stupid as this.
@RyVision wrote:Frankly, over 6 grand (unless we were both flat broke) I wouldn't put my brother in jail along with it's horrible treatment and the effect it would have on him the rest of his life. I'd face him like a man and tell him the accounts have been closed and ask how he's going to pay me back before I ever considered doing that to him. Blood is still thicker than money. I for one can replace money, I can NOT however replace a brother.
I think a lot of you are talking through your hats on this one!
I would put a freeze on my credit however first thing though regardless.
I'll tell you one thing for a fact, no matter what you think of your brother now, he will only come out of the prison system a much worse person and very resentful of you for life, you will no longer have that brother. Think about that before you listen to these "OH I GOT COJONES" blowhards. These people MAY watch a little too much "Doctor" Phil at times............
I like my brothers, and would say I am closest to my little brother. I would not hesitate for one second to ring the police on him if he did this to me. Why should I be concerned if he would resent me for life? To be honest, I would resent him for life and never speak to him again. I loaned a cousin and a close friend money and they never paid it back; I have not spoken to them since and this was around three years ago. I do not play games when it comes to money, and for someone to open credit cards claiming to be me is about as bad as it gets.
You may not sever ties with family so easily, but I have no problem with it. If he cared about family so much the cards would not have been open. In my opinion, just because someone is family does not mean they should get any kind of special treatment when it comes to the rules.
@navigatethis12 wrote:
@RyVision wrote:Frankly, over 6 grand (unless we were both flat broke) I wouldn't put my brother in jail along with it's horrible treatment and the effect it would have on him the rest of his life. I'd face him like a man and tell him the accounts have been closed and ask how he's going to pay me back before I ever considered doing that to him. Blood is still thicker than money. I for one can replace money, I can NOT however replace a brother.
I think a lot of you are talking through your hats on this one!
I would put a freeze on my credit however first thing though regardless.
I'll tell you one thing for a fact, no matter what you think of your brother now, he will only come out of the prison system a much worse person and very resentful of you for life, you will no longer have that brother. Think about that before you listen to these "OH I GOT COJONES" blowhards. These people MAY watch a little too much "Doctor" Phil at times............
I like my brothers, and would say I am closest to my little brother. I would not hesitate for one second to ring the police on him if he did this to me. Why should I be concerned if he would resent me for life? To be honest, I would resent him for life and never speak to him again. I loaned a cousin and a close friend money and they never paid it back; I have not spoken to them since and this was around three years ago. I do not play games when it comes to money, and for someone to open credit cards claiming to be me is about as bad as it gets.
You may not sever ties with family so easily, but I have no problem with it. If he cared about family so much the cards would not have been open. In my opinion, just because someone is family does not mean they should get any kind of special treatment when it comes to the rules.
Huge +1 Why should "blood be thicker than money" for the OP when it sure isn't for his brother? Not only that, but the OP will not be the one putting his brother in jail if he reveals the crime, his brother put himself in jail when he committed the crime. Actions have consequences, it's the nature of the universe, and it sounds like it's about time the OP's brother learned this. The OP might think his protecting him by not telling the police, but really he is making himself be an easy mark and his brother will probably continue to exploit their bond until the time when he can no longer avoid the consequences of his actions.
Gotta agree with Wolf3, RyVision, and Bradpitt on this one...
If this is the norm for his brother and he's already been in and out of jail, that's different.
But if this is a rare or first time occasion then $6k, or any amount that I could personally recover from, is definitely not enough to make me call police on family members, especially a brother.
@RyVision wrote:Frankly, over 6 grand (unless we were both flat broke) I wouldn't put my brother in jail along with it's horrible treatment and the effect it would have on him the rest of his life. I'd face him like a man and tell him the accounts have been closed and ask how he's going to pay me back before I ever considered doing that to him. Blood is still thicker than money. I for one can replace money, I can NOT however replace a brother.
I think a lot of you are talking through your hats on this one!
I would put a freeze on my credit however first thing though regardless.
I'll tell you one thing for a fact, no matter what you think of your brother now, he will only come out of the prison system a much worse person and very resentful of you for life, you will no longer have that brother. Think about that before you listen to these "OH I GOT COJONES" blowhards. These people MAY watch a little too much "Doctor" Phil at times............
+1