Help! Identity theft from parent

[Anonymous]

Hello! I had a question.

Is it possible to transfer liability of something on your credit report to someone else?

My fiance's mom took out a carecredit card in his name to pay for dentist bills over a year ago without his knowledge. We just found out because they missed a bunch of payments and it went into collection for about $1300, and we started getting calls. She admitted to opening the account and said that they "didn't know the payments weren't being made because it was suppose to come out of her FSA account through work", sent in a dispute to the credit bureaus, and agreed with the debt collector to make payments for it.

Is it possible to transfer the account and delinquency completely to her credit report so it stops affecting his? What about transferring the debt from the collection agency? We're in our very early 20's and have minimal credit history, (he doesn't even have a credit card yet) so this is affecting his credit report very badly and we are hoping to reconcile the situation without having to file a police report, but we have a baby on the way and want to be able to buy a house in the next 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Hi! Unfortunatley, there is not a way to transfer the item on your husband's credit report to his mom's. This is identify theft plain and simple. You can file a police report and claim that the item is not yours. Then there is a form that you can fill out with the Credit Bureau's to remove off of the report. This item will remain on your Husband's account for 7 years at least and if not paid there is a possibility that the lender can file a lawsuit against your husband.

This really sucks for you and your family, especially since the theft occured from a family member. I would also suggest posting in the Rebuilding Your Credit forum as well or have a moderator move this thread to that it receives more exposure. 

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, your fiance's mother acted without considering her son's financial health.  There really are only two options, one would be filing a police report which could bring about identity theft charges on his mother.  The second would be to sit tight and absorb the damage to his credit.  In option 2, I would probably eat the $1,300 (I know it is difficult, I'm young and don't have a very large income) and live with the damage on your credit report.  This would minimize the damage, as a paid collection looks much better than an unpaid collection.

Option 2 likely pushes out any and all plans for a mortgage for 5-7 years, or will at least cost you thousands in interest payments over the term of a home loan.  Option 1 will see his mother in jail or heavily fined, put a strain on family life, etc.  Unfortunately, there is no easy out.  What his mother did was a very serious offense.

[Anonymous]

I would file a dispute demanding proof that your fiancee borrowed the money. I would also pay it to minimize the odds of mom getting into hot water. 

And whose dental bill was it? Moms? Or was it done on behalf of the cardholder? 

[Anonymous]

They (parents) didn't pay off my Fiance's braces from when he was 16 so the Orthodontist proposed the card to his parents about 18 months ago for the remaining balance owed to them, and apparently she took one out in her name, her husband's name and my fiance's name in order to pay the remaining balance, but let the cards (or at least my fiance's) go 120 past due as of 12/14 and then carecredit sent it to collection about 2 months ago.  

[takeshi74]

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@Anonymous wrote:

There really are only two options, one would be filing a police report which could bring about identity theft charges on his mother.

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Or work with her to get the debt settled and removed from his reports.  Hit the Rebuilding subforum and carefully research before anyone takes any action if that is the desired outcome.  Do your research on pay-for-delete (PFD).  It may not be an option and/or it may not work out but I would recommend using it as a goal as derogs can hold one down if they're on a report.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your help!

Turns out his mom has access to free law consultation through MetLaw with her work benefits, and we can file a lot of heavy paperwork with them that will more than likely get it taken off. Also, doing more investigation I found out that his mother opened all three accounts (hers, her husbands and my fiances) over the phone with a CSR all at the same time, and placed charges on all 3 accounts on the same phone call. In which case we might be able to nicely get Carecredit to take it off when we point out to them that their CSR didn't follow proper protocal for account applications and activation when they allowed one woman to open 3 different accounts with 3 different names/SSN's over the phone without authorization from all parties. Luckily we still have a few years until we need to apply for a mortgage, so we can take enough time needed for caution in getting it removed the best way, without any messy conclusions.

[Strogen]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 In which case we might be able to nicely get Carecredit to take it off when we point out to them that their CSR didn't follow proper protocal for account applications and activation when they allowed one woman to open 3 different accounts with 3 different names/SSN's over the phone without authorization from all parties. 

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Yeah I dont think so, I wouldnt just write off debt because something like that supposedly happened. You'll need a better argument than he said she said. 

But good luck getting it taken care of.