Should I risk my dad going down for identity theft??

[Anonymous]

The key question for our OP is whether filing the police report necessarily involves them tracing the fraudulently opened card to his father.  As far as I understand it, you can file a police report in which you claim that a crime has been committed against you without knowing who the criminals are.  In fact, in most situations the injured party does not know the identity of the criminal: muggings, burglary, hit and run drivers, and indeed identity theft and many other crimes.

My concern about filing the police report is that our OP....

(a) doesn't remember fairly important details of the crime (e.g. who later paid the collection, when it was paid, and why it was paid when the OP never owed the money)

(b) has known about the crime for a long time without reporting it

I can imagine both (a) and (b) coming up if you sat down with a police officer specializing in fraud.  They are not necessarily dealbreakers, but I'd try to get my history of the crime documented a bit better before filing the police report.

Again, I hope contributor RobertEG sees this thread and can chime in.  His opinion will be much more valuable than mine.

[Anonymous]

Also, I asked my dad and he told me to go ahead and do it. But it's because he thinks he did nothing wrong and he can't get in trouble for opening an account "for his daughter" (in his mind, he thinks he can justify the illegal action by pretending it was an account for me to use..)

[egghead88]

I would suggest that you at least have your Atty to write a letter to the CA. Most direct disputes are reviewed by staff. Your Atty letter may get reviewed at a higher level and the last thing a CA want to do is spend time or money on a paid collection.

[RobertEG]

If you wish to remove the furnisher of the reported information from any involvement in attempted removal of reporting that resulted from an asserted identity theft, then the entry price under the FCRA is a sworn statement from the consumer made before a law enforcement agency.

FCRA 605B established that criteria in order to weed out spurious assertions of account not mine.  Sworn statements before a law enforcement agency carry potential criminal penalties for knowingly false statements, and thus were seleted by congress as the necessary declaration to obtain block of information without any input from or involvement of the furnisher.

You can still pursue the FCRA dispute process without use of a police report to attempt removal of information that originated by use of your identity, but the entire reason for enactment of section 605B was that furnishers can verify the accuracy based on documents in their possession, and there is case law that holds that they need not do a forensic investigation of the documents to confirm who actually signed.

Law enforcement may choose not to investigate or refer for prosecution if the asserted party is a family member.

They often have higher priorities in their time and resource usage.

However, in taking any police report, I would anticipate the basic investigatory question of whether or not you have any knowledge of who might have used your identity.  If you have such knowledge and answer no, that is a knowingly false statement, and could subject you to potential criminal charges.  I would not expect to be able to decline to answer, and yet have the police accept your statement as a valid police report.

You might have an informal conversation with a law enforcement supervisor before filing a police report if you have concerns over prosecution liklihood.

However, a police report is the entry fee if you wish to avoid creditor involvement in the removal from your police report.

That is a statutory decision that cannot be waived.

[CBartowski]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My dad used my SSN to open a credit card account when I was 17 (I am 20 now). He forgot to pay the bills and it ended up in collection. After multiple failed attempts to dispute the negative account with the credit unions, I recently spoke with a lawyer. He said that he could send letters on my behalf to the credit unions, basically to question the original creditor and insist that the account isn't mine, but it could end with my dad being implicated and getting in trouble. He wouldn't say how big the risk was or what kind of trouble my dad could get in because that would be a separate case (my father's case). Can anyone shed some light on how likely it is that the credit unions or the original creditor will go after my dad? I want to repair my credit, but I would not be able to live with myself if my dad went to jail, even though he was the one who illegally opened the account in the first place.

For some more context, I live in Michigan and the delinquent account is 2.5 years old and fully paid off to the collection agency.

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I don't know if the credit unions or credit reporting agencies are going to reach out to law enforcement or anything like that. They have enough going on. I can't see it going past an internal note in the file, especially if he only opened one account which has been paid off. 

I say fight it for your credit, you're still young and credit is everything. At the end of the day, he did use your information. My girl friend's mom did the same thing to her and she semi recovered but it took a long time. 

Though another consideration is how much your lawyer charges for their services and if that price is worth it to you as well. 

Again, my recommendation is ask your lawyer for a cost estimate and continue explore recovering your credit but it can be costly and not make sense financially. 

Best of luck to you!

[Anonymous]

Here is a google search with a lot of hits on articles describing the illegality of what your father did:

https://www.google.com/search?q=can+a+parent+open+a+credit+card+using+his+child%27s+SSN&ie=utf-8&oe=...

Of course, your father may really like the color orange, in which case he may be right to urge you to submit the police report.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

[posted this in relationships and money forum, realized it might be better suited here!!]

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Hi @Anonymous, I've merged your two threads into one.

This is the correct board for your issue. 

--UB

[tricie17]

You are 22 years of age and very approachable for credit.  If you are being stifled by receiving credit now, go the secured route trying Discover secured and perhaps Capital One (not to be confused with credit one).  Within the year your credit would have bounced back enough to receive a travel card.  This would be the better solution than thinking of what may happen to DAD.  Take it all with a grain of salt and let it fall off.  Old accounts have very little impact after an amount of time.  Our family members are not perfect and we never know their situations and as you speak, it seems he was trying to help you however not in the best light.  Be good and put this behind you.  Monitor your credit going forward and once you have received the cards to help you move to a better score, Freeze Your Credit Reports.  

[Dirge]

What if the OP included a note with each credit bureau that the account was opened by a family member when the OP was only 17? It's not legal to open an account of you're own when you're under 18, and that would be easily verifiable by anyone who looks, because the dates are right there. 

OP,  I'm worried about you a little bit because there are plenty of jobs that check credit reports before they hire. Especially if you might be in any kind of fidicuary position 

Best of luck. 

[Anonymous]

The OP was 17 at the time the account was applied for. I think that is VERY relevant, but it will depend on the laws of that state.

Some possibilities:

1. Dad maybe did not commit any crime because he really is allowed by state law to sign contracts on behalf of his (then) child

2. The child may nevertheless be able to nullify the contract by disavowing it on becoming an adult

You may be able to get the whole thing off your report by pointing out your age when it was opened?

I'm not sure what happens to a credit report for an account that is nullified by disavowal. I guess it gets pretty complicated. All the law in this area is pretty complicated, and you probably actually need a lawyer who specializes in the law in your state to get to the bottom of this one. (And just to be clear, I'm not a lawyer.)

Might just try disputing the account on the basis of your age in any case.