My mom ruined my credit - what can I do?

[Anonymous]

I was smart enough (sarcasm) to let my mother handle my finances while I was in college, including a small student loan. The loan was in my name (I don't believe she cosigned), but my mother was supposed to handle paying it and such. Or at least she told me she would, though legally I don't think she had any obligation or connection to the loan.

Well I'm pretty sure she screwed me over. I looked up my credit score and info recently, and apparently she hadn't paid them. I'm not sure whether she did eventually and they were just way overdue, or whether collections came into it, but the balance is now $0. I no longer live with her so I wasn't aware of this as I haven't seen any mail or notices about it. In every other way, my credit seems pretty excellent, but I feel this one thing is hurting me greatly. I've had trouble getting credit cards, loans, etc. and it looks like it will be a number of years before this is wiped from my record. Is there anything I can do to clear this or reduce the damage it's doing, aside from just paying my debts going forward?

I do plan on talking to her about this but I was hopng to get some advice here first and see what questions I might want to ask as I am unfortunately not very knowledgable about this stuff. Obviously I didn't learn good habits from her... 

[RonM21]

Welcome to the boards!! First, look at your reports and see what date these collections or late payments have listed for scheduled deletion. These remain on your reports up to 7 years + 180 days. If you find that you are still far out from that time, you want tot try the Goodwill Deletion method.

Send them a letter poilitely asking them to delete the negative info as a gesture of good will on their end. This may take multiple attempts, ad they do not have to do this.

[Anonymous]

To 2kids2cats:

True, you do make a point. But it would be different if she hadn't said she would pay it and told me to take it on in the first place. And if she told me about the issue, that too would be different. I didn't even know she wasn't making payments. I would have gladly paid it myself had I known. I trusted her, as a young and naive person, and she did me wrong. I was stupid for not looking into this and knowing about the overdue debt, and I acknowledge that. I should have paid attention to accounts in my name. I'm not saying it's all her fault and she's some kind of terrible person. But we are where we are, and I'm looking for advice.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, RM21! I am far from the date. I will try sending them a letter. I appreciate the advice.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

To 2kids2cats:

True, you do make a point. But it would be different if she hadn't said she would pay it and told me to take it on in the first place. And if she told me about the issue, that too would be different. I didn't even know she wasn't making payments. I would have gladly paid it myself had I known. I trusted her, as a young and naive person, and she did me wrong. I was stupid for not looking into this and knowing about the overdue debt, and I acknowledge that. I should have paid attention to accounts in my name. I'm not saying it's all her fault and she's some kind of terrible person. But we are where we are, and I'm looking for advice.

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Don't take it personal. People will give you all kinds of opinions. Take the ones you like, ignore the ones you don't like!

[Aduke1122]

Sorry for your troubles , I know how you must feel as my Fiance's mom really hurt him bad where his credit is a concern , she unknowingly to him even bf he was 18 opened up 15 to 20 accounts in his name and they all went to collections and it ruined his credit , we had no idea until this year when we tried to get a new car and every dealership basically laughed at us . It's been a long long road but we are starting to recover from it. OK the first thing you need to find out is , if she did pay it off for sure , if she didn't , is a collection agency handling the debt? Is it a Charge off on your report , also what are your scores , just so I can see a little bit more about your profile to know where to start, but those are the most important things you must find out first . So if it is paid off now , what is affecting you , do you have late payments of 30/60/90/120 days late if so how many of each do you have ? Who is the loan holder also . Keep your head up it will get better , some on here may be harsh at times but the most of these folks are great help !

[Aduke1122]

Also how long ago was this ?

[Anonymous]

OP:

My mom destroyed my credit repeatedly, so I know how you're feeling. She didn't pay any of it though....

Anywho, I was able to get a utility CA to PFD, after telling them what had happened and that I didn't want to file charges against my mother. Perhaps trying some Good Will letters with an explanation that you were young and trusted your mother was handling your finances properly and how this is hurting you now would do you well. Even if they say no the first time, try, try again. It seems that there is success in these matters with persistence. 

- C

[Anonymous]

Best of luck to you. That "good will" letter suggestion is a good idea. You can explain what happened and respectfully ask for an early deletion. You never know. It will often work and certainly is worth a try.

In the meantime handling your financials well now and in the future can help tremendously, too.I had a Chapter 13 that stayed on my reports for seven years. Time passes faster than I thought it would and now things are good. They will be good for you, too, at some point.

Again, good luck!

[gdale6]

A post has been removed from this thread for violating our TOS. I want to remind everyone that flaming another poster is taboo on myFico and that its in no way FSR. You can certainly disagree with a poster but it must be done in a respectible way. I thank all of you for understanding.