Sister's Debt on My Report

[lafishy]

Thanks for the advice.

I took it, and called OC's fraud dept. Thing is, at some point you have to meter your own life, and the lives of your kids and just face that a lot of your choices and mobility are  tied to this ridiculous scoring system. And in that sense, my sister really did a bad thing to me and my daughter. She didn't do it on purpose, but she still did it.

And with that, I decided that I'm going to sign the affidavit of fraud. Because it IS fraud, and because I owe it to my kid to open doors in my life and hers...not willfully keep them closed, or allow others to close them for us, willynilly. The sad thing is that my sister is in a bad way in her life right now, and probably doesn't need to have this avalanche on top of her. But I can't dig her out of that. I can be here, and encourage her to keep digging, but I have to save my tail too. Having a bad FICO can mean a diminished ability to get a new job if I needed one, or borrow in a pinch. That's what got me started looking at my credit report lately anyway (for the first time, really)---I'm trying to make sure I'm in the best financial shape I can be in, for my daughter. I'm a single mom.

So, OC's fraud dept says once the investigator contacts me, and I sign the paperwork, it will be all but resolved. They said that will usually remove the trade line from the OC and the CA.

Let's hope that's the case.

[Ally_j135]

lafishy,

I know it must be hard to be in the situation you were put in (of know fault of your own) I am happy to hear that the fraud dept is willing to work with you and hopefully this will all be resolved.  I think that in doing this and monitoring yor credit (as well as being responsible for it)  your daughter will learn the value of how important credit is.  I can only speak for myself but imagine that many of us on this board have learned the hard way on how to manage our credit.  My mother till this day refuses to look at her credit report in fear that she will have to comfront her debt.  In growing up I wasnt shown how important credit was.......I followed the influence of T.V. that showed everyone using there charge cards for everthing and when I finally got old enough I followed that same path because thats the only thing I was shown.  It is now that I learned the value of my credit and what it actually means to be responsible for it.  Hopefully, your example will teach your daughter so that she can be responsible with her credit as well.

[lafishy]

Ally,

Thanks for the kinds words. Oh believe me, this child will be more than financially literate. If she messes up, it won't be out of ignorance.

Best to you.