[Angry Step-mother]

I am the step-mother of now grown-up kids 23 and 25. In 2000, their mother opened up credit cards in each of their names without their knowledge and added herself as a signer. In the case of the 23 year old, she knew of the credit card as her mom told her that it was her to use through college for gas and emergencies. What she didn't know was that it was based on her own credit and not her mother's. In 2003, the mother lost her job and stopped paying all of the credit cards and now creditors have been trying to collect on the debt of over $7,500 between the 2 kids. Because the initial card statements went to their "home" address (even though they were both in college) they cannot dispute the charges (plus, the 23 year old did make charges on her card). In the case of the 25 year old, he didn't even know of the card. They are now threatening judgements on them both and cannot yet afford to make it go away. Their mother says that they were paid (lies), yet the kids semi-understandably do not want to press charges against their mother. Any suggestions?

[mr.yet]

Have the creditor produce the original contract, if the signatures don't match, then the creditor will have to look for whom actually open the accounts.

It is ID theft and they will have to report it or pay the bill.

They will have to dispute the creditor claim or they will obtain a default summary judgment and attach whatever they will find, plus it will damage the credit scores. It will be their choice.

[KMSRyana]

I feel that they are trying to muscle the "children" by telling you that they cannot dispute the charges. Their records will detail where the charges were made, and as long as the kids weren't in the same city, there should be ways to prove that the kids did not make the charges.

There are several ways to dispute the charges, unfortunately they will usually either be very uncomfortable ( pressing charges ) or expensive. In each University there is usually a group of Law students that will take up pro-bono cases for experience. They're not out there doing it alone, the law professors do help them and guide them. That may be the least expensive solution. Another solution would be contacting a Credit Services Organization that is registered and bonded with the State Attorney General's Office. They can present the fraud for you and have the tradelines permanently removed from the children's credit. It will be tough in the girl's case, because she had knowledge of the card and used it. Her name would have been printed on the card she used, and proving that she didn't know it would effect her credit will be more difficult. You could always hire an attorney, but I feel that the costs would be greater than the debt itself in the long run.

Good luck to you.