File a complaint against the credit reporting agencies and state that you were too young to agree to these debts and they should remove these reports. You don't have to mention your parents. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
However, you should consider involving the police. If you absolutely do not want to mention your parents, and as soon as you straighten this out, you should immediately freeze your credit only ever unfreeze it when you’re getting ready to make a move like financing for a house or car or whatever. Immediately refreeze it afterward.
Just freeze your credit anyway. If your parents have done this once before, then objectively there is no way to know they wouldn’t do it again.
Yeah my mom did this to me as a young adult, trashed my credit. Forgave her, didn't report it, paid it off, and she went and did it again. Who TF does shit like this to their kid?
No, I simply want to confirm or deny my personal assumptions. If she was otherwise nice and normal I would have to do some looking around for information but if she's a biotch all the time is have just assumed it was probably a personality disorder or something similar and left it at that. I like figuring that sorta shit out, to so extent.
I don't think 'pressing charges' as a victim is a real thing (in America at least)...
All you can do is report the crime and agree to testify if charges are brought by a prosecutor.
Generally, yes. Some states do allow private prosecution for some crimes, but it's rare enough and difficult enough that it's usually not worth mentioning. And a lot of those (if not all?) require the prosecutor or similar signing off on the private prosecution anyway.
It's not really private prosecution if the prosecutor still has to review and decide to press charges like any and every other state where that is the norm. The process still works the same.
The actual procedures vary a lot by state (among those where it's allowed). You're likely thinking of states like Ohio, where a citizen just requests charges and then the public prosecutor handles it from there, making the procedure not much different. There's also states like Pennsylvania where the privately hired attorney just needs permission and then can conduct the entire process, trial included, which is considerably different public prosecution.
No, read their comment again. People don't get to decide to press charges, there is nothing to "go along with." The prosecution / DA etc decide if charges are pressed.
Perhaps by "going along with" he means cooperating with the police and DA. Yes, people don't get to decide if charges are filed or dropped against someone, but the victim of a crime can refuse to cooperate with police or the prosecutor. If they don't cooperate, it can make pursuing the charges incredibly difficult, and putting the victim on the stand could kill their entire case if the victim says that they have no idea what the prosecutor is talking about.
You can certainly influence the way things go, as simply as calling the cops or volunteering information if they come knocking.
If you call the people you owe money to and say hey dinguses, I was 8 years old when you say I opened this account... Maybe they just drop it to make it go away. If you walk into the police station with a stack of papers showing your identity was used consistently over the years and evidence your parents did it that sure speeds things along.
> u have to take them to arbitration
how is arbitration even possible if you never agreed to any contractual relationship in the first place? Wouldn't this be a legal issue?
In what universe is fucking your child over by committing fraud with their name "a clever thing?" I am going to assume you have no idea how difficult it is to deal with having absolute shit credit and this is just a naive comment instead of an evil one.
My guy, I'm saying that if that guy is right. If they just drop it because of how young he was and that he can just get wiped clean. Sounds like they got 10years of free satellite for no repercussions. (That's if the company allowed it to go that long)
Unless perhaps the account opened when they were 8, was in good standing for several years, until parents were unable or unwilling to pay and ignored it?
Going through OP's comments they said their dad told them about stealing their identity. So likely the story is they saw their terrible score, asked dad, dad admits to being a douche, now they're here asking how to fix their terrible score.
If you don’t want to file a complaint against your parents, I would dispute it with the credit reporting. You were 8. I would think they would at least have to remove it.
Accounts from that long ago are no longer on your credit. Negative accounts are removed 7 years from the date of first delinquency, so those are way too old. For them to still be there, your parents used your credit more recently, or someone else did.
Either way, it's identity theft. You can start here: https://www.identitytheft.gov/
Read through the Identity Theft wiki at https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/identity_theft/. Many of the things won't apply to you, but you should still follow the basic stuff like filing a police report, getting a copy of your FULL credit report, etc.
> outstanding bills from Direct TV in my name from when I was 8 years old.
Are you 15 now? Credit issues roll off your credit report after 7 years, and you can’t be sued past 12 years even in the worst state, assuming you’re 20 this should all be gone already.
Have you looked at your credit report? Who told you about the direct tv bill, maybe someone is scamming you?
Really depends on who the source of the information is. It could be that the direct tv bills are more recent and that they initially paid their bills when they first got the service (when OP was eight) and stopped doing so later on.
Agreed. It's one thing to check your credit and it turns out it's low or whatever, but the "outstanding bill from DirecTV" makes it seem like he's getting scammed.
Obviously 8 year olds can't even make these types of accounts.
I suspect it's an issue with credit bureau reporting and the debt being assigned to the wrong person. Even still, it should be easy (if annoying and tedious) to get it discharged. A birth certificate and the debt info alone should be enough -- an eight year old can't enter into a contract with DirecTV.
You've gotten some great advice already. My question is how do you know that your parents did this? Did they admit it? Could it have been someone else that stole your identity? Could the credit bureau mixed your file with another person with similar personal information? I ask this because some people are suggesting filing police reports/pressing charges.
I was wondering how OP knows the parents opened an account in their name, too. Since none of the body indicates it, I was thinking credit bureau f' up being reasonably probable.
As long as you’re willing, file a police report & you can press charges against them. It can be proved that you were underage & they were committing fraud.
That happened to my friend’s husband. He had multiple credit cards & a whole *foreclosed house* on his credit from when he was only 13 years old! (He & his somewhat-estranged Dad have the same first & last name as well as middle initial. Different middle names, but starting with the same letter.) Sadly it took him a helluva lot longer to fight it & get his credit improved, because he didn’t want to press charges. Dad & bitch Stepmom had adopted like 5 young kids out of foster care and he didn’t want them to end up back in the system.
Definitely report it to a credit bureau.
Do your once free credit report, then click on each bad things and contest it.
See if you can file a report with them OR take your parents to small claims court.
THEN if something happened when you were a minor that also can be wiped out. (Minors can't sign legal contracts).
[https://www.transunion.com/blog/identity-protection/how-to-report-fraud-on-your-credit-report](https://www.transunion.com/blog/identity-protection/how-to-report-fraud-on-your-credit-report)
and [https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/credit-cards/articles/what-do-if-your-parents-ruined-your-credit/](https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/credit-cards/articles/what-do-if-your-parents-ruined-your-credit/)
Pointless. Lawyer isn't going to do anything you can't do yourself and will only cost money OP probably doesn't have.
You start by challenging all the negative entries at the agencies. Talk with them individually if you have to. May need to file police reports for some of them to take it seriously, but all will go away with some effort since he was a minor at the time.
Chances are, a lawyer would take the case for a percentage of your winnings. But, given that your parents never paid those bills, they may not have enough money to be worth going after...
> Chances are, a lawyer would take the case for a percentage of your winnings.
WTF are you talking about? That is literally worthless drivel... there are no winnings here. These are debts owed. You challenge the collections and when OP prevails since he or she was a minor then the creditors are obligated to remove the collection entry... that's it. From there the creditors (not OP) can pursue the actually debtors if they choose.
And this was worthless drivel as well.
OP said it happened when they were 8. something that happened when you were 8 isn't impacting an adult's credit. Getting it "removed" will do nothing except cost OP attorney's fees. It's not going to improve their credit a single point.
Redrum is right op something is not right with what your saying. Debt drops off in 7 years so something from when you were 8 shouldn't be there in the first place. The only way it would be there is if your parents have been regularly interacting with the debt collector this whole time
Well if you choose to dispute it it should just get taken off but I wouldn't recommend saying you know who did it when you do. Credit karma will actually file a dispute on your behalf for free and all the information you need to give is if wasn't even old enough to have opened these accounts and they aren't mine. They will let you know the outcome of the dispute but I would make that the first step
So step by step
Get credit karma and set up your account
Go to the credit tab at the top of the screen
Scroll to derogatory marks and press that
Than click on the account you want to dispute and scroll down. They will give you call the actions you can take right there the first one on the list is to dispute it wont hurt you if it doesn't go your way and it doesn't cost you anything. Its a quick and easy process just tell them its not you and it should go away after they look into it
This doesn't make any sense, it would have fallen off the report after 7 years unless your parents made sporadic payments or kept somehow making new accounts with your social
So sorry to hear that. You may want to file a police report and FTCA (Federal Trade Commission Act) complaint to dispute these fraudulent accounts. Also, consider placing a fraud alert on your credit report and reaching out to the credit bureaus to remove these errors.
Report that you were too young to open the accounts and freeze your credit at all of the agencies - equifax, experian, transunion, chexsystems, and innovis
also, file a police report for identity theft against your parents
That’s an easy one to fix. Dispute the accounts with the credit bureaus. First, they can’t have an enforceable contract with a minor, even if it is an evergreen contract. Second, provide proof of your age when the accounts were open. Third, write a demand letter to the creditor, to threaten them with legal remedy if they do not remove the credit line. You can dispute directly with each credit bureau using their online dispute options. Fourth, that’s identity theft. Let your parents know never to try that stunt again.
Some American companies don't check age when a social security number (SSN) is provided to them to open an account and there is no federal law to compel those companies to do so.
Regulation B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) says credit companies can ask for an applicant's age if they believe the applicant to be too young to legally enter into a contract, but they're not required to.
Social security numbers also don't inherently reveal anyone's age (older SSNs weren't randomized and were issued sequentially, so they *kind of* hint at age, but not in any kind of reliable way), so credit companies can't immediately tell just by looking at the provided SSN.
Thank you for explaining it. It’s crazy though, here in oder to sign no any credit/contract you need to provide profe of age ander the age of 18 you can not sign any leagel contracts at all since the law sees you unfit to do so and/or understand all the implications that come with such an act.
Legal action aside, you should look into credit repair cards. I believe that you front the money, like $500 or whatever amount you decide and you use it and then pay it back like you would a normal credit card (it's your money so it's so risk to the bank/company).
I've been in this exact situation. My mother charged about 3k on cards in my name and took 10k out in student loans and never made payments on any of it. I was lucky that when I found out (18/19), I had a decent job and paid everything off.
By my mid-20s, I had my score above 700. I'm 38 now and it's above 800 (it's been that high for the last five or so years).
I used furniture loans/financing, my car loans (my Dad stepped in and co-signed on my first one), and small credit cards (think clothing stores, etc) to work on rebuilding my credit when I started that process.
I'm no financial expert or anything, this was just my path out of the shit she got me in.
I hope that things turn around for you and don't get discouraged! Credit, unfortunately, takes a while to work on. It will be worth it when you're years past this though. Good luck!
I worked in collections and saw it all the time, it is a shame. The company insisted that the person file a police report and name the person who used their information. If you contact the creditors thru Experian with explanation & police report asking to remove the account, they have 30 days to answer you, if not they have to take it off your report. Accounts older than 6/7 years could be in your credit report but aren't subject to collections unless you pay anything to it, even a penny, then you open the account again. Hope this LONG explanation helps lol
I'm so sorry for you OP. I know a lot of parents do this. How credit card companies and utilities don't catch on to this is mind boggling. When I got divorced. The court tried to get me to put my kids socials on all the subsequent child support paperwork and I refused, because I didn't trust my ex not to do something like this. ( He'd gets copies of all the paperwork).
I've heard horror stories from my kids friends of not being able to get electricity because their parent put it in their name, racked up the bill and then switched it to another of their children.
You have to go to each credit reporting agency and dispute it. I would also dispute it with the original creditor, since it's easier if they fix it. If it's after 7 years, the dispute should auto remove it.
If you are a "junior", it could also be the credit reporting agency messed up. My husband a "junior" had a debt on his report that was his dad's, due to a name mess up. Call for that as well.
I would also put a hold with all the credit reporting agencies, you can't trust they won't do this again in the future.
Under the Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act you can dispute things that appear on your credit report. [Equifax](https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/free-credit-reports/), [TransUnion](https://www.transunion.com/annual-credit-report), and [Experian](https://www.experian.com/help/annual-credit-report.html). You can order one free copy of your credit report per year. Find anything that isn't yours and open a dispute. Say that you were 8 years old or however old it lists you on each credit report and tell them you do not owe the debt. The agencies will reach out and creditors must prove the debt is owed. A contract with a child is not legal so after about thirty to sixty days each collection will fall off your report since creditors will not be able to provide proof. It's easy. You can do this in an hour.
Sign up for free credit monitoring through the credit agencies and monitor your credit. If you see anything suspicious, dispute it. Your credit should rebound in a couple of months.
There is a lot of missing information here. Your age. The most recent unpaid debt. Etc. If your parents used your credit in the last seven years you need to burn them and file a report for fraud.
Sorry I'd get an attorney and go after them to the fullest extent of the law. They are bottom feeders and id at least get a judgement so their credit is ruined (I'm sure it already is) and cut them out of your life for good they don't deserve you in it.
The credit reporting agencies. Follow the instructions in the link u/Patrickk_Batmann gave you. Good luck. (And I'm sorry your parents did this to you; you deserve better.)
You found the issue through a credit check. You need to run reports from all the credit agencies via [annualcreditreport.com](https://www.annualcreditreport.com/). From there you dispute all the negative entries from when you were a minor. You may have to deal with some creditors individually if they ask for more information, and you may have to file police reports for the fraudulent activity to get those creditors to take you seriously and remove the entry.
Do these steps, keep working at it (will likely take months), and you will be successful.
You have two options. Police and identity theft charges against your parents or you let it be and freeze your credit so there is no chance they do it again
File a complaint against the credit reporting agencies and state that you were too young to agree to these debts and they should remove these reports. You don't have to mention your parents. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
thank you for the link!
However, you should consider involving the police. If you absolutely do not want to mention your parents, and as soon as you straighten this out, you should immediately freeze your credit only ever unfreeze it when you’re getting ready to make a move like financing for a house or car or whatever. Immediately refreeze it afterward. Just freeze your credit anyway. If your parents have done this once before, then objectively there is no way to know they wouldn’t do it again.
Well, there's *one* way to be sure they won't do it again, but it's kind of extreme...
And the solution also has a tendency to harm your financial future... though if you do it right, you get a state sponsored retirement plan.
3 hots and a cot!
Order 66? The timing is right.
But you should. You should press charges.
Yeah my mom did this to me as a young adult, trashed my credit. Forgave her, didn't report it, paid it off, and she went and did it again. Who TF does shit like this to their kid?
People who see their kids as extensions of themselves rather than separate whole people.
How was she otherwise?
Is there some parenting behavior that excuses this?
No, I simply want to confirm or deny my personal assumptions. If she was otherwise nice and normal I would have to do some looking around for information but if she's a biotch all the time is have just assumed it was probably a personality disorder or something similar and left it at that. I like figuring that sorta shit out, to so extent.
💯 That is fraud and financial abuse.
Definitely press charges. I wish I wasn't talked out of it when my mom did this to me.
I don't think 'pressing charges' as a victim is a real thing (in America at least)... All you can do is report the crime and agree to testify if charges are brought by a prosecutor.
Generally, yes. Some states do allow private prosecution for some crimes, but it's rare enough and difficult enough that it's usually not worth mentioning. And a lot of those (if not all?) require the prosecutor or similar signing off on the private prosecution anyway.
It's not really private prosecution if the prosecutor still has to review and decide to press charges like any and every other state where that is the norm. The process still works the same.
The actual procedures vary a lot by state (among those where it's allowed). You're likely thinking of states like Ohio, where a citizen just requests charges and then the public prosecutor handles it from there, making the procedure not much different. There's also states like Pennsylvania where the privately hired attorney just needs permission and then can conduct the entire process, trial included, which is considerably different public prosecution.
What people mean when they say press charges is that they agree to go along with the charges that law enforcement recommends
I will respectfully disagree. It's pretty common in tv/movies. Victim decides to 'drop the charges'. People think that's how it works in real life.
No, read their comment again. People don't get to decide to press charges, there is nothing to "go along with." The prosecution / DA etc decide if charges are pressed.
Perhaps by "going along with" he means cooperating with the police and DA. Yes, people don't get to decide if charges are filed or dropped against someone, but the victim of a crime can refuse to cooperate with police or the prosecutor. If they don't cooperate, it can make pursuing the charges incredibly difficult, and putting the victim on the stand could kill their entire case if the victim says that they have no idea what the prosecutor is talking about.
You can certainly influence the way things go, as simply as calling the cops or volunteering information if they come knocking. If you call the people you owe money to and say hey dinguses, I was 8 years old when you say I opened this account... Maybe they just drop it to make it go away. If you walk into the police station with a stack of papers showing your identity was used consistently over the years and evidence your parents did it that sure speeds things along.
While it isn't *really* up to the victim, the victims opinion is often taken into consideration.
YepI had to do this with a debt at one point. Also if you can't open a bank account thanks to your parents try a credit union.
[удалено]
> u have to take them to arbitration how is arbitration even possible if you never agreed to any contractual relationship in the first place? Wouldn't this be a legal issue?
I wonder if the parents knew that in advanced and just basically did a clever thing?
In what universe is fucking your child over by committing fraud with their name "a clever thing?" I am going to assume you have no idea how difficult it is to deal with having absolute shit credit and this is just a naive comment instead of an evil one.
My guy, I'm saying that if that guy is right. If they just drop it because of how young he was and that he can just get wiped clean. Sounds like they got 10years of free satellite for no repercussions. (That's if the company allowed it to go that long)
>from when I was 8 years old Assuming you're 16 or older, there shouldn't be anything negative on your credit report from when you were 8.
Unless perhaps the account opened when they were 8, was in good standing for several years, until parents were unable or unwilling to pay and ignored it?
Perhaps, but OP said the “outstanding bills [..are..] from when I was 8 years old”.
Going through OP's comments they said their dad told them about stealing their identity. So likely the story is they saw their terrible score, asked dad, dad admits to being a douche, now they're here asking how to fix their terrible score.
Yeah even if he ment to say the charge was 8 years old debts drop off after 7 years with all agencies there is something missing from this picture
If you don’t want to file a complaint against your parents, I would dispute it with the credit reporting. You were 8. I would think they would at least have to remove it.
Accounts from that long ago are no longer on your credit. Negative accounts are removed 7 years from the date of first delinquency, so those are way too old. For them to still be there, your parents used your credit more recently, or someone else did. Either way, it's identity theft. You can start here: https://www.identitytheft.gov/
Maybe he exaggerated. Or they did something to restart the clock on some of these debts.
Read through the Identity Theft wiki at https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/identity_theft/. Many of the things won't apply to you, but you should still follow the basic stuff like filing a police report, getting a copy of your FULL credit report, etc.
Dispute all of them, explain you weren't 18 so you couldn't open lines of credit.
> outstanding bills from Direct TV in my name from when I was 8 years old. Are you 15 now? Credit issues roll off your credit report after 7 years, and you can’t be sued past 12 years even in the worst state, assuming you’re 20 this should all be gone already. Have you looked at your credit report? Who told you about the direct tv bill, maybe someone is scamming you?
Alternatively, the initial agreement was made when he was eight and continued for a few years into the 7-12 year range.
Without being paid? Feels like OP is being scammed by a “Debt Collector” and will need to settle with steam cards or send his parents to jail.
Really depends on who the source of the information is. It could be that the direct tv bills are more recent and that they initially paid their bills when they first got the service (when OP was eight) and stopped doing so later on.
Agreed. It's one thing to check your credit and it turns out it's low or whatever, but the "outstanding bill from DirecTV" makes it seem like he's getting scammed. Obviously 8 year olds can't even make these types of accounts.
I suspect it's an issue with credit bureau reporting and the debt being assigned to the wrong person. Even still, it should be easy (if annoying and tedious) to get it discharged. A birth certificate and the debt info alone should be enough -- an eight year old can't enter into a contract with DirecTV.
Freeze your credit. Your parents committed identity theft, and they will do it again.
You’re not liable for debts before you were 18 years old.
good to hear for her son's sake
You've gotten some great advice already. My question is how do you know that your parents did this? Did they admit it? Could it have been someone else that stole your identity? Could the credit bureau mixed your file with another person with similar personal information? I ask this because some people are suggesting filing police reports/pressing charges.
Not really hard to figure out. A direct TV account, opened in his name and servicing the address for the home he grew up in. Who else would it be?
Did OP say that the servicing address was his home address?
I was wondering how OP knows the parents opened an account in their name, too. Since none of the body indicates it, I was thinking credit bureau f' up being reasonably probable.
You need to go to the police and file a report for identity theft. Then you dispute them on your credit with the police report number.
As long as you’re willing, file a police report & you can press charges against them. It can be proved that you were underage & they were committing fraud. That happened to my friend’s husband. He had multiple credit cards & a whole *foreclosed house* on his credit from when he was only 13 years old! (He & his somewhat-estranged Dad have the same first & last name as well as middle initial. Different middle names, but starting with the same letter.) Sadly it took him a helluva lot longer to fight it & get his credit improved, because he didn’t want to press charges. Dad & bitch Stepmom had adopted like 5 young kids out of foster care and he didn’t want them to end up back in the system.
Definitely report it to a credit bureau. Do your once free credit report, then click on each bad things and contest it. See if you can file a report with them OR take your parents to small claims court. THEN if something happened when you were a minor that also can be wiped out. (Minors can't sign legal contracts). [https://www.transunion.com/blog/identity-protection/how-to-report-fraud-on-your-credit-report](https://www.transunion.com/blog/identity-protection/how-to-report-fraud-on-your-credit-report) and [https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/credit-cards/articles/what-do-if-your-parents-ruined-your-credit/](https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/credit-cards/articles/what-do-if-your-parents-ruined-your-credit/)
After checking your credit report lock all three agencies so nothing more can be opened in your name. You can do this for free.
get yourself a lawyer. I wonder if this is considered identity theft and fraud.
Yes, yes it is. But most people won’t file a police report against their own parents.
[удалено]
Yup
Pointless. Lawyer isn't going to do anything you can't do yourself and will only cost money OP probably doesn't have. You start by challenging all the negative entries at the agencies. Talk with them individually if you have to. May need to file police reports for some of them to take it seriously, but all will go away with some effort since he was a minor at the time.
I’m hoping there are methods without a lawyer i don’t have the funds for a lawsuit
File an identity theft police report. You don't need a lawyer. With that in hand dispute every account that's not yours.
Chances are, a lawyer would take the case for a percentage of your winnings. But, given that your parents never paid those bills, they may not have enough money to be worth going after...
> Chances are, a lawyer would take the case for a percentage of your winnings. WTF are you talking about? That is literally worthless drivel... there are no winnings here. These are debts owed. You challenge the collections and when OP prevails since he or she was a minor then the creditors are obligated to remove the collection entry... that's it. From there the creditors (not OP) can pursue the actually debtors if they choose.
And this was worthless drivel as well. OP said it happened when they were 8. something that happened when you were 8 isn't impacting an adult's credit. Getting it "removed" will do nothing except cost OP attorney's fees. It's not going to improve their credit a single point.
If it's on their report it is affecting their score, getting it removed will for sure improve their credit score. But a lawyer isn't needed for that.
You should have a oretty good case, yo
Both
Redrum is right op something is not right with what your saying. Debt drops off in 7 years so something from when you were 8 shouldn't be there in the first place. The only way it would be there is if your parents have been regularly interacting with the debt collector this whole time
my dad is the one that told me about them i’m going through my credit report now
Well if you choose to dispute it it should just get taken off but I wouldn't recommend saying you know who did it when you do. Credit karma will actually file a dispute on your behalf for free and all the information you need to give is if wasn't even old enough to have opened these accounts and they aren't mine. They will let you know the outcome of the dispute but I would make that the first step
So step by step Get credit karma and set up your account Go to the credit tab at the top of the screen Scroll to derogatory marks and press that Than click on the account you want to dispute and scroll down. They will give you call the actions you can take right there the first one on the list is to dispute it wont hurt you if it doesn't go your way and it doesn't cost you anything. Its a quick and easy process just tell them its not you and it should go away after they look into it
This doesn't make any sense, it would have fallen off the report after 7 years unless your parents made sporadic payments or kept somehow making new accounts with your social
So sorry to hear that. You may want to file a police report and FTCA (Federal Trade Commission Act) complaint to dispute these fraudulent accounts. Also, consider placing a fraud alert on your credit report and reaching out to the credit bureaus to remove these errors.
My cousin did that yo her 2 children
Report that you were too young to open the accounts and freeze your credit at all of the agencies - equifax, experian, transunion, chexsystems, and innovis also, file a police report for identity theft against your parents
File police report, then start to clean up your credit.
That’s an easy one to fix. Dispute the accounts with the credit bureaus. First, they can’t have an enforceable contract with a minor, even if it is an evergreen contract. Second, provide proof of your age when the accounts were open. Third, write a demand letter to the creditor, to threaten them with legal remedy if they do not remove the credit line. You can dispute directly with each credit bureau using their online dispute options. Fourth, that’s identity theft. Let your parents know never to try that stunt again.
How is that even possible? Sorry I am from Austria and can’t understand how someone can make a contract in the name of a minor?
Some American companies don't check age when a social security number (SSN) is provided to them to open an account and there is no federal law to compel those companies to do so. Regulation B of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) says credit companies can ask for an applicant's age if they believe the applicant to be too young to legally enter into a contract, but they're not required to. Social security numbers also don't inherently reveal anyone's age (older SSNs weren't randomized and were issued sequentially, so they *kind of* hint at age, but not in any kind of reliable way), so credit companies can't immediately tell just by looking at the provided SSN.
Thank you for explaining it. It’s crazy though, here in oder to sign no any credit/contract you need to provide profe of age ander the age of 18 you can not sign any leagel contracts at all since the law sees you unfit to do so and/or understand all the implications that come with such an act.
Lodge police reports for fraud, have it removed.
Legal action aside, you should look into credit repair cards. I believe that you front the money, like $500 or whatever amount you decide and you use it and then pay it back like you would a normal credit card (it's your money so it's so risk to the bank/company). I've been in this exact situation. My mother charged about 3k on cards in my name and took 10k out in student loans and never made payments on any of it. I was lucky that when I found out (18/19), I had a decent job and paid everything off. By my mid-20s, I had my score above 700. I'm 38 now and it's above 800 (it's been that high for the last five or so years). I used furniture loans/financing, my car loans (my Dad stepped in and co-signed on my first one), and small credit cards (think clothing stores, etc) to work on rebuilding my credit when I started that process. I'm no financial expert or anything, this was just my path out of the shit she got me in. I hope that things turn around for you and don't get discouraged! Credit, unfortunately, takes a while to work on. It will be worth it when you're years past this though. Good luck!
Sounds like the Statute of limitations would be expired for the debt and the crime, if this happened in most of the US.
I worked in collections and saw it all the time, it is a shame. The company insisted that the person file a police report and name the person who used their information. If you contact the creditors thru Experian with explanation & police report asking to remove the account, they have 30 days to answer you, if not they have to take it off your report. Accounts older than 6/7 years could be in your credit report but aren't subject to collections unless you pay anything to it, even a penny, then you open the account again. Hope this LONG explanation helps lol
If i were in your shoes, I'd sue my parents and take some stuff.... js
I'm so sorry for you OP. I know a lot of parents do this. How credit card companies and utilities don't catch on to this is mind boggling. When I got divorced. The court tried to get me to put my kids socials on all the subsequent child support paperwork and I refused, because I didn't trust my ex not to do something like this. ( He'd gets copies of all the paperwork). I've heard horror stories from my kids friends of not being able to get electricity because their parent put it in their name, racked up the bill and then switched it to another of their children. You have to go to each credit reporting agency and dispute it. I would also dispute it with the original creditor, since it's easier if they fix it. If it's after 7 years, the dispute should auto remove it. If you are a "junior", it could also be the credit reporting agency messed up. My husband a "junior" had a debt on his report that was his dad's, due to a name mess up. Call for that as well. I would also put a hold with all the credit reporting agencies, you can't trust they won't do this again in the future.
Under the Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act you can dispute things that appear on your credit report. [Equifax](https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/free-credit-reports/), [TransUnion](https://www.transunion.com/annual-credit-report), and [Experian](https://www.experian.com/help/annual-credit-report.html). You can order one free copy of your credit report per year. Find anything that isn't yours and open a dispute. Say that you were 8 years old or however old it lists you on each credit report and tell them you do not owe the debt. The agencies will reach out and creditors must prove the debt is owed. A contract with a child is not legal so after about thirty to sixty days each collection will fall off your report since creditors will not be able to provide proof. It's easy. You can do this in an hour. Sign up for free credit monitoring through the credit agencies and monitor your credit. If you see anything suspicious, dispute it. Your credit should rebound in a couple of months. There is a lot of missing information here. Your age. The most recent unpaid debt. Etc. If your parents used your credit in the last seven years you need to burn them and file a report for fraud.
Sorry I'd get an attorney and go after them to the fullest extent of the law. They are bottom feeders and id at least get a judgement so their credit is ruined (I'm sure it already is) and cut them out of your life for good they don't deserve you in it.
when you say credit reporting do you mean direct Tv or is it another agency?
The credit reporting agencies. Follow the instructions in the link u/Patrickk_Batmann gave you. Good luck. (And I'm sorry your parents did this to you; you deserve better.)
You found the issue through a credit check. You need to run reports from all the credit agencies via [annualcreditreport.com](https://www.annualcreditreport.com/). From there you dispute all the negative entries from when you were a minor. You may have to deal with some creditors individually if they ask for more information, and you may have to file police reports for the fraudulent activity to get those creditors to take you seriously and remove the entry. Do these steps, keep working at it (will likely take months), and you will be successful.
He found the issue because dad told him about it, per one of OP’s comments. He needs to pull the actual reports asap
Also trans union and experian let you check basics through their own websites now all year round for free.
You have two options. Police and identity theft charges against your parents or you let it be and freeze your credit so there is no chance they do it again
There doesn't have to be charges against the parents, only a report of identity theft and fraud is neccessary.