Parental Identity Theft

Maybe you should address your concerns with the Alabama AG. The statistic I recenty read was over 90% of IDT concerning minors was committed by the parent so it's not just an Alabama problem. The affected individual would have to follow the steps outlined on the FTC website (Police Report, IDT affadavit, fraud alerts on all 3 CRA's). When filing the police report, they would have to name the parent as the perpetrator. Then it would be up to the police to investigate, the DA to file charges if their is enough evidence. Then it would be up to the county to bring this to trial. If this is happeneing to thousands, do you really think the county or state is going to stop convicting murderers, rapist and robbers to go after the white collar criminal? There's just not enough manpower to go around. Only the most eggregious ID theives are going to be gone after. In TX recently, a woman was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison because she was stealing the ID of patients in a retirement/hospice home. She stole more than 75 peoples ID's and ran up hundreds of thousands of debt. A parent that opens up 1 charge card under their childs name will likely never see the inside of a courtroom. Sucks but that's the reality of it.

Many people do not realize that their parents are doing these crimes until later in life when they have trouble purchasing a home... this is outrageous! something should be done,,, esp. since this is a situation that I am going through. But how do you confront a so-called loved-one?!

This sounds horrible but I set up credit accounts in both my mom's name and mine. Our credit sucked and I don't know what I was thinking but thank God I came to my senses. I was paying the bills regularly and not a single late fee. I had a horrible year with horrible family issues and I was depressed, not an excuse but setting up the story. I finally seeked help and was put on meds. I told my mom about the credit cards, naturally she was VERY upset but at the time, she checked his credit report and it showed no delinquencies. She knew I was paying them timely because her credit report showed that. She was forgiving and she was glad I stepped up and owned up to it and I was fully ready to suffer the consequences. I had all intention on paying these credit cards off if I had to work five jobs I would have. My mom suggested signing up with a debt settlement company. So after the debt settlement I paid them timely and everything was great until April of 2008 when a JDB sent three of the cards to arbitration. So I immediately realized the debt settlement company didn't give a hoot about me but was ripping me off. I immediately found a lawyer to help me and save my mom's credit. The lawyer knows what I did and that everything was paid timely until with my mom's help we signed with a debt settlement company which basically just took the money. The record shows I paid the accounts ahead of time and I paid the debt settlement company timely. Anyway, our lawyer is going to the get the arbitration dismissed and then sue the debt settlement company, as for confronting a loved one to answer your question, I owned up to it before my mom knew about them so she didn't find out because they were delinquent, she found out because I told her and I seeked help. Being on the other side, I felt so horrible and remorseful. Ive spent many sleepless nights since then with the guilt and shame but I felt extremely better when I found the lawyer and he is going to fix mom's credit and I will have to pay for this mistake. My mom wont press criminal charges which I told her she could when I told her the truth a year and half ago but didn't want to go that route, but she has always said I have to pay up and I am fully going to do that. Never sign with a debt settlement company, they are mostly scams and should be put out of business.

I have a friend that did this several times, and hopefully she isn't doing it any more, with the phone company and a couple of credit card places. Her oldest, who has never had a credit card or a phone, got married and she and her husband were going to open up a charge account and found out that she couldn't due to bad credit, plus she had collection agiencies after her for old phone bills, that were never PIF by her mother. It is a shame....it was never thought out how it would affect her kids in the long run, but now it has come back to haunt them.

Parents, please do not use your kids for your own credit. They should not suffer for what you did.