Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New Jersey

in 1999, my wife used my 18 year old(at the time) daughters ss nbr and opened 5k in credit cards...

my wife used the funds for household expenses...

daughter is buying a house and this popped up on credit report..

the bill due is now 15k,which we do not have...creditor is unwilling to move the debit to my wifes

ss nbr and go after wife..mtge company says it needs to be off her report in order to close and get a more favorable rate....is there anything we can do to clear daughter from this matter


Asked on 11/01/10, 11:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jeffrey Walters Law Offices of Jeffrey S. Walters, LLC

Your daughter should dispute this information on her credit report. She can do this by filling out the dispute form at the end of the report, or doing this online if she received an online copy. She should do this with all 3 credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union). The basis of the dispute is that she did not open the account. Rather, someone used her information without her permission to open an account in her name. They will have 30 days to investigate the dispute, and either remove it or not remove it based on the response that the creditor provides. Your daughter can also report this to the fraud unit of the credit card company in order to persuade them to stop reporting this incorrect negative information. Typically, they will want her to provide an affidavit for this purpose, and perhaps file a police report.

Note: Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, the response to questions posted does not constitute legal advice or legal representation of the person posting a question. The information provided is general. The poster should obtain specific legal advice from an attorney, and should not rely upon the response as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.

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Answered on 11/07/10, 5:59 pm


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