Family member has taken out loans in my name! What can I do?

Teacher2

Flugelhorn wrote: »

I think you have to discuss it with them promptly - they clearly haven't thought of the implications for you in this

Er... they have. They did it deliberately and the person concerned is a criminal.

Teacher2

The idea that because a family member is involved applying for a credit card in another's name and spending on it is a civil matter is sheer nonsense. It is fraud clear and simple and you should go to the police. What if it were not fraud but murder? The police wouldn't say it's a civil matter because the person murdered was a relative.

It is in the credit card company's interest to try to get the money out of someone else if the cardholder won't cough up their due and the police will not want the admin and time taken to pursue a case like this when they have terrorists and murderers to catch. Therefore they will both be unhelpful initially and try to fob you off. You will have to be insistent.

Of course, there might well be a lot of bad feeling in the family if you pursue your rights and people will take sides. Only you can work out whether the family hassle will be worth it.

I can only say that if someone did this to me, the fact that they were family would make it worse and I would pursue them relentlessly until I got the situation sorted and a proper apology. I'd never talk to anyone in the family who sided with them again.

[Deleted User]

You have to inform the police.

You dont know where this will end, you may only be looking at the tip of the iceberg without knowing what else they may have done.

You may end up with a criminal record yourself and on debtors lists effecting future loans/mortgages/jobs etc even down to visas for some countries.

itchyfeet123

Sbm123 wrote: »

I told the debt collector the debt was not mine and was in fact said family members... they said they will freeze the account for a week to see if I can get them to pay if not it's still on me!!

If you report it as fraud, including to the police, the creditor can't keep chasing you. I'm not sure what happens to the collection agency in this case -- maybe the original creditor pays them something or refunds what the debt was bought for -- but it's in their interest to convince you to pay.

You may have good reason for not wanting to go down official channels, and no one here knows about your relationship with your family member, but if you don't report identity theft to the relevant officials, then the debt will be viewed as yours with all the consequences of creditors chasing you and negatives on your credit history.