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Protect Your Credit Now
Exes can ruin your credit so easily
Posted by Katherine McKee on Fri, 08/24/2007 - 4:57pm
Great piece by Kimberly Palmer in the "Alpha Consumer" column in U.S. News and World Report about how exes can clear up their credit if their partner stole their identity or otherwise ruined their credit. Too many women are in this situation. Is that you?
The piece suggests immediately calling credit reporting agencies like Equifax if your ex used your name and Social Security number to obtain credit without your knowledge. Close unauthorized accounts and all joint credit card and other acounts, file a fraud report with the police and alert all credit reporting agencies to place a fraud alert on your account.
If your ex is using credit cards you previously owned as a couple, then you are still liable for any charges that surface. Ouch! In states with community property laws, all accounts opened during a marriage are considered joint, regardless of whose name is on them. But you can still file a report disputing the charges with the credit reporting agencies. Have any of you been through this ordeal?
Keep in mind that divorcing couples who negotiate divorce decrees that include that one ex-spouse will pay off the credit card debt aren't excused from the other ex's financial responsibility. Ouch! Creditors can still demand payment from the "clean" spouse which can negatively impact their credit score.
Click here for more.
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Terrific post
Very informative. I never actually thought of this, but my girlfriend is going through the exact thing right now.
I have a friend that is
I have a friend that is dealing with this as well- it's so common these days. We have to learn how to protect our finances.
CM
I WUZ ROBBED!
Every single day I find it amazing how my crazy life parallels the concepts written about in this site. Here is my story of being robbed by the one who I believed would not stoop to such behaviour.
We had one of those home loans where you can borrow against the value of the house, which in our case, was substantial. Having come from a modest little place and then parlayed into an ocean-view-from-every-room-including-the bathrooms - we were sitting on a gold mine. Our monthly repayments were $400, easy to handle.
So he takes off with the 'friend'. And he promises that we will continue to have joint interest in the house until our youngest turned 18 or finished college. All I had to do was make the mortgage payments.
The 'friend' and the ex get their conspiring heads together and decide to 'borrow' against our house. Since I had complete faith in his integrity (you'd think that 27 years would be a good base from which my faith grew) - I had not contacted the bank to do something as simple as ensure that any withdrawals would need to be signed by both account holders - and went on my merry way. Until I received a letter from the bank letting me know that my monthly repayments had jumped from $400/mo to $4000/mo. I didn't believe it. But it was true. Behind my back they had emptied the joint account and now I was responsible for the repayments as 'they' bought another piece of property.
What happened to letting the kids stay in their home? What happened to co-parenting? What happened to decency, integrity and honesty? What happened to my trust?
There was nothing that I could do. He did not break any laws in taking money against our home. In a short time I had the house on the market and it was sold for far less than it was valued. I got a tiny part of what should have been our home. My children were unhoused and we moved into tiny little rentals where the three kids would share rooms - or they would share with me.
You cannot trust him. He is not the same. No matter how well you knew him he has changed. He does not want to help you with your children, he wants to take his new girlfriend on a trip to some exotic island and buy himself a new wardrobe. My ex went so far as to stop the home haircuts to sitting side-by-side in the hairdresser-to-the-stars with the bimbo who has always seen herself as a trophy wife!
It sucks. It hurts beyond pain. Nothing makes sense anymore and you try to get it all figured out before the next set of bills comes. You won't. Your children will see you fret and waste away to nothing as you try to keep their lives on track. You apply and are accepted for financial assistance at schools and local aid institutions. All because you had faith in the man that you had married and had carried and had believed in.
Don't pull the covers over your head, they don't stop the bastard from doing you dirty. PROact rather than REact. Go to your bank, shore your savings and protect your assets. Pay fees in advance, beef up the debit card and take scissors to any credit cards. KEEP YOUR DIGNITY but do not trust anyone. This is NOT the time to trust.
love from mayabella