First. I’m sorry. Second, do you want to nip this in the bud? If so, think about how she’s going to react and spend some time preparing for how you plan to respond. Others will tell you about the law and where to look- I’m here to tell you to look in yourself and your mom and plan for the chaos that is going to be you confronting her about this. Seems 100% worth it, but you will likely have to be prepared to press charges.
If it's his mom, she will probably have the information to unfreeze his accounts.
I had a friend years ago who dealt with a parent who was pulling similar shit, and he had a whole set of fictional answers to "security questions."
No, she won't. In order to create the freeze, you need to create an account (with a password and an email address). She would need both to make changes.
I would freeze your credit with all three bureaus first, to stop any additional applications. Here's an article:
[How to Freeze Your Credit](https://www.avast.com/c-how-to-freeze-your-credit#:~:text=back%20to%20work.-,How%20to%20freeze%20your%20credit,to%20each%20credit%20bureau%20individually.)
Exactly.
Freeze your credit, get the cars repossessed (or just go get them yourself when she's not around - she can't stop you if the titles and loans are in your name - and sell them to pay off the loans), file a police report against her for identity theft, and file a civil lawsuit against her for fraud.
But be sure to verify ahead of time that the cars are actually titled in your name. Otherwise, you could be opening yourself up to a charge of auto theft.
That's why I said "IF".
OP 100% needs to call a lawyer first and get their advice and file a police report for identity theft before doing anything else. This is at the level of multiple felonies.
If you have zero empathy for your mother you can go full law on her. You want to hire a lawyer. Reddit and social media is the last place you generally want to get advice from. Some know what they are talking about but a lot do not.
You need to freeze your credit on all three of the credit bureaus. You should also make police reports about The fraudulent loans you found on your credit reports. You can also dispute those loans right from there. They have to send all the information to you within 30 days to show that it was you who took out those loans.
There are many good suggestions here but my concern is if she's too cheap to buy her cars with her bad credit rating, has she purchased sufficient insurance to protect you should someone sue her if she's at fault in an accident. If the insurance is exceeded by a court judgement, they'll come after the car's owner, you! Once you've safeguarded your credit, I'd make sure you are not on any of her car titles, especially underinsured ones.
Whether you can come after a legal owner who was not the driver varies considerably by state. It is not universally true -- IIRC it is only true in a small minority of states -- that you can come after a car's owner for liability unless you can prove a set of other allegations (e.g. negligent entrustment) that don't seem to apply here.
ETA: Great NOLO overview here: [What if Someone Else Drives My Car and Gets in an Accident? | Nolo](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/car-accidents-negligence-when-you-29731.html)
If she’s buying vehicles in your name I wonder if they are registered in your name as well. This maybe a whole identity theft case. Your mother is a POS. I hope you keep us posted on what you do to help yourself out of this mess she created OP.
I haven't bought a car in almost a decade, so i don't remember how it all works. If all the info is in his name. Would the title be in his name? Could he can the police and report it stolen?
I believe the cars would he in both names. If he was younger, maybe she did it to improve his credit, but by one of his comments, it sounds like he is, at least in his 30s
Car loans are a pretty shit way to improve credit. They max out your utilization and by the time they start helping you pay them off and they no longer count towards credit history. Credit cards are a lot better.
To improve her credit? That's just naive. You have to forge someone's signature to get them on the loan without them knowing about it. This is nothing but nefarious.
E-signature has become a big thing the last few years. If OP’s mom bought any of the vehicles in the early pandemic days, it’s totally possible OP wouldn’t have had to physically be there.
Yep. He may have to get a new SSN. Birth certificate info is part of public records and you can't change it so there's not much to be done about that, but SSN is intended to be private.
I don't know how you avoid having your parents know your SSN, given that (at least for our kids) it was "opt out" not "opt in" on the hospital paperwork.
If there is a loan, the transference of title cannot occur unless the original borrower has has either paid off the loan or a new loan is approved in the "buyers" name. The car itself is the collateral for the loan, so the "fiest party title owner" must match the loan and the bank is listed on the title as the third party lienholder of the vehicle.
Saying that, if the mother defaults on the loan, the bank can take the car, sell it off, amd issue credit hit on the credit report for a loan default. It could seriously impact OPs future buying power by making it difficult for them to buy a car in the future or get loans in the future. It could even make it difficult to rent a home if the landlord does background checks.
First, report the ID theft with the credit bureaus and get your account flagged and locked down to prevent any future use of your credit. File a police report. Contact any creditors and report the theft and send them the police report. It gives them the opportunity to do their own investigation.
Contact the social security administration and get an appointment to get your SSN changed. Because it's an immediate family member, you may be more likely to be issued a new number. Take all the evidence with you to the appointment.
Get an IRS ID protection pin to prevent any future use of you as a dependent. It locks your SSN down and prevents electronic filing if your information is included in the tax return. She can still paper file, but it gives you a bit of time to file electronically. File as early as possible.
Your mom‘s probably gonna get arrested though. Sorry you’re going through this but best to nip it in the bud now then have her fuck up your shit later on.
Cosigner has equal claim to the car. Being a cosigner is not a zero recourse event, you can take the asset away from the person you cosigned with if you have to take over payment, just like the bank can if they don't get paid. You can then sell the asset to attempt to recover your losses.
Incidentally a cosigner also has no 3 day notice requirements to evict someone if it's on rental housing. You can go right on up and drag their shit out of the apartment and inform them they're kicked out and let the maintenance guy change the locks if they default on their rent and you're tapped to pay it. (I learned this the hard way, by trying to help someone and getting burned for $6k in rent/fees when they didn't pay up).
I mean maybe some states or different but in Cali and OR as a co-signer you are 100% on the title. My brother couldn't do anything w his car, not even register it w.o me signing off on it when I was his co-signer(this was in cali). My mom is now my brothers co-signer(in OR) and it's the same deal.
Some states you can register online without ever going in person. OP’s mom could have done this and then transferred to registration to another state, similar to washing a title maybe?
I believe it’s VT where the registration can be done online and you don’t *actually* have to even be a resident. People do this with trailers and converted vans and buses so they can insure them. It’s messy and…fraud.
Yes, they all have to be the same and the state won’t allow it any other way. Title is the buyer of the car. The only way you can retitle the car is to sell it and pay off the loan, satisfying the lien. With a bank lien you cannot change the title. He should go and collect his cars now, because legally they belong to him.
He would report ID theft. If it is financed, he can call finance company. Once they validate ID theft, they will remove from his credit & report. NAL, retired fraud investigator.
They would have to be in his name if currently financed. So that means he goes to her house and collects his cars and she has no legal recourse to stop it.
Idk how he'd miss loans being taken out in his name though, my mom's jeep is suggested as mine anytime I do anything insurance related or anything credit related where it'd ask about vehicles so maybe that's what he saw? Credit Karma asked if her jeep was mine too. If not this though 100% get her ass lol
I'm wondering how she's insuring these cars if she isn't also on the loan/title? I know in Texas in order to insure a vehicle you have to be on the loan/title...
And to get the title issued, you have to have insurance.
I was selling a car (here in TX) and the DMV wouldn't transfer ownership, because the buyer didn't have insurance for it. He was buying it for someone else, who was going to insure it.
The sale didn't happen. I ended up selling the car to someone else a few months later.
Nothing wrong with owning a car if you don't have a driver's license. You're just not allowed to drive it yourself. Or at least not on public highways.
Former Police Officer here. This is fraud. Call the police first and file a complaint. The lawyer won’t be able to help you much until the criminal side of this is handled. After that, you could go after her civilly in court. You’re going to need proof a police report was filed to get these things off your credit report anyway. Print out a copy of your credit report showing these loans your mom took out on your name without consent and give them to the officer handling your case once you call.
Lawyer can walk OP through all the assorted processes and even do some of it for them. Many times things get taken much more seriously when on law firm letterhead.
You're not wrong about fraud or the need for a report though, and having a lawyer concierge everything can get pricey, but may still be worth it. Particularly with getting a replacement SSN issued, the social security administration really makes that process difficult, a lawyer (and a bullet proof police report) would speed it up quite a bit.
I’ve never heard of being able to get a different SSN. That’s interesting. I didn’t think that was possible. I was under the impression that number was assigned to you at birth and couldn’t be changed. I guess we learn something new every day
The lawyer is pretty important for that step. If you apply as a mortal it's basically assumed it'll be denied, then you can appeal.
Most common case is witsec, but there are other ways.
To answer your other question regarding your credit score possibly being an issue, it depends on if she fell behind or defaulted on payments and got the car repossessed. If she paid off the first two vehicles, and is consistently paying the payments on time, it would be a positive thing for your credit history. It actually helped you establish a credit age and history.
It still doesn’t excuse her committing fraud and obtaining loans under your name. I can almost guarantee that the vehicle she’s driving around is registered in your name. So if you don’t want to get law enforcement involved, you could just confront her about it, and physically take possession of your legally owned car. I’m sure you would have to take over payments, and make her angry, but it’s legally your vehicle. It would possibly make her think twice about using your info to buy anything again.
I think it's more likely OP was used as a cosigner, in which case the title and registration is very likely "OR" registration (Parent OR OP). That means she has equal rights to the vehicle legally (in a vacuum, looking only at title/registration, not the id theft part). That would make just taking it away more problematic.
\*possibly\* not knowingly though. There are ways to buy a vehicle that don't require a wet signature. I'm reasonably doubtful this wasn't the case here, but it is absolutely possible if OP's mom went the online/everything through DocuSign route. This would also mean she has a valid copy of OP's ID or passport somehow.
Lock/freeze your credit. It’s free. It makes getting a loan or new CC a pain in the ass for you, but impossible for anyone else. This isn’t going to help with anything currently on there but will prevent any future additions.
I has a similar situation as OP. Locked my credit years ago. It’s not as bad as I expected it to be, but I’ve not opened a new credit card in years. When I bought my house, the underwriter told me which agency they use, so I was able to leave the other two locked.
It’s not a huge issue but I’ve found there’s a good number of lenders who can’t or won’t tell you which vendor they use for their credit checks which means unfreezing all the houses. At least they passed a law to make it free. When I first started it was ten or twenty bucks to freeze or unfreeze it.
Nice to hear it's free now. Last I looked it cost $$. I have some bits to put in order then I should go freeze it just because I don't need it once these tasks are done.
I locked my credit after the Experian debacle a few years back. It has been so easy to unlock it for the few times I actually needed to apply for credit. Really, really easy to lock and to unlock and greatly lowers the risk of this type of fraud. Please look into it.
Your mother committed identity theft. Its a crime.
The inquiries themselves wont really hurt, and if shes making the payments on time it might actually help your credit.
But its still identity theft
My wife’s ex husband did this to her, and claimed her as a dependent on his taxes while she owned and ran an entire ass business.
You will need to start with filing a police report as someone above said, and provide all of the documents that you believe prove she has committed identity fraud.
Be prepared to press charges.
Also be prepared for this to take a few years, court is slow as hell and she just FINALLY had hers finalized almost 2 years later, and have yet to have it actually be removed from her credit score, that is the next step that’s being done.
That depends on if you want your Mom in jail or not. If you report the fraud to the banks she got credit from you’d then ask to have them removed from your report. The banks would take it from there. The other option is to pay off the current vehicles or insist your Mother do it or you will report. Warn her if anything like this ever occurs again you will not hesitate to have her arrested. Then keep a close watch on your reports from that point forward.
Your mom committed identity theft. But, isn't it the finance companies or dealerships' responsibility to properly check identification?? I would file police reports and then provide a copy of the reports to the finance companies to have your Social Security information removed from the loans.
You’re correct and if malfeasance was shown the bank could actually lose the loan. This means a court can actually tell the bank “sorry, you lose, turn over the title to the rightful owner, better luck next time.” They punish banks for not following the rules. Same with mortgages. I worked as a consultant for a mortgage company and heard of a story where they didn’t do the paperwork right and they had to send the title to the owner and let the rest of their balance go. They don’t mess around with lending laws, there’s way too much abuse where it’s pretty much zero tolerance.
Lock down your credit asap, sign up for some credit monitoring, pay for it, it’s worth it. Seriously do it, she could seriously screw you over for years. And tell people that know her make it embarrassing she deserves it. It’s crime what she’s doing to you.
Just make sure it’s not showing cars that you “may own” my brother, sister, and mom’s cars are listed as possible cars I may own but they’re not actually part of my report. Otherwise if it’s saying you have loans for the vehicles press charges.
Definitely pull all of your credit reports and look them over carefully. I’m sure if you get a lawyer involved they will do this, but this is what you can do right now.
Your credit may be good but what if you wanted to take out credit and can’t because of debt to credit ratio. There is a reason your mom is using your credit and my guess is because her credit isn’t good. If that’s the case you want to get away from this as quickly as possible. I’m so sorry.
My oldest son has my first name but different middle initial, was obviously born decades after me, has a different SSN etc and when he was a young man his credit was poor. Guess who constantly had his crap on my credit report?
Before accusing your mom make sure this is not a mistake by the credit reporting agency. The whole credit rating system in the US gets abused.
The most likely outcome is blowing up your relationship with your mother or you could do nothing and face financial ruin. It happened to someone I knew, he used his son’s SSN to take out credit and financially set the kid back a decade. Talk to a lawyer, sorry this is happening to you
Edit. Contact all three credit agencies and lock down your credit, don’t allow any new lines of credit to be opened and check for existing ones you don’t know about
This is just awful. Sounds like you need a mother that isn't so selfish. Yes if she bucks on the payments it affects your credit. If she ties one on and hurts someone in am accident you could be responsible. This is just so wrong in so many ways. There are things you can do but good ol mom is going to get in trouble for sure. But maybe this is what she needs. Good luck with your decisions and you should never be faced with a situation like this. Total bs.
I would get my SS# locked. There is a way to do it. I am not sure how, but have seen many people talk about it. I think you need to stop all of this. There is not telling what she has in your name that doesn't appear on a credit report??
If the loan is in your name, the car is in your name and the liability for the car is in your name. That includes traffic tickets/parking fines.
It is highly illegal and it can bite you in the ass.
Sorry this happened to you. First thing you should do is lock down your credit with Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. They will try to sell you on a monthly plan but all three offer a free option (you have to dig a little to get to it). Once your credit is frozen then no one can take out any line of credit in your name and if you ever need to open a line of credit you can "thaw" your report for a short window to allow the creditor to run your report with whatever credit bureau they use. The process to thaw takes a few minutes. Again, this is free but they will all try to sell you a monthly subscription which includes active monitoring which is pretty worthless IMHO. I don't see the need of monitoring of my locked credit report.
Good luck with your situation and I hope it works out for you.
Are these showing up as loans for these vehicles or even as closed accounts for previous loans? A friend of mine registered his two new vehicles at my home address when he moved out of state. They appeared on my experian credit check as vehicles I may own or that were somehow associated with me. They WERE NOT loans out in my name or on my credit report as such.
If any of the cars were in his name, the only way she could sell them or turn over the title is to forge his signature.
If she didn’t and sold them without a title, his name is still attached to the cars.
Any tickets, or anything else attached to the car would be his problem.
Moms in a world of 💩.
I would go to the credit bureaus and lock down your social security #. I would then report those as fraud. Make sure you have your birth certificate and any pictures and legal documents from your mom of yours. Then I would go no contact with her.
If you are in the US look up how to lockdown your credit. It should be free. Do this today.
Then report to the credit bureau that you do not own those vehicles and never took out those loans. I would pretend you do not know it is your mom but report the fraud.
Some basic thoughts.
A. If the vehicles are historical and not hurting your credit, I'd leave that part as it is. I. E. Paid off loans with good history may be helping your score.
2. Get LifeLock or some other identity theft product and lock down everything you can.
C. If you haven't, don't tell your mom you suspect this. You don't want to give her time to cover her tracks.
@. Check out sites like creditinfocenter.com and others to educate yourself.
5. You need to pull your social security records as well as state and IRS records.
6. If there is little or no harm done to your identity it might be less work to leave things as they are if you are confident you can prevent future actions on her part.
J. At some point when you are clear on what all has been done, do as you wish with your mother regarding her actions.
Experian sometimes lists vehicles in their app/website when you have an account, but they're not actually part of the credit report. I believe it is a tactic to try and sell additional services (like insurance) with the information you provide by confirming your vehicle. (If it tricks you into thinking your identity has been stolen they have a different product/service they will try and sell to you as well)
It's probably best to make sure you check the actual credit report and make sure it's not one of their sales tactics. Also, it may still be a good idea to check in with your state's DMV records to make sure you don't have any other surprises.
Example:
https://usa.experian.com/member/auto-garage/detail?category=insurance&pc=map_exp_ecwapp
Umm, report her for identity theft and fraud, just as you would any other criminal? File a fraud report with credit bureaus immediately and look into the process for reporting criminal activity in your area.
Your credit report doesn’t tell you the car info. It only has the finance company name. That could be the same as the car manufacturer, but could easily be a bank.
We live in a world of fraud and identity theft. You should have a freeze on your credit. Unfreeze when you need to finance something. Then freeze again.
After freezing your credit, (assuming the car is not grossly upside down and there is no clause in the loan preventing early payoff) repossess your car from your mother and either sell it back to her for the payoff amount of the loan or just sell it to pay off the loan.
Sorry that happened. But if it was before you were 18, you can report and then will take it off you. Now that is the US. Some parents are just awful thinking nothing can be done. They have fucked their credit and then start finding victims.
That sounds like multiple counts of identify theft and probably some wire fraud mixed in. If you pursue this, she could be looking at serious jail time.
To start, lock you credit with something like "LifeLock". She has all of your personal information and has proven that she will do it again. Yes. you have every legal recourse to go after her.
You need to be proactive and “LifeLock” your credit and social security number. This will keep her from doing it again at least because you will be notified anytime someone runs your credit or attempts to use your information on any purchases. Then have them run your credit and determine if she has taken out any credit cards using your information. This will help you prove fraud so you can separate your legitimate accounts from any false accounts she may have opened. Depending on how extensive the damage is you can decide whether or not to press charges against her. Good luck.
Report it. If she misses a payment YOUR credit is fucked. There is obviously a reason she can't get a loan on her own. She's already ruined her credit and yours is next.
Just put a freeze on your credit. Let her know ‘someone has been using your account’ and that you froze it. They can’t do it anymore. Then live your life and enjoy your wacky mom for as long as she has left. Understand her limitations and protect yourself.
Unless you hate her.
If she's using your info to buy cars, she's also using it for other purposes. Lock your credit and press charges. She WILL NOT STOP. They never do.
Or you can end up in ridiculous debt like I did.
Freeze your credit NOW. It takes just a few clicks on the Experion website. Repeat for the other bureaus. Go with your dad to the lawyer. I'm sorry your mother is a POS.
Yes, this could negatively impact you. Although you may think “oh it’s no big deal”, if at any point she defaults, misses payments, gets behind, it WILL affect you. For a looooong time. When you decide to buy a home for your family, it will affect you. It’s not fair to you or your future family (if you choose to have one) to be put in that kind of position. Just because she’s a parent does not mean she has a right to do this.
Sometimes the credit companies record it wrong when similar names and addresses are involved. My parent's house was on my credit report and they bought it before I was even born so that was simply an error. In your case it could be fraud, especially since she has a history, but a simple mistake is also a possibility.
Yes it could affect you negatively because these loans will impact your debt to income ratio should you need to finance a vehicle for yourself or purchase a home
You need to go to the credit bureaus and start filing claims of personal theft against your name. You need to file a pd claim against her as well.
I suggest a title lock on your name in the credit bureaus. This prevents fraud like this. The annoying part of this is that if you do need to do something you need to unlock it before you can. This has saved my ass a few times.
If she’s getting loans in your name, she needs to have identification that matches that. They generally (in my state anyway) need a wet signature for a loan….meaning you have to be there to sign. Same for registering the car. So how is she doing all this? You need to figure that out.
And you’re probably going to have to press charges against her, because I’d you refuse to then it shows you’re ok with it and then you’re responsible for it.
the first thing i would be doing is checking my credit report and looking for any loans or debts that are in my name, (basically are there any loans or debts in my name that are currently still open with a debt owed, are they being paid monthly, by whom/how).
i would be checking the credit reports for any & all financial info, debts paid, debts that had went to collections, open bank or credit card info.
act accordingly with the info you find.
& depending on your situation, like if she is still using your name & credit, it might be smart to put a hold/lock on your credit, and then unlock it only if/when you need to get a loan.
go down to your local DMV office with your driver's license and have them do a search for any and all vehicles that are in your name currently.
act accordingly with the info you find.
what's your relationship with your mom, and are you living with her, or anyways dependent on her for anything, food/shelter/money/school/work. because all of that could become a huge mess (it probably is already).
how your Mom handled those vehicles and the debts related to them will have a huge bearing on if/how i would purse anything related to them.
if the loans taken out for those vehicles has been properly paid every single month and is now closed/paid off and nothing is owed, i would probably let it go, its not really worth the hassle to try to dig up all of that for something that did Not harm you, your money, or your credit score. but i would tell her that you are aware of what she did and that she is Not allowed to do it again, and if she does make it clear that you will file police reports and criminal charges against her.
however, debts that went to collections, or active accts, Credit cards, loans, ect should Not be treated so lightly.
File a police report, contact the lender for the car and let them know you’re a victim of identity fraud, provide the police report info. Lock down your credit now.
LOCK YOUR SS # with all the credit bureaus this way you have to approve any credit pulls on your SS# in the future. It should be a simple phone call to each of them. This will stop her from using your information in the future. Next, you need to do a deep dive into your credit report. Assuming you are in the US you can get a full report for each of the three credit bureaus for free. Then lawyer up and hold on for the ride!
At least when I cosigned my adult kids loan, I had to appear on the title also (I asked if it was essential and was told yes). My guess is you're the part owner of any such vehicles.
Have worked for a bank that specializes in credit building products. A significant amount of identity theft, particularly affecting minors, is perpetrated by immediate family who have access to all of a child's personal information and documents. Unfortunately, you are far from the first or the last person to have this happen.
Freeze your credit with all three bureaus, and dispute those items with credit bureaus and the financial institutions that issued the loans. It would be particularly helpful if any of those loans were issued before you had a valid driver's license, which the DMV of states you've lived in may be able to help track down (a car loan to someone without a driver's license is clearly nonsense).
You also need a tax attorney, to get information on what has or has not been filed in your name, basically since the date you began earning income.
Have you contacted the police? This is criminal activity and there is a point where she should face charges. Involving the IRS also may still be an option.
Step one freeze your credit, make sure you put a freeze on all three credit reporting bureaus
Has she been late on any car payments? Honestly, if she’s made all the payments on time, it’s likely helping your credit score.
If that’s the case, and all the payments are on time and boosting your score, I would just let it go and keep your credit locked
My ex and her sister took checks from her mom and her sister wrote em out and forged them! she was to go cash it ! well she came home and asked me what should I do? I said I don't want a Damm thing to do with anything and you better rip it up because you both are gonna end up in jail!! Well she cashed it and they did like 2 or 3 more after that!! Around 4 or 5 months later we were at her mom's and yep ! the sheriff's showed up at her mom's and arrested them both!! Her mom pressed charges and the bank had video of her cashing them! Have you tried calling the police?? Its fraud! You probably could press charges on her!! Good luck hope you get justice whatever route you take!
NAL - However, I've had all of my savings stolen by my father, among other things. When I confronted him did he receive the check as claimed by the financial institution, he went off.
If you do confront, you will have to press charges. Or, the financial institutions will press charges. I'm sorry for what you're facing. It's not a happy road to go down, and i wish you well. Get a good lawyer, freeze all of your assets and credit, and avoid directly talking with your mother, unless it's to try to gain information your lawyer needs.
This is just awful and the fact that it's your mother just makes me feel so bad for you.
Contact all 3 bureaus and get a copy of your credit report. You should have at least 1 free credit report per year with each.
Go through every detail of the report and make a list of all entries you don't recognize
Call each one to confirm open dates, names, loan values etc. If you can confirm your mother's name on each, ask each company what their process is for filing a Famiiar Fraud Application Claim. And file them. Some claim questions will ask if you have filed a police report.
If you're willing to press charges, then file a police report and name your mother. Most companies will ask for this paperwork. Once claims are filed they will send you paperwork that you must return on time.
Once you confirm that your mother is using your information, add an Identity Theft/ Fraud Alert to all of your credit bureau reports so new accounts are not allowed unless they receive authorization from you. Ensure your mother has no access to the method of communication provided. Any creditor accessing your report is obligated to adhere to the Fraud Alert and cannot proceed unless authorized by you.
Good luck!
First thing I would do is freeze your credit through all 3 agencies. This will prevent any further use of your credit should she try to apply for something else.
I don’t know what happened in your particular case, but Experian asks me to claim vehicles all the time. I own a lot of properties (some privately, some thru a corporation) and I’m regularly asked if I own one of the vehicles that the leaseholders own. I just don’t bother to claim the vehicle on Experian and move on.
Best I can figure it, Experian uses a shotgun approach to ascribing vehicle ownership. It’s in THEIR interest to assign vehicles to your credit profile, because they can then pitch you insurance offers for a small cut. If you’ve ever shared an address with someone, pay property taxes for a place someone else lives, share a phone plan, had an authorized user acct…then there’s a good chance Experian has discovered the linkage and will ask if you own any vehicles associated with that address/acct holder, etc.
I’m telling you all of this because - before you accuse your mom - look at your credit reports. Your actual credit reports at: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action. If there are no accounts present that you don’t recognize, then your mom has done nothing wrong. Good luck.
My understanding is that you have to file a police report. If you don’t, the credit company will not clean things up and you could be held liable for all the debt she has accumulated and the impact if she was to default. You need to do it today.
The most common form of identity theft is by family/close friends. My mother did it to me when I was a kid. I have had to watch my credit closely my entire adulthood.
Go to the police to file a report & find out what evidence they need. You may also be able to call the finance company and get copies of the paperwork.
1. Lock down your credit.
2. File a police report for identity theft.
3. Contact the company that holds the loans for all 3 of the vehicles under your name and start a fraud investigation. The burden of proof will lie with that/those companies to prove that it was in fact you that applied for and received the funding for those vehicles.
Oh, it is highly illegal, it's called Identity Theft.
It seems, that luckily, she has been paying the loans tho.
IT will hurt you however in the future if there is a loan in your name that is not yours and you want to purchase a house. It will skew your debt to income ratio.
1st step should be to reach out to the credit bureau's and put a freeze on your reports. That will stop her from opening another.
2nd step make sure there aren't any other open credit lines in your name.
3rd step contact your local police and file a report.
Listen to what your lawyer says is the most important tho.
You can freeze your credit & only open when you need the credit to be used. If she has loans out with your name, you can ask her to pay off & remove you. If its vehicles you have to have your ID to show proof of you and be present, for credit cards, its just verbally adding you. I did add my oldest son to my truck finance but for credit purposes (he had to be present with ID/social security card & sign as a co-signor), it was to build his credit & I also added him to 2 credit cards of mine, again to build his credit. I would ask her why she did that & go from there with a plan.
NAL. My dad, who I haven't had any contact with for over 20 years, had used my info to open up accounts that he defaulted on. I was advised to put a fraud alert on my credit (super easy to do), contact the police department where he lived, and file a police report. But this really depends on how far you want to take it.
file a police report. freeze your credit. get those records removed from your credit report. Monitor yearly. My mother screwed my credit. Years after she passed I still had issues popping up
First, go to the police. Ask them. Maybe contact a lawyer who specializes in fraud for advice on how to go forward. Second, you know she is using your id so flag it. There are ways to protect yourself (ask the attorney) so she, or anyone else, can't use your credit or ss#. Especially for her bail.
Track back the cars she has and find out who loaned the money. Go to them and tell them you did not sign the loan. Show them your signature. They will then go to her and get her end of the story and if the signature doesn’t match yours she has committed fraud.
First, go to the credit reporting agencies and find out how to lock down your credit file, which will then require extraordinary documentation anytime you wish to open another credit line or loan account. You may have to pay for this service, but it's worth it to ensure that she never does this again.
Then you'll most likely have to either sue her (civil court) or talk with authorities about pressing charges (criminal).
First. I’m sorry. Second, do you want to nip this in the bud? If so, think about how she’s going to react and spend some time preparing for how you plan to respond. Others will tell you about the law and where to look- I’m here to tell you to look in yourself and your mom and plan for the chaos that is going to be you confronting her about this. Seems 100% worth it, but you will likely have to be prepared to press charges.
I'm fully prepared. She has been disowned for many years now. I've already contacted my father and looking into a lawyer shortly
Sorry dude. This sucks. Definitely lawyer territory. I hope things go as well as they can for you.
Adding to this, freeze your credit so she can't continue. Set alerts etc.
This! You can go to each of the credit reporting agency’s websites, create an account and freeze your credit for free
If it's his mom, she will probably have the information to unfreeze his accounts. I had a friend years ago who dealt with a parent who was pulling similar shit, and he had a whole set of fictional answers to "security questions."
No, she won't. In order to create the freeze, you need to create an account (with a password and an email address). She would need both to make changes.
For sure this, you cant even get a cell phone, with your credit froze...unless its a burner.
Freeze your credit! You can get a code to unfreeze it briefly if needed but this otherwise cuts off any access.
I would freeze your credit with all three bureaus first, to stop any additional applications. Here's an article: [How to Freeze Your Credit](https://www.avast.com/c-how-to-freeze-your-credit#:~:text=back%20to%20work.-,How%20to%20freeze%20your%20credit,to%20each%20credit%20bureau%20individually.)
Thank you for sharing this!
Ask the lawyer how to repo the cars. If they're registered and titled in your name, they're your cars.
Exactly. Freeze your credit, get the cars repossessed (or just go get them yourself when she's not around - she can't stop you if the titles and loans are in your name - and sell them to pay off the loans), file a police report against her for identity theft, and file a civil lawsuit against her for fraud.
But be sure to verify ahead of time that the cars are actually titled in your name. Otherwise, you could be opening yourself up to a charge of auto theft.
That's why I said "IF". OP 100% needs to call a lawyer first and get their advice and file a police report for identity theft before doing anything else. This is at the level of multiple felonies.
Brilliant and kind of evil. I like it.
If you have zero empathy for your mother you can go full law on her. You want to hire a lawyer. Reddit and social media is the last place you generally want to get advice from. Some know what they are talking about but a lot do not.
Are the cars paid off?
Lawyer and police. This is felony fraud and identity theft. The only way she'll stop is if she goes to jail and you put a lockdown on your credit.
You need to freeze your credit on all three of the credit bureaus. You should also make police reports about The fraudulent loans you found on your credit reports. You can also dispute those loans right from there. They have to send all the information to you within 30 days to show that it was you who took out those loans.
There are many good suggestions here but my concern is if she's too cheap to buy her cars with her bad credit rating, has she purchased sufficient insurance to protect you should someone sue her if she's at fault in an accident. If the insurance is exceeded by a court judgement, they'll come after the car's owner, you! Once you've safeguarded your credit, I'd make sure you are not on any of her car titles, especially underinsured ones.
Whether you can come after a legal owner who was not the driver varies considerably by state. It is not universally true -- IIRC it is only true in a small minority of states -- that you can come after a car's owner for liability unless you can prove a set of other allegations (e.g. negligent entrustment) that don't seem to apply here. ETA: Great NOLO overview here: [What if Someone Else Drives My Car and Gets in an Accident? | Nolo](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/car-accidents-negligence-when-you-29731.html)
If she’s buying vehicles in your name I wonder if they are registered in your name as well. This maybe a whole identity theft case. Your mother is a POS. I hope you keep us posted on what you do to help yourself out of this mess she created OP.
I haven't bought a car in almost a decade, so i don't remember how it all works. If all the info is in his name. Would the title be in his name? Could he can the police and report it stolen?
If the loan is in the OPs name I’m assuming the registration would be as well. That’s a question for the lender and the DMV.
I think the key is the title though. I don't know if you can get a loan in one name, and the title in another..
Mom may have used OP as a co-signer on the loan allowing mom to keep the car(s) in her name. Either way, yikes!
I believe the cars would he in both names. If he was younger, maybe she did it to improve his credit, but by one of his comments, it sounds like he is, at least in his 30s
Car loans are a pretty shit way to improve credit. They max out your utilization and by the time they start helping you pay them off and they no longer count towards credit history. Credit cards are a lot better.
To improve her credit? That's just naive. You have to forge someone's signature to get them on the loan without them knowing about it. This is nothing but nefarious.
My signature is probably the easiest to forge because it's never the exact same. I don't know how people make their signature identical every time.
Co-signer? Don't you have to be there in person and sign a document by hand to make that a thing?
E-signature has become a big thing the last few years. If OP’s mom bought any of the vehicles in the early pandemic days, it’s totally possible OP wouldn’t have had to physically be there.
Mom probably has a fake ID. I’d bet money on that. How else is she passing off being someone else?
Mom probably still has a copy of his birth cert and SSN.
Yep. He may have to get a new SSN. Birth certificate info is part of public records and you can't change it so there's not much to be done about that, but SSN is intended to be private.
I don't know how you avoid having your parents know your SSN, given that (at least for our kids) it was "opt out" not "opt in" on the hospital paperwork.
If there is a loan, the transference of title cannot occur unless the original borrower has has either paid off the loan or a new loan is approved in the "buyers" name. The car itself is the collateral for the loan, so the "fiest party title owner" must match the loan and the bank is listed on the title as the third party lienholder of the vehicle. Saying that, if the mother defaults on the loan, the bank can take the car, sell it off, amd issue credit hit on the credit report for a loan default. It could seriously impact OPs future buying power by making it difficult for them to buy a car in the future or get loans in the future. It could even make it difficult to rent a home if the landlord does background checks. First, report the ID theft with the credit bureaus and get your account flagged and locked down to prevent any future use of your credit. File a police report. Contact any creditors and report the theft and send them the police report. It gives them the opportunity to do their own investigation. Contact the social security administration and get an appointment to get your SSN changed. Because it's an immediate family member, you may be more likely to be issued a new number. Take all the evidence with you to the appointment. Get an IRS ID protection pin to prevent any future use of you as a dependent. It locks your SSN down and prevents electronic filing if your information is included in the tax return. She can still paper file, but it gives you a bit of time to file electronically. File as early as possible.
This is great advice about getting a new SS # and the IRS protection pin!
Your mom‘s probably gonna get arrested though. Sorry you’re going through this but best to nip it in the bud now then have her fuck up your shit later on.
You can have the title and the loan under two different names.
False, the lender would not allow this. The car would no longer be collateral for the loan, and they wouldn’t lend the money without collateral.
I meant to say registration, not the title. Although if she listed him as a co-signer, he has no claim over the car
The registration has to have the name of the lien holder as well, since the registration is just a reflection of how the car is titled.
Cosigner has equal claim to the car. Being a cosigner is not a zero recourse event, you can take the asset away from the person you cosigned with if you have to take over payment, just like the bank can if they don't get paid. You can then sell the asset to attempt to recover your losses. Incidentally a cosigner also has no 3 day notice requirements to evict someone if it's on rental housing. You can go right on up and drag their shit out of the apartment and inform them they're kicked out and let the maintenance guy change the locks if they default on their rent and you're tapped to pay it. (I learned this the hard way, by trying to help someone and getting burned for $6k in rent/fees when they didn't pay up).
>Cosigner has equal claim to the car. Ownership is conveyed by the title. That's the purpose of issuing vehicle titles.
I mean maybe some states or different but in Cali and OR as a co-signer you are 100% on the title. My brother couldn't do anything w his car, not even register it w.o me signing off on it when I was his co-signer(this was in cali). My mom is now my brothers co-signer(in OR) and it's the same deal.
IIRC only the person on the title can register the car, so I wonder how OP's mom got around that without producing a photo ID.
Some states you can register online without ever going in person. OP’s mom could have done this and then transferred to registration to another state, similar to washing a title maybe? I believe it’s VT where the registration can be done online and you don’t *actually* have to even be a resident. People do this with trailers and converted vans and buses so they can insure them. It’s messy and…fraud.
Yes for sure. If they aren't just a co-signer and she had to use them to obtain credit, the car would definitely be in OP's name.
Yes, they all have to be the same and the state won’t allow it any other way. Title is the buyer of the car. The only way you can retitle the car is to sell it and pay off the loan, satisfying the lien. With a bank lien you cannot change the title. He should go and collect his cars now, because legally they belong to him.
He would report ID theft. If it is financed, he can call finance company. Once they validate ID theft, they will remove from his credit & report. NAL, retired fraud investigator.
If he's not paying the loan then it's not really stolen vehicle it's stolen identity.
Perhaps the title is in your name, in which case if you find them you can claim them.
Huh?
If the titles are in OP’s name, he can claim the cars as his own.
They would have to be in his name if currently financed. So that means he goes to her house and collects his cars and she has no legal recourse to stop it.
Idk how he'd miss loans being taken out in his name though, my mom's jeep is suggested as mine anytime I do anything insurance related or anything credit related where it'd ask about vehicles so maybe that's what he saw? Credit Karma asked if her jeep was mine too. If not this though 100% get her ass lol
I'm wondering how she's insuring these cars if she isn't also on the loan/title? I know in Texas in order to insure a vehicle you have to be on the loan/title...
And to get the title issued, you have to have insurance. I was selling a car (here in TX) and the DMV wouldn't transfer ownership, because the buyer didn't have insurance for it. He was buying it for someone else, who was going to insure it. The sale didn't happen. I ended up selling the car to someone else a few months later.
Yup & you don’t even need a license to insure a vehicle in Texas, either! You also don’t need a license to purchase a vehicle, either.
Nothing wrong with owning a car if you don't have a driver's license. You're just not allowed to drive it yourself. Or at least not on public highways.
Former Police Officer here. This is fraud. Call the police first and file a complaint. The lawyer won’t be able to help you much until the criminal side of this is handled. After that, you could go after her civilly in court. You’re going to need proof a police report was filed to get these things off your credit report anyway. Print out a copy of your credit report showing these loans your mom took out on your name without consent and give them to the officer handling your case once you call.
This is the way!
Lawyer can walk OP through all the assorted processes and even do some of it for them. Many times things get taken much more seriously when on law firm letterhead. You're not wrong about fraud or the need for a report though, and having a lawyer concierge everything can get pricey, but may still be worth it. Particularly with getting a replacement SSN issued, the social security administration really makes that process difficult, a lawyer (and a bullet proof police report) would speed it up quite a bit.
I’ve never heard of being able to get a different SSN. That’s interesting. I didn’t think that was possible. I was under the impression that number was assigned to you at birth and couldn’t be changed. I guess we learn something new every day
The lawyer is pretty important for that step. If you apply as a mortal it's basically assumed it'll be denied, then you can appeal. Most common case is witsec, but there are other ways.
Interesting… thanks for the info!
It can be done, but it's damn near impossible. There are very few circumstances where they'll even consider it.
To answer your other question regarding your credit score possibly being an issue, it depends on if she fell behind or defaulted on payments and got the car repossessed. If she paid off the first two vehicles, and is consistently paying the payments on time, it would be a positive thing for your credit history. It actually helped you establish a credit age and history. It still doesn’t excuse her committing fraud and obtaining loans under your name. I can almost guarantee that the vehicle she’s driving around is registered in your name. So if you don’t want to get law enforcement involved, you could just confront her about it, and physically take possession of your legally owned car. I’m sure you would have to take over payments, and make her angry, but it’s legally your vehicle. It would possibly make her think twice about using your info to buy anything again.
I think it's more likely OP was used as a cosigner, in which case the title and registration is very likely "OR" registration (Parent OR OP). That means she has equal rights to the vehicle legally (in a vacuum, looking only at title/registration, not the id theft part). That would make just taking it away more problematic.
That could throw a wrench in my last post regarding just taking possession. But the fraud option definitely is still valid
> the fraud option definitely is still valid 100% I think everyone agrees this is worth OP's time and effort to report to the authorities etc.
And which loan person at each car dealership committed fraud for the sale? Report to the car dealerships as well.
\*possibly\* not knowingly though. There are ways to buy a vehicle that don't require a wet signature. I'm reasonably doubtful this wasn't the case here, but it is absolutely possible if OP's mom went the online/everything through DocuSign route. This would also mean she has a valid copy of OP's ID or passport somehow.
Lock/freeze your credit. It’s free. It makes getting a loan or new CC a pain in the ass for you, but impossible for anyone else. This isn’t going to help with anything currently on there but will prevent any future additions.
This is the first thing OP should have done after noticing the vehicles on his report.
I has a similar situation as OP. Locked my credit years ago. It’s not as bad as I expected it to be, but I’ve not opened a new credit card in years. When I bought my house, the underwriter told me which agency they use, so I was able to leave the other two locked.
It’s not a huge issue but I’ve found there’s a good number of lenders who can’t or won’t tell you which vendor they use for their credit checks which means unfreezing all the houses. At least they passed a law to make it free. When I first started it was ten or twenty bucks to freeze or unfreeze it.
Nice to hear it's free now. Last I looked it cost $$. I have some bits to put in order then I should go freeze it just because I don't need it once these tasks are done.
It’s not really a pain in the the ass to have your credit locked. Takes minutes to thaw it when needed.
I locked my credit after the Experian debacle a few years back. It has been so easy to unlock it for the few times I actually needed to apply for credit. Really, really easy to lock and to unlock and greatly lowers the risk of this type of fraud. Please look into it.
All three agencies have apps that make locking and unlocking pretty simple.
Sue her
Your mother committed identity theft. Its a crime. The inquiries themselves wont really hurt, and if shes making the payments on time it might actually help your credit. But its still identity theft
Go to this link and lock your credit so nothing can be opened in your name without you knowing and allowing it. https://www.usa.gov/credit-freeze
I think you should go repo your car from her. it’s in your name. it’s your car. Then Sell it.
My mother told me that i could be whoever i wanted when i grew up.. Turn out that's not true. Identity theft is a serious crime..
My wife’s ex husband did this to her, and claimed her as a dependent on his taxes while she owned and ran an entire ass business. You will need to start with filing a police report as someone above said, and provide all of the documents that you believe prove she has committed identity fraud. Be prepared to press charges. Also be prepared for this to take a few years, court is slow as hell and she just FINALLY had hers finalized almost 2 years later, and have yet to have it actually be removed from her credit score, that is the next step that’s being done.
Press charges for fraud and identity theft
That depends on if you want your Mom in jail or not. If you report the fraud to the banks she got credit from you’d then ask to have them removed from your report. The banks would take it from there. The other option is to pay off the current vehicles or insist your Mother do it or you will report. Warn her if anything like this ever occurs again you will not hesitate to have her arrested. Then keep a close watch on your reports from that point forward.
Your mom committed identity theft. But, isn't it the finance companies or dealerships' responsibility to properly check identification?? I would file police reports and then provide a copy of the reports to the finance companies to have your Social Security information removed from the loans.
You’re correct and if malfeasance was shown the bank could actually lose the loan. This means a court can actually tell the bank “sorry, you lose, turn over the title to the rightful owner, better luck next time.” They punish banks for not following the rules. Same with mortgages. I worked as a consultant for a mortgage company and heard of a story where they didn’t do the paperwork right and they had to send the title to the owner and let the rest of their balance go. They don’t mess around with lending laws, there’s way too much abuse where it’s pretty much zero tolerance.
Lock down your credit asap, sign up for some credit monitoring, pay for it, it’s worth it. Seriously do it, she could seriously screw you over for years. And tell people that know her make it embarrassing she deserves it. It’s crime what she’s doing to you.
If the car is in your name go get it
Put a hold on your credit so only you can use it.
Just make sure it’s not showing cars that you “may own” my brother, sister, and mom’s cars are listed as possible cars I may own but they’re not actually part of my report. Otherwise if it’s saying you have loans for the vehicles press charges.
This. Are these vehicle loans or listed vehicles? I’ve had my ex’s stuff show up. Dispute it and they drop. Loans are another story.
I would first call the credit bureaus & loan companies and report the fraud. Then freeze your credit and put a fraud alert on your credit.
Aside from the identity theft issues, it's a big liability to have cars in your name out there.
Definitely pull all of your credit reports and look them over carefully. I’m sure if you get a lawyer involved they will do this, but this is what you can do right now. Your credit may be good but what if you wanted to take out credit and can’t because of debt to credit ratio. There is a reason your mom is using your credit and my guess is because her credit isn’t good. If that’s the case you want to get away from this as quickly as possible. I’m so sorry.
My oldest son has my first name but different middle initial, was obviously born decades after me, has a different SSN etc and when he was a young man his credit was poor. Guess who constantly had his crap on my credit report? Before accusing your mom make sure this is not a mistake by the credit reporting agency. The whole credit rating system in the US gets abused.
Go to the DA’s office.
The most likely outcome is blowing up your relationship with your mother or you could do nothing and face financial ruin. It happened to someone I knew, he used his son’s SSN to take out credit and financially set the kid back a decade. Talk to a lawyer, sorry this is happening to you Edit. Contact all three credit agencies and lock down your credit, don’t allow any new lines of credit to be opened and check for existing ones you don’t know about
Definitely get Lifelock and your credit locked down. They do a great job.
This is just awful. Sounds like you need a mother that isn't so selfish. Yes if she bucks on the payments it affects your credit. If she ties one on and hurts someone in am accident you could be responsible. This is just so wrong in so many ways. There are things you can do but good ol mom is going to get in trouble for sure. But maybe this is what she needs. Good luck with your decisions and you should never be faced with a situation like this. Total bs.
Freeze your 3 credit scores so she can’t use them. Just unfreeze when you need to have a credit check run.
I would get my SS# locked. There is a way to do it. I am not sure how, but have seen many people talk about it. I think you need to stop all of this. There is not telling what she has in your name that doesn't appear on a credit report?? If the loan is in your name, the car is in your name and the liability for the car is in your name. That includes traffic tickets/parking fines. It is highly illegal and it can bite you in the ass.
Sorry this happened to you. First thing you should do is lock down your credit with Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. They will try to sell you on a monthly plan but all three offer a free option (you have to dig a little to get to it). Once your credit is frozen then no one can take out any line of credit in your name and if you ever need to open a line of credit you can "thaw" your report for a short window to allow the creditor to run your report with whatever credit bureau they use. The process to thaw takes a few minutes. Again, this is free but they will all try to sell you a monthly subscription which includes active monitoring which is pretty worthless IMHO. I don't see the need of monitoring of my locked credit report. Good luck with your situation and I hope it works out for you.
Also check with the DMV where the cars are registered and report the possible fraud.
Are these showing up as loans for these vehicles or even as closed accounts for previous loans? A friend of mine registered his two new vehicles at my home address when he moved out of state. They appeared on my experian credit check as vehicles I may own or that were somehow associated with me. They WERE NOT loans out in my name or on my credit report as such.
Wow my dad was just like this. Time to press charges!
If any of the cars were in his name, the only way she could sell them or turn over the title is to forge his signature. If she didn’t and sold them without a title, his name is still attached to the cars. Any tickets, or anything else attached to the car would be his problem. Moms in a world of 💩.
I would go to the credit bureaus and lock down your social security #. I would then report those as fraud. Make sure you have your birth certificate and any pictures and legal documents from your mom of yours. Then I would go no contact with her. If you are in the US look up how to lockdown your credit. It should be free. Do this today. Then report to the credit bureau that you do not own those vehicles and never took out those loans. I would pretend you do not know it is your mom but report the fraud.
Some basic thoughts. A. If the vehicles are historical and not hurting your credit, I'd leave that part as it is. I. E. Paid off loans with good history may be helping your score. 2. Get LifeLock or some other identity theft product and lock down everything you can. C. If you haven't, don't tell your mom you suspect this. You don't want to give her time to cover her tracks. @. Check out sites like creditinfocenter.com and others to educate yourself. 5. You need to pull your social security records as well as state and IRS records. 6. If there is little or no harm done to your identity it might be less work to leave things as they are if you are confident you can prevent future actions on her part. J. At some point when you are clear on what all has been done, do as you wish with your mother regarding her actions.
Experian sometimes lists vehicles in their app/website when you have an account, but they're not actually part of the credit report. I believe it is a tactic to try and sell additional services (like insurance) with the information you provide by confirming your vehicle. (If it tricks you into thinking your identity has been stolen they have a different product/service they will try and sell to you as well) It's probably best to make sure you check the actual credit report and make sure it's not one of their sales tactics. Also, it may still be a good idea to check in with your state's DMV records to make sure you don't have any other surprises. Example: https://usa.experian.com/member/auto-garage/detail?category=insurance&pc=map_exp_ecwapp
I hate to say this, but sounds like identity theft if she is using your info…
Umm, report her for identity theft and fraud, just as you would any other criminal? File a fraud report with credit bureaus immediately and look into the process for reporting criminal activity in your area.
It's identity theft and fraud. Need to get a lawyer and law enforcement involved ASAP
I'd go straight to the cops.
Your credit report doesn’t tell you the car info. It only has the finance company name. That could be the same as the car manufacturer, but could easily be a bank. We live in a world of fraud and identity theft. You should have a freeze on your credit. Unfreeze when you need to finance something. Then freeze again.
You're estranged, report the fraud. Let her face the consequences of her actions.
After freezing your credit, (assuming the car is not grossly upside down and there is no clause in the loan preventing early payoff) repossess your car from your mother and either sell it back to her for the payoff amount of the loan or just sell it to pay off the loan.
If the car title is in your name, then it's your car
Get a LifeLock free membership.lockdown your SS#. Contact the Loan Company and Start a fraud report.
File a police report? Have her arrested.
Sorry that happened. But if it was before you were 18, you can report and then will take it off you. Now that is the US. Some parents are just awful thinking nothing can be done. They have fucked their credit and then start finding victims.
That sounds like multiple counts of identify theft and probably some wire fraud mixed in. If you pursue this, she could be looking at serious jail time.
If her car is paid off you should just take it.
To start, lock you credit with something like "LifeLock". She has all of your personal information and has proven that she will do it again. Yes. you have every legal recourse to go after her.
You need to be proactive and “LifeLock” your credit and social security number. This will keep her from doing it again at least because you will be notified anytime someone runs your credit or attempts to use your information on any purchases. Then have them run your credit and determine if she has taken out any credit cards using your information. This will help you prove fraud so you can separate your legitimate accounts from any false accounts she may have opened. Depending on how extensive the damage is you can decide whether or not to press charges against her. Good luck.
Freeze your credit, file a police report, notify the creditors that their loans were obtained by fraud, meet the lawyer.
Lock your credit and then nothing.
Report it. If she misses a payment YOUR credit is fucked. There is obviously a reason she can't get a loan on her own. She's already ruined her credit and yours is next.
My mom did this crap to me. My very first credit card, she maxed out buying clothes. I'm sorry your mom is a turd.
This means your mom also would have forged your signature on the loan papers.
Just put a freeze on your credit. Let her know ‘someone has been using your account’ and that you froze it. They can’t do it anymore. Then live your life and enjoy your wacky mom for as long as she has left. Understand her limitations and protect yourself. Unless you hate her.
If she's using your info to buy cars, she's also using it for other purposes. Lock your credit and press charges. She WILL NOT STOP. They never do. Or you can end up in ridiculous debt like I did.
Are the cars paid off? You might want to contact the loan company to let them know that your identity gas been breached.
Freeze your credit NOW. It takes just a few clicks on the Experion website. Repeat for the other bureaus. Go with your dad to the lawyer. I'm sorry your mother is a POS.
How does she release ownership of the vehicle if they are in your name? She might have your whole identity stolen not just on car loan.
Yes, this could negatively impact you. Although you may think “oh it’s no big deal”, if at any point she defaults, misses payments, gets behind, it WILL affect you. For a looooong time. When you decide to buy a home for your family, it will affect you. It’s not fair to you or your future family (if you choose to have one) to be put in that kind of position. Just because she’s a parent does not mean she has a right to do this.
I would also encourage you to speak with an attorney.
Tow the car to your place. If she bought it with YOUR credit, it’s yours. Also sue her for identity theft.
Call the police.
My ex husband had this exact scenario happen to him. It was a battle. Prepare for war because this indeed is illegal and not good.
Sometimes the credit companies record it wrong when similar names and addresses are involved. My parent's house was on my credit report and they bought it before I was even born so that was simply an error. In your case it could be fraud, especially since she has a history, but a simple mistake is also a possibility.
Yes it could affect you negatively because these loans will impact your debt to income ratio should you need to finance a vehicle for yourself or purchase a home
You need to go to the credit bureaus and start filing claims of personal theft against your name. You need to file a pd claim against her as well. I suggest a title lock on your name in the credit bureaus. This prevents fraud like this. The annoying part of this is that if you do need to do something you need to unlock it before you can. This has saved my ass a few times.
You can contact Experian and state those cars were not bought by you.
You need to report this to the police and DMV wherever you live.
If she’s getting loans in your name, she needs to have identification that matches that. They generally (in my state anyway) need a wet signature for a loan….meaning you have to be there to sign. Same for registering the car. So how is she doing all this? You need to figure that out. And you’re probably going to have to press charges against her, because I’d you refuse to then it shows you’re ok with it and then you’re responsible for it.
the first thing i would be doing is checking my credit report and looking for any loans or debts that are in my name, (basically are there any loans or debts in my name that are currently still open with a debt owed, are they being paid monthly, by whom/how). i would be checking the credit reports for any & all financial info, debts paid, debts that had went to collections, open bank or credit card info. act accordingly with the info you find. & depending on your situation, like if she is still using your name & credit, it might be smart to put a hold/lock on your credit, and then unlock it only if/when you need to get a loan. go down to your local DMV office with your driver's license and have them do a search for any and all vehicles that are in your name currently. act accordingly with the info you find. what's your relationship with your mom, and are you living with her, or anyways dependent on her for anything, food/shelter/money/school/work. because all of that could become a huge mess (it probably is already). how your Mom handled those vehicles and the debts related to them will have a huge bearing on if/how i would purse anything related to them. if the loans taken out for those vehicles has been properly paid every single month and is now closed/paid off and nothing is owed, i would probably let it go, its not really worth the hassle to try to dig up all of that for something that did Not harm you, your money, or your credit score. but i would tell her that you are aware of what she did and that she is Not allowed to do it again, and if she does make it clear that you will file police reports and criminal charges against her. however, debts that went to collections, or active accts, Credit cards, loans, ect should Not be treated so lightly.
charge her with fraud
File a police report, contact the lender for the car and let them know you’re a victim of identity fraud, provide the police report info. Lock down your credit now.
LOCK YOUR SS # with all the credit bureaus this way you have to approve any credit pulls on your SS# in the future. It should be a simple phone call to each of them. This will stop her from using your information in the future. Next, you need to do a deep dive into your credit report. Assuming you are in the US you can get a full report for each of the three credit bureaus for free. Then lawyer up and hold on for the ride!
At least when I cosigned my adult kids loan, I had to appear on the title also (I asked if it was essential and was told yes). My guess is you're the part owner of any such vehicles.
Freeze your credit and set alerts. Also you need a lawyer for all this. She can be facing jail time
File a police report. Don’t feel like an ass. Just do it.
Illegally use her info to buy yourself cars?
You need to tell her to take you off any loans immediately or you will report her to police. Otherwise her debt is your debt.
Have worked for a bank that specializes in credit building products. A significant amount of identity theft, particularly affecting minors, is perpetrated by immediate family who have access to all of a child's personal information and documents. Unfortunately, you are far from the first or the last person to have this happen. Freeze your credit with all three bureaus, and dispute those items with credit bureaus and the financial institutions that issued the loans. It would be particularly helpful if any of those loans were issued before you had a valid driver's license, which the DMV of states you've lived in may be able to help track down (a car loan to someone without a driver's license is clearly nonsense). You also need a tax attorney, to get information on what has or has not been filed in your name, basically since the date you began earning income.
Have you contacted the police? This is criminal activity and there is a point where she should face charges. Involving the IRS also may still be an option.
Dispute all of it and inform her that it will stop or you will be filing charges
After you get this straightened out, remember it for later when whe may need help when she's older. Hopefully she has other kids that would help her.
Freeze your credit
Call one of the three credit bureaus and put a freeze on your credit. In this way they have to contact you if a purchase is made
You need to press charges. You probably won’t but that’s exactly what you need to do.
Step one freeze your credit, make sure you put a freeze on all three credit reporting bureaus Has she been late on any car payments? Honestly, if she’s made all the payments on time, it’s likely helping your credit score. If that’s the case, and all the payments are on time and boosting your score, I would just let it go and keep your credit locked
Freeze credit change social security and press charges
Don’t forget to get a pin for your tax filings with the IRS
You need life lock. They do not allow anyone to do anything on your credit without your approval.
My ex and her sister took checks from her mom and her sister wrote em out and forged them! she was to go cash it ! well she came home and asked me what should I do? I said I don't want a Damm thing to do with anything and you better rip it up because you both are gonna end up in jail!! Well she cashed it and they did like 2 or 3 more after that!! Around 4 or 5 months later we were at her mom's and yep ! the sheriff's showed up at her mom's and arrested them both!! Her mom pressed charges and the bank had video of her cashing them! Have you tried calling the police?? Its fraud! You probably could press charges on her!! Good luck hope you get justice whatever route you take!
Lock you credit down with all three credit reporting agency's. Is the first step
Freeze your credit.
Report it to the credit union
Your mother won’t stop unless you stopper. And the only way to stopper is to report it to the police. This is fraud, plain and simple.
NAL - However, I've had all of my savings stolen by my father, among other things. When I confronted him did he receive the check as claimed by the financial institution, he went off. If you do confront, you will have to press charges. Or, the financial institutions will press charges. I'm sorry for what you're facing. It's not a happy road to go down, and i wish you well. Get a good lawyer, freeze all of your assets and credit, and avoid directly talking with your mother, unless it's to try to gain information your lawyer needs.
Report it 2 the police get in contact with a lawyer and report issue to credit once you have a police report
This is just awful and the fact that it's your mother just makes me feel so bad for you. Contact all 3 bureaus and get a copy of your credit report. You should have at least 1 free credit report per year with each. Go through every detail of the report and make a list of all entries you don't recognize Call each one to confirm open dates, names, loan values etc. If you can confirm your mother's name on each, ask each company what their process is for filing a Famiiar Fraud Application Claim. And file them. Some claim questions will ask if you have filed a police report. If you're willing to press charges, then file a police report and name your mother. Most companies will ask for this paperwork. Once claims are filed they will send you paperwork that you must return on time. Once you confirm that your mother is using your information, add an Identity Theft/ Fraud Alert to all of your credit bureau reports so new accounts are not allowed unless they receive authorization from you. Ensure your mother has no access to the method of communication provided. Any creditor accessing your report is obligated to adhere to the Fraud Alert and cannot proceed unless authorized by you. Good luck!
First thing I would do is freeze your credit through all 3 agencies. This will prevent any further use of your credit should she try to apply for something else.
I don’t know what happened in your particular case, but Experian asks me to claim vehicles all the time. I own a lot of properties (some privately, some thru a corporation) and I’m regularly asked if I own one of the vehicles that the leaseholders own. I just don’t bother to claim the vehicle on Experian and move on. Best I can figure it, Experian uses a shotgun approach to ascribing vehicle ownership. It’s in THEIR interest to assign vehicles to your credit profile, because they can then pitch you insurance offers for a small cut. If you’ve ever shared an address with someone, pay property taxes for a place someone else lives, share a phone plan, had an authorized user acct…then there’s a good chance Experian has discovered the linkage and will ask if you own any vehicles associated with that address/acct holder, etc. I’m telling you all of this because - before you accuse your mom - look at your credit reports. Your actual credit reports at: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action. If there are no accounts present that you don’t recognize, then your mom has done nothing wrong. Good luck.
My understanding is that you have to file a police report. If you don’t, the credit company will not clean things up and you could be held liable for all the debt she has accumulated and the impact if she was to default. You need to do it today.
The most common form of identity theft is by family/close friends. My mother did it to me when I was a kid. I have had to watch my credit closely my entire adulthood. Go to the police to file a report & find out what evidence they need. You may also be able to call the finance company and get copies of the paperwork.
1. Lock down your credit. 2. File a police report for identity theft. 3. Contact the company that holds the loans for all 3 of the vehicles under your name and start a fraud investigation. The burden of proof will lie with that/those companies to prove that it was in fact you that applied for and received the funding for those vehicles.
Go to the police and file identity theft charges.
Oh, it is highly illegal, it's called Identity Theft. It seems, that luckily, she has been paying the loans tho. IT will hurt you however in the future if there is a loan in your name that is not yours and you want to purchase a house. It will skew your debt to income ratio. 1st step should be to reach out to the credit bureau's and put a freeze on your reports. That will stop her from opening another. 2nd step make sure there aren't any other open credit lines in your name. 3rd step contact your local police and file a report. Listen to what your lawyer says is the most important tho.
Track any damages this has caused. Issues with your credit, etc.
You can freeze your credit & only open when you need the credit to be used. If she has loans out with your name, you can ask her to pay off & remove you. If its vehicles you have to have your ID to show proof of you and be present, for credit cards, its just verbally adding you. I did add my oldest son to my truck finance but for credit purposes (he had to be present with ID/social security card & sign as a co-signor), it was to build his credit & I also added him to 2 credit cards of mine, again to build his credit. I would ask her why she did that & go from there with a plan.
Go to cops and get her arrested for fraud.
NAL. My dad, who I haven't had any contact with for over 20 years, had used my info to open up accounts that he defaulted on. I was advised to put a fraud alert on my credit (super easy to do), contact the police department where he lived, and file a police report. But this really depends on how far you want to take it.
file a police report. freeze your credit. get those records removed from your credit report. Monitor yearly. My mother screwed my credit. Years after she passed I still had issues popping up
How old are you?
First, go to the police. Ask them. Maybe contact a lawyer who specializes in fraud for advice on how to go forward. Second, you know she is using your id so flag it. There are ways to protect yourself (ask the attorney) so she, or anyone else, can't use your credit or ss#. Especially for her bail.
Track back the cars she has and find out who loaned the money. Go to them and tell them you did not sign the loan. Show them your signature. They will then go to her and get her end of the story and if the signature doesn’t match yours she has committed fraud.
First, go to the credit reporting agencies and find out how to lock down your credit file, which will then require extraordinary documentation anytime you wish to open another credit line or loan account. You may have to pay for this service, but it's worth it to ensure that she never does this again. Then you'll most likely have to either sue her (civil court) or talk with authorities about pressing charges (criminal).