We found the PERFECT house, so far so good. So we go to the bank to get the loan. When the loan officer breaks the news to Dragon, that his wife BETTY (MIL's NAME) has a lot of store credit cards that haven't been paid off and a VISA card that she is only paying the minimum due on and has a 10K balance.
We inform the loan officer that 1.) Dragon's wife's name is Jade not Betty and 2.) I DO NOT and have NEVER had any store credit cards much less a Visa with a balance of 10K. He informs us that sorry but BETTY has used Dragon's social security number to get these cards so our credit is SHOT.
Dragon calls MIL, yes she has all these card (sob) and yes the Visa is in Dragon's name because she can't get credit. She claims the store cards were in FIL's name before the divorce, and somehow the stores must have made a mistake for it to show up on our credit report.
I contact the store credit card companies to get the snafu with them straightened out. She used Dragon's social security number to open the accounts, they were opened after her divorce from FIL (not before like she told Dragon), and she got creative and used the month and day Dragon was born and the year FIL was born. She opened these accounts when Dragon was 12 years old. Since minors can't legally get credit cards in their names they will close the accounts, and remove the black marks from our credit report.
Now for the VISA, she acquired it when Dragon was 18, so unless he is willing to testify against her there is nothing they will do. It can't be closed until the 10K is paid off (we don't have 10K) and there is NOTHING to prevent MIL from making more charges on it until it is closed. Dragon of course refuses to testify against his MOTHER.
I make a trip to my Uncle the lawyer (boy does he come in handy). He contacts the credit card company, and here in lies our salvation (I am a BITCH). When she got the credit card in Dragon's name as the primary card holder she checked spouse for other authorized user and she is signing the credit card Mrs. Dragon (so technically it's MY Identity she is stealing). I will PROSECUTE HER FOR IDENTITY THEFT (if it wrecks my marriage then Dragon isn't much of a man). I send a letter via my attorney demanding that she pay off and close the account within a weeks time or she will be prosecuted for identity theft.
Big surprise she finds some poor sucker to pay off the account and gets it closed. My attorney sends a letter to the credit card company and the companies that check your credit history that they have to keep on file that the Visa Balance was a result of Identity theft. So now our credit is fixed. We can get a loan.
Of course our dream house has been sold in the meantime. We have an offer on another house but it's older and needs extensive remodeling. But it's better then the rental house we are living in. I am just so upset that MIL screwed up our getting the house we really wanted.
4 comments:
Good for you! Think of it this way, your dream house just saved you from a nightmare that could have gone on even longer....
Glad you got your credit straightened out.......
You totally did the right thing. The same thing happened to my friend with her MIL and they didn't do anything, so they ended up paying the whole thing off themselves.
Your story has a happy credit ending!
carmachu you are so right, IF we hadn't tried to get a loan we might not have found out until it was too late that MIL was using Dragon's name to get credit.
dark half, sorry your friends wound up paying it off themselves. That's what Dragon wanted to do, BUT 1.) we couldn't afford it and 2.)If we had she would have just kept expecting us to pay her debts. We would have never been able to own our own home or anything else for that matter.
She of course told everyone I RUINED their plans for Christmas. Mean Jade made them borrow 10K, so they could pay off Dragon's credit card. No mention that ALL the charges on the card were made by HER, and that she was ruining our credit. But now she is having to pinch penny's (sob) and it's all Jade's fault.
She doesn't think she did anything wrong. Which really burns me up.
People like that never DO think they've done anything worng. THEY are the victim, even if they dig their own grave.
She'll NEVER admit its her fault. It will be yours for taking what she sees as hers(even though we all know its not).
Good for ruining christmas, it sounds like yours has been crap with them.
I hate to ask, but since she's had a phone AND credit cards in your husband's name, what ELSE has she done in his name? Car insurance? Home insurance? Utilities?
Good luck!
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