Monday, August 16, 2010

How to deal with my ex-wife opening credit card accounts in my name?

I am preparing to file for bankruptcy - The ex-wife took ALL the cash and got the house, 2 vehicles and one of two children in the divorce. She was to assume the loan on the house and didn't. Its now in foreclosure. I was involved in a wreck and am buried under medical bills, as well as the bills from the lawyers, credit cards, etc. When I got a copy of my credit report to find out how big a mess my credit was in, I found out that my ex-wife had opened joint credit card accounts with my name on them AFTER the divorce, apparently because she has bad credit. The credit card companies refuse to take my name off the accounts because they have substantial balances. The bankruptcy will take care of the problem this time, but how do I keep it from happening again when the credit card companies are all too eager to issue credit in my name to my ex-wife?How to deal with my ex-wife opening credit card accounts in my name?
The first thing you need to do is call each of the credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on yourself, so that nothing new gets opened. Then call the police to report someone using your name and social security number to apply for those cards. They may not do anything to stop it, but having a police report is never a bad idea. Then call the credit card companies and let them know that you are a victim of identity theft, and that you need a copy of the application for credit to give to the police department in connection to your police report. (I've never asked for it, but I'd imagine that's what you should do, so they can ';prove'; with your ';signature'; that you applied for the cards, which of course they won't be able to do.)

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