Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York

Re: fraudulent credit in my name

You are the victim of identity theft. You should begin by making a report of the crime to the United States Secret Service, the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. Take a look at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/idtheft.htm#Resolving for some guidance.

Another thing you can use to secure some redress is to sue the stuffing out of the banks. The theory is that these are your accounts and the bank paid someone else wrongfully with your money. This process would lead in short order to finding out which parent did this to you, which gives rise to its own arc.

Do not settle with the creditors. Do not pay them a penny. The creditors are likely to overstep the lines set by federal law, and you can sue them for that, too. It might indeed help to have an attorney write letters to the banks, but you are unlikely to get any satisfaction unless you file a lawsuit. The letter campaign probably should run more than $250 to set the file up and $100 per letter. In fact, it should probably be less, especially in Cheektowaga, where hourly rates are less than in New York City.

You have a long struggle ahead. One question that comes up is whether you were living in the home of either parent while this was going on. Homeowners' insurance policies sometimes (usually there days) provide coverage for identity theft. It can be expensive to fix these problems.

This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon unless and until an attorney-client relationship is entered into. Doing so would require signing an engagement letter and depositing a retainer to secure payment of legal fees.