Credit card fraud question - need expert advice?

Question

My mother and sister live about 100 miles away from me.  There is a lot of drama, and I don’t have anything to do with my sister.  My mother is disabled.  She owns a home and has a little money.  My sister lives next door to her, and frequently picks up my mother’s mail for her.

Sister has a lot of financial problems.  Recently she opened 6 credit card accounts in mom’s name.  As sis is the one picking up the mail, mom didn’t know anything about the cards until the collection calls started.  All told, there has been over $20K run up on these cards.
One bank filed suit.  Sis signed mom’s name on the certified mail receipt for the summons.  Mom didn’t know she’d been sued and had a default judgment until she tried to get cash out of her checking account.  The bank had filed for garnishment and emptied her account of $3 thousand.

Mom’s not willing to file criminal charges against sis.  She’s afraid she’ll never see the grandkids again.

David M · Accepted Answer

Ok-what if you Mom will not file charges?  Does she have an assets a creditor can get?  Her credit is already ruined.  They cannot take her disability and, at least in my state, her home is an exempt asset.  She SHOULD file a police report, but she could wait until she is sued and file a claim of exemptions and perhaps save her assets.  Here's the thing, though, the exemptions are different under federal law and also vary from state to state.  Call your state bar office and ask for a lawyer referral for a free consultation.   We lawyers MUST do pro bono work in my state, so she should not have much difficulty finding a lawyer to give you the law of your state.  She should also change her address and really she should file a police report.  They are not going to arrest your sister for this, but she should have a report on file on this.

kp · Answer

If you live in the US...

Mom can’t actually file criminal charges, only the state/DA can do that.  But Mom can--and needs to--file a police report.  Then the DA will handle the case from there.  You’re right, that unless she does that, she will be held responsible for the debt.

As far as Daughter not letting her see the grandkids (which Daughter can do), Mom needs to check the state laws regarding grandparent visitation.  If the visitation is court-ordered, Daughter has to allow it.  To the best of my knowledge all states have grandparent visitation laws of some type (and despite what many people think the supreme court has not ruled that it’s unconstitutional), but some states only allow it in specific situations, such as the parents being divorced.

Geoff C · Answer

i agree if her daughter is allowed to get away with such a crappy thing then your mother is getting what she deserves. sounds bad but she is not protecting her daughter, if she will do this to her own family what will she do to someon who isnt family if the opportunity arises. Prison or being beat to death isnt far away for your sister.

And yes you are right she would have to file a fraud report to be able to shake this debt an save everything she has.  little sis will have to go away for a while to keep moms house

corey · Answer

I'm not a lawyer, but the debit is her responsibility unless she can prove her identity was stolen. Pressing charges is a very good start. She's lucky that she knows who did it. There are thousands of people that have their identity stolen and are financially ruined and have no clue who did it or how to prove it.

Anonymous · Answer

If you're in the U.S., mom doesn't have to filel charges. Call the DA and present to him the facts.

B T · Answer

Call Dr. Phil!!!

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Credit card fraud question - need expert advice?

6 Answers