Strapped Parents Taking Kids’ Credit

It was her first credit card application, or so she thought, prompted by an offer on her Ohio college campus of a free T-shirt. But a rejection letter uncovered troubling news: Someone had opened four credit cards in her name and rung up $50,000 in debt. That someone, it turned out, was her father.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said the young woman, who asked not to be named for fear of humiliating her father, who never faced criminal charges.

The woman, now 25 and living in Chicago, said she knew her father was struggling financially. But she never imagined he would fill out credit card applications sent to his home in her name.

With the proliferation of credit cards, experts say, parents with financial troubles are tempted to dip into their children’s credit. As cosigners, all they need is a birth date and Social Security number.

Last month, a father in Billings, Mont., was sentenced to five years in prison for charging $12,000 on credit cards in his daughter’s name.

Some parents put bills -- cable TV, utilities -- in their kids’ names. That’s what Teena Touch, a 28-year-old Los Angeles resident, said her father did. “It started with my summer jobs -- checks my dad was supposed to deposit but never did,” said Touch, whose father was convicted of embezzlement in 1993.

Dionicio Campos, 29, of Chicago said he was stuck untangling trouble caused by his mother’s ex-boyfriend and others using his Social Security number. “I’m sure a 17-year-old kid isn’t worrying about his mom taking his stuff from him -- but maybe he should,” Campos said.

Identity theft and credit card fraud have reached an “epidemic level,” said Carl Pergola, national director of fraud investigations for accounting firm BDO Seidman. Vital information, he said, is being stolen by parents, co-workers and hucksters.

He said young people whose parents have money problems should consider obtaining credit reports regularly -- and request that the three major credit agencies notify them when accounts are opened in their name.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission said, 6% of the 86,168 people who reported identity theft to the agency said a family member was responsible. Joanna Crane, an attorney who manages the FTC’s identity theft program, said those figures are “only the tip of the iceberg.”

For children whose parents have abused their credit, the options include paying the debt in big chunks or filing a complaint that could send the parent to jail.

The 25-year-old from Chicago persuaded her father to consolidate the $50,000 debt and repay it by having his wages garnished.