"You trust your parents. This is not what they should be doing to their children."

When Axton Betz-Hamilton set up her first utility bill at college, she soon realized something was very, very wrong.

It turned out she’d been a victim of identity theft—and it had destroyed her credit rating.

In 2001, when she was a 19-year-old student, Betz-Hamilton’s new utility provider demanded a $100 security deposit to turn on her service, citing her credit score.

“I thought it was because I didn’t have enough credit,” she told Fortune. But when a copy of her credit report turned up in her mailbox six weeks later, she learned the opposite was true.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      67·
      1 year ago

      that’s great. but children can’t do that, and even if they could, it’d really be their parents.

      who are the ones stealing their identities in the first place. Fuck the banks that aren’t checking the age, though. You think that would be a massive flag…

      • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
        31·
        1 year ago

        They never have. My mom got a phone in my name when I was 10. I born 1980. Also my dad ruined my credit just by living in same household. Did you know you can get bad credit on your report That isn’t yours just by an address and similar name?

        They don’t even need your social to add by credit to you. The system is fucked. I am a Jr so I got all Sr bad debt even had the debt of a guy five states away he had a different middle name then me. We had never met.

        Luckily the debt is easy to remove (well not real easy.) Can pay 1000 dollars like I did and they remove it quickly. Or you spend years before hand writing letters to the credit breuers and maybe they remove it.

        How I know they don’t need your social well my dad owed the IRS and my credit report it had his social security number. It’s fucked up.