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.
My wife found out recently that when she was 5 she apparently opened a credit card that went unpaid. To get it removed was a full time job…
Doesn’t credit card debt go away after 7 years? If I’m doing the math right, your wife must be pretty young if it’s still an issue.
Possibly, but identity theft cases usually involve much more bureaucracy than just ignoring the debt.
Just because the card was opened when she was 5 doesn’t mean that’s the last time it was used…