I was sent a credit card from capital1 when I was under 18. Is it illegal to post anything on my creditreport?

Question

I recently tried to finance a car (knowing that my credit wasn't great), and was crushed to find out that not only wasn't it great but I fell into some category called "double 0". So when the dealer asked me "what happened?" I told him that I received a "special credit card offer" from capital one when I was 16! He then told me that it was illegal for the credit card companies to post any type of credit ratings on my credit report since I was under 18 at the time. He also told me I should contact the Attorney Generals office and notify them of this. I checked my credit report and it is listed on there as "Account Opened in 2001" (when I was 16!) Basically all I want to know is there some truth to this? I also want to know if it would be wiped off my credit report if I did notify the Attorney General. Please let me know

Thanks
Samantha

Answer 1

While you generally can't be held responsible for a credit card issued to you as a minor, if you continued to use it or make any payments on it after you turned 18, that constitutes a constructive ratification of the debt. In that case, you are both responsible for the debt AND it can go into your credit report back to the issue date.

Answer 2

Samantha,

Some people believe credit card issuers in general regularly engage in "predatory lending". You may or may not get resolution with your state's AG.

Issuing a card to a minor could be classified as predatory lending.

Depending on your state, you may or may not be considered a minor at 16. I'm not pretending I know each state's law. Find out.

For a moment, consider it "legal" in your state to be issued a credit card at 16. I'm not saying it is legal. For the sake of discussion, let's say it is legal.

Be aware that other powerful strategies exist for achieving the result you desire....getting that derogatory listing off your credit file.

Account opened in 2001 --- six years ago. Why did this negatively impact your credit? Did you charge on the card and not pay the bill?

Was there a charge-off that's now killing your score?

Get a copy of your report from EACH of the three credit reporting agencies. Go to annualcreditreport.com (this is the site designated by the federal government allowing you to pull one free report from each bureau per year -- you won't get a score but you don't need the score for this research).

Next, find the derog. listing on your report (s). Now "debt validate" (this is a legal term under Fair Credit Reporting Act) with Cap. One. By law, any creditor MUST validate your debt. Write your letter to Cap One demanding Cap One prove the account is yours. They must provide you prima facie evidence the account and every aspect of the account (balance, payment history, date of last activity, etc is 100% not 99.9999% accurate).

In the meantime, dispute the listing with the credit reporting agencies. This is called the 1-2 punch.

Incidentally, when you DV a Creditor or Collection Agency and Dispute a listing, the CRA must by law state that the listing in question is under dispute.

I'm sorry. I'm out of space. We offer a free credit repair training e-course at www.fixmyuglycredit.com if you're interested (no strings attached; unsubscribe at any time).

This DV and Dispute method is extremely powerful.