It is identity theft, even between spouses

The law does not have an exception for family. An account your husband, wife or ex opened with your name, date of birth and Social Security number, without your consent, is not your contract, and using another person's identifying information to commit fraud is a federal crime (18 U.S.C. § 1028). For a credit card, federal law caps your liability for unauthorized use at $50 (15 U.S.C. § 1643). What makes these cases hard is not the law; it is that the person who did it shares your home, and sometimes your fear.

If you signed under pressure, threats or deception, that is a different situation, called coerced debt. California lets a person ask a lender or a collector to stop collecting such a debt, for debts incurred since July 2023, with a sworn statement and supporting documents (Civil Code § 1798.97.1 and following). Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Texas and Vermont have coerced debt laws too, each with its own start date, covered debts and paperwork, and the list keeps growing. Tell your lawyer or an advocate what happened, with dates.

How to check if someone opened a credit card in your name

Your three credit reports, free every week at AnnualCreditReport.com, list the accounts opened in your name. Read each one for:

  • Accounts you do not recognize, including store cards and personal loans.
  • Hard inquiries from lenders you never applied to: someone may have tried and been refused.
  • Addresses, phone numbers or employers that are not yours.

Download all three reports, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion: a lender may report to only one. Then freeze your credit at all three, free, so no new account can be opened while you sort out the old ones. Mail matters too: a card statement, a welcome letter or a collection notice in your name is often the first sign.

Step one: the identity theft report

IdentityTheft.gov, run by the Federal Trade Commission, asks what happened and produces a report plus a personal recovery plan with the letters you need. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (section 605B), the credit bureaus must block information that results from identity theft within four business days of receiving that report, and it allows a seven-year extended fraud alert.

A police report is optional. Some lenders ask for one, but many people decide not to file a complaint against a partner, and the FTC report does the work on your credit reports. This is a decision to make with a lawyer or an advocate, not under pressure from a call center.

Step two: dispute in writing, twice

Write to the lender (keep a copy): you did not open or authorize the account, you ask for a copy of the application and of every document used to open it, and you ask them to confirm in writing that no further credit will be extended in your name. A written dispute starts the clock on the lender's duty to investigate.

Write to each credit bureau as well, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A dispute to a bureau protects you more: the bureau must investigate within thirty days (FCRA § 611) and the lender must then check its own records (FCRA § 623(b)). Attach your IdentityTheft.gov report and ask for the block under section 605B. Own & Owe has both letters ready to copy in its free 72-hour plan.

The debts that do not show on credit reports

Buy-now-pay-later plans (Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Sezzle, PayPal Pay in 4) and some short-term loans do not report to the bureaus, and some run under an email address rather than a name. If a lender you have never heard of writes to you, ask for the account history in writing. Specialty consumer reports, ChexSystems, LexisNexis and Early Warning Services, show bank accounts opened or closed and some loans the three main bureaus do not see; you can request your own file for free.

What not to do

  • Do not pay to "make it go away" before asking a lawyer: paying a debt that is not yours can be taken as accepting it.
  • Do not describe it as yours anywhere, including in your own notes or in a file you prepare for a lawyer. Keep it apart, as a disputed account, with the date of your FTC report. A document you wrote yourself can be requested in a case.
  • Do not log into the other person's accounts to gather proof. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Stored Communications Act apply at home too.

If a divorce is already decided or done

A divorce judgment can assign debts between spouses, and it can address accounts opened fraudulently. It does not bind the lender, which keeps its contract with whoever signed. If a judgment already exists, your lawyer can check its terms before you write to anyone.