About Debts You Don’t Owe
It more common then you would imagine for debts you don’t owe to crop up on your credit report. Largely this is due to credit bureau mistakes and greedy collection agencies but also sometimes it is due to identity theft.
Sometimes you find your credit score lowered by a debt you didn’t incur. How does this happen?
The two most common ways for debt you don’t owe to end up on your report are –
1. You cosigned a loan for someone else – sometimes if that person doesn’t pay you are legally obligated to foot the bill. Any delinquencies charge offs or collection actions that are related to the debt will be reported on your credit file. To make this even worse, the creditor isn’t even required to notify you if your cosigner defaults. The first time you find out about it might be when you spy it on your credit report.
2. You are divorced but you still have a joint account with the ex –It doesn’t matter what your divorce says about who was supposed to pay what. If it is a joint account it is a joint debt. If it’s a joint account it is a joint debt. Your ex can easily trash your report by not paying a joint credit card or mortgage.