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.