I'm Being Sued for a Capital One Account My Wife Opened in My Name.

“Dear Steve,

Being sued by Capital one for $6500 and have 21 days to answer. My wife opened this account in my name without my consent or knowledge. She was making payment without my knowledge until I lost my job in the automotive and she wasn’t able to make any more payments and the ugly truth came out! They want their money, but I can’t pay, and I didn’t even open the account!

How do I answer the Summons and Complaint, since I had no knowledge that a card was opened in my name.? Do you think Capital One would be more likely to SETTLE because of this, as I don’t want my wife going to jail, and she has no income that Capital One could get from her? I live in MIchigan. Thank you for your time!

Gerald”

Dear Gerald,

First off, your wife is not going to go to jail.

The bad news is you’ve been a victim of identity theft. I would suggest you immediately get a copy of your consolidated credit report and make sure there are no other surprises to discover.

Your choices at this point are to file a police report against your wife and notify Capital One of the situation and they will go after her. She may be facing criminal charges, but again, no jail time.

Do You Have a Question You'd Like Help With? Contact Debt Coach Damon Day. Click here to reach Damon.

Otherwise, you can pay the debt off. If you settle the debt then you will be left with a bad mark on your credit report for the debt forgiven. You could also repay the debt using a credit counseling program but the payment would be just about the same as the regular payment which you unfortunately can’t afford.

The only way to kill this debt without having your wife face possible criminal charges is probably bankruptcy.

You can click here to find a local bankruptcy attorney and if you’d like a second opinion about your situation or a personal consultation by another debt coach, please feel free to contact Damon Day.

If you want to explore the settlement option then contact one of the AACC member settlement companies. These are folks I trust.

Oops, one more option. You could always do nothing, let Capital One sue you and they’ll probably go for a judgment which you can’t pay at this time. When things begin to look up you could repay the judgment at that time or pursue bankruptcy to kill it.

Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.