Abuse, Stalking & Financial Issues

Credit reports show your current and past financial accounts, the amount you owe on each one and your payment history. This can include car loans, mortgages, student loans and credit cards. Check your credit report to see if your abuser did anything that has hurt your credit.

You have the right to one free credit report every 12 months from each credit bureau. There are three main credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A lot of other places say they offer free credit reports, but most of them are not really free. To get free credit reports, go to AnnualCreditReport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.

Credit cards: Carefully check your credit card statements.

If you see charges on your credit cards that you did not make or did not give someone permission to make, you can write the credit card company and tell them. This is called disputing the charges. The Federal Trade Commission has instructions and a form to help you. Under federal law, you don’t have to pay more than $50 for charges you didn’t make or give permission for someone else to make. You may be able to dispute the charges online or over the phone. Do this within 60 days. To protect your rights under federal law, send a letter if the charges aren’t reversed immediately.

If your abuser is an “authorized user” on your credit card, you can’t dispute their charges. Call the credit card company. Tell them that you want to remove the authorized user and get a new credit card number.  

Loans: If you co-signed for a loan with the abuser, you may not be able to remove that loan from your credit report.

Did your abuser use your information to make it look like you co-signed for a loan? The abuser may have committed identity theft. If this happened, put a fraud alert on your credit reports and report the identity theft. Putting a fraud alert on your credit report means that it will take longer for you to get approved for new credit. But it will stop your abuser from taking out new credit in your name.

Think about other accounts like cell phone, iTunes or cable service that your abuser might have access to. Contact those companies and change your access codes. In some cases, you may need to close your account and open a new one.

You have the right to dispute information that is wrong on your credit report. You should write to the credit bureau and to the company that gave the information to the credit bureau to tell them what is wrong. Keep a copy of any email or letter you send.

Send copies of papers that show the credit report is wrong. If your credit report shows a loan, credit card or other account that you did not open, tell the investigation departments at the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus will contact the company where the account was opened and make that company prove who opened the account.

Use the links below to dispute information on your credit report at the three main credit bureaus:

• Experian
• Equifax
• TransUnion

You should get an answer in writing.

If your information is still wrong, file a dispute again and submit a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Check your credit report from time to time to see if the information that was wrong has been taken off. If it hasn’t, you may consider filing a lawsuit under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A lawsuit has to be filed within two years of the credit bureau or company’s failure to correct the information.

If you are worried that your abuser might try to use your information to steal your money or take out loans under your name, you can tell credit bureaus that you want a “fraud alert.”

A fraud alert is a flag on your credit report that makes it hard for other people to open new accounts in your name. This is a way to protect yourself from people who want to use your information to commit financial fraud. Having this flag could mean you have to give extra proof of your identity and wait a little longer to get credit approved or to get a copy of your credit report.

Usually, if you get a fraud alert through one credit bureau, they tell the other two credit bureaus that you need a fraud alert.

To contact the three main credit bureaus about a fraud alert:

• Go to the Experian website or call 1-888-397-3742.
• Go to the Equifax website or call 1-888-766-0008.
• Go to the TransUnion website or call 1-800-680-7289.

Your abuser might have access to your credit card statements or your Social Security information. This could make it easy to open accounts in your name. If you have children and your abuser knows your children’s Social Security numbers, your abuser might even try to open accounts in your children’s names.

Your abuser may be able to make purchases on Amazon or iTunes accounts that get automatically charged to your credit card.

You can call your bank, credit card companies, phone, cable and internet accounts and tell them you want your account numbers, passwords, and PIN numbers or codes changed. If you change your passwords, make the new passwords something that would be hard for your abuser to guess.

For more information, visit our webpage on identity theft. You can also visit identitytheft.gov. For more information and resources about domestic violence and rebuilding finances check out the materials available from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Do you know where your financial documents are kept and can you get to them safely? If you know where they are and can get to them without your abuser knowing, make copies of those records and store them in a safe place.

If possible, make copies of the following:

1. birth certificate (yours and other family members)
2. Social Security card (yours and other family members)
3. checking and savings account numbers and balances
4. credit card numbers and balances
5. stock, bond or mutual fund statements (or other investment statements)
6. insurance cards (yours and other family members)
7. information and statements for loans (including car loans) and mortgages
8. deed, if you own your home
9. lease, if you rent your home
10. tax returns (at least the last three years if possible)
11. car title
12. retirement plan statements
13. photos of things you think might be worth a lot of money

You might also want to find this information, in case you need it during a divorce or child support case:

1. What is your abuser’s income? (Look at tax returns or paystubs to find this.)
2. Does your abuser get income from rental property? How much? (Look at tax returns to find this.)
3. How much debt does your abuser have?

You may be able to get help to pay for abuse-related costs like medical bills, court fees or damage to property.

• You might be able to sue the abuser for abuse-related costs if you can show that there is a direct link between the costs that you have to pay and the actions of your abuser.
• You might be able to get money reimbursed from the Vermont Victim Compensation Program if the expenses are not reimbursed through insurance or in other ways. You can call 1-800-750-1213 to get more information about getting victim compensation.

Some of the eligible expenses include:

1. crime-related medical/dental care
2. mental health counseling
3. funeral costs
4. lost wages if you could not work due to the abuser’s actions
5. travel/transportation expenses
6. rent/relocation expenses
7. safety/security expenses
8. child care

You might be able to file a claim against your abuser in small claims court to get the money you are owed if:

• that amount is under $5,000 and
• you are not married to your abuser and
• your abuser has refused to repay a loan from you or didn’t make payments that you both agreed to.

If you want to sue for more than $5,000, you can’t go to small claims court. You will need to file a complaint in Superior Court. In this case, you might need help from an attorney.

If you have a tax problem, our Low-Income Tax Clinic may be able to help you. Fill out our form and we will call you back. Your information will be sent to Legal Services Vermont, which screens requests for help for both Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont. You can also call us at 1-800-889-2047.

Is it unfair that you owe a joint tax debt caused by your spouse or ex-spouse? There are many situations where it could be unfair. For instance:

• You were forced to sign a joint tax return under duress.
• Your spouse left income off the tax return, which you did not know about.
• Your spouse didn’t pay self-employment taxes, and you weren’t involved in the business.

You can ask the IRS (or Vermont Tax Department) to only collect the debt from your (ex-) spouse. For more information, visit this page in the Taxes section of our website.

Many survivors of spousal abuse were pressured to file a joint tax return. There is no requirement that married people file jointly.

Your abuser may want to claim your children as tax dependents. If you or your child have Dr. Dynasaur, Medicaid or health insurance subsidies through Vermont Health Connect, you should get advice before agreeing that the other parent can claim your children. This can change your eligibility for health insurance programs. You can discuss this with one of our health care advocates. Contact the Office of the Health Care Advocate (HCA) by filling out this form or calling 1-800-917-7787.