Can You Get Charged With Identity Theft for Opening an Account With Permission

A woman needed new furniture and had poor credit. Her grandmother told her that she could open a charge account in the grandmother's name. The woman bought furniture and opened a store account to pay for the furniture. To make payment easier, she used her grandmother's name and SSN but used her own address for the bills.

The financing company identified the mismatched address and contacted the grandmother. The grandmother is starting to show signs of dementia, and was very confused. Could the woman end up being prosecuted for fraud or identity theft? Who can call the financing company to try to straighten things out?

If the woman falsely claimed to be her grandmother when applying for credit, with permission from grandma or not, that could be a big problem for her. Also, if the grandmother's mental health and memory are failing to the point that she can't remember, a few days later, giving somebody permission to use her name for credit purposes, it's questionable whether a relative has any business involving her in any sort of credit transaction, even as a guarantor. If the woman is also helping to manage her grandmother's finances, across the board, this may raise concerns by other family members about whether she is sufficiently responsible to do so -- and if she's not, and somebody else is paying grandma's bills, that person may have a lot of questions about what happened.

A lot of issues are up in the air. The best way for the woman to resolve the situation before it gets any stickier is to pay off the balance of the account, and to close the account. If that's not possible, I think it is advisable to consult a lawyer with the details of the situation.