Ever Got Screwed Financially by a Family Member?
Posted by Cap in Even More Ramblings |I was reading some comments for the identity theft story post at the Mint blog, and boy there are some tough situations out there.
We have comments about identity theft from moms and sisters — pretty difficult stuff.
Have you ever been screwed financially by a family member? It doesn’t necessarily have to be an identity theft situation.
I think I’m extremely fortunate that I’ve never been harmed financially by any famiy member (at least, not that I’m aware of). If it ever happens, I will most likely know how to deal with it practically, but emotionally… eh.
7 Comments to “Ever Got Screwed Financially by a Family Member?”
Leave a Comment
Next Post:
When Your Roomates are as Cheap as You »
When Your Roomates are as Cheap as You »
Previous Post:
« Four Ways I live Frugally: No 1. Be Ugly
« Four Ways I live Frugally: No 1. Be Ugly
August 1st, 2007 at 12:03 pm
No.. but I foresee it in the future when my parents start asking me for retirement money and I can’t afford to support them AND my own family.
Husband’s father got screwed in credit score AND the wallet, when lending cash to a nephew… the nephew ran off with the money and never came back to repay it.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
The son of my grandmother’s late husband A)pried money from the dead man’s hand and B)immediately ran to the bank and forged a check for $12,000 (which, rumor has it, he snorted).
Imagine: stealing money from an old lady, your father’s wife (to whom he had been married for more than 20 years!).
And my grandmother refused to press charges.
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:40 am
No. But it’s looming. I may be the most fiscally responsible person in my “family” circle. I’m the ant to many grasshoppers (and ants that have learned to act like grasshoppers too much).
Most concerning is my girlfriend’s step father who is a total nincompoop about money. Always with some scheme to get rich. He blew her mom’s 401K on day trading, doesn’t earn a paycheck himself (mooches). When a nephew started an IRA at 18 years of age, he denounced it as “just plain stupid”. I see that mentality coming to bear on us in the not too distant future.
August 4th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
When I was 19 and buying my 1st (used) car, I had the money to pay cash for it, but decided to get a small loan to pay part of the cost and establish a credit history. Found out that when my sisters and I were little, Mommy dearest had all the utilities put in each of our names in succesion, and then when they were shut off, moved it to the next kids name.
August 11th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
probably the closest i came to a family member would be the mother of my step son (notice i did not say my husband ex-wife, because they were never married).
she claimed that she didn’t get child support from the father of her first child causing my husband to pay a hardship to her, and she lied about how much she actually paid in daycare causing my husband to pay 1/2 of the bill even though she wasn’t paying all of it.
so, we got screwed for a year until we could prove she was lying. oh, and when child support is based in the amount of time each parent spends with the child, she said she’d allow more time as long as CS was based upon a lesser share for my husband.
he ended up paying what was right after about a year. that was $440 less per month, and because of the daycare lies he was allowed to pay that directly to the daycare instead of to the mom as child support.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Not me. Some people in a church group I belonged to had cosigned a loan for one of their adult children (they didn’t say which) and the “child” had defaulted, leaving them to pay the whole thing. They’d gone in with the child’s assurance (which they firmly believed) that they could do fine on the loan but didn’t have a good enough credit history. Not pretty.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
ME!! My parents did the old “We need to borrow some money because we had a glitch in our bank account” along with a bunch of other reasons. They also needed a car and wanted us to co-sign on a loan. Knowing their track record we figured it would be less hassle to buy them the car (used, not new) and have them make payments to us. They made a few payments here and there, but not nearly enough. I really didn’t want to get monthly calls from the bank or ruin my own credit by signing a piece of paper with their names on it.
Oh, and to make it even more fun, they did this type of thing to other family members but have compartmentalized all of us to not “share” with others.
I finally put my foot down and said “NO MORE” and then they showed up here for Christmas needing money for their hotel or else they would be forced to take a bus home in the middle of December (2 states away). And did I mention that my dad is handicapped and in a wheel chair and cannot talk?
When we said no, they said they would have to go home. Of course they were super put out and angry. That was my mom’s way of trying to get us to change our minds and give them the money. Oh, sorry… I mean “LOAN” (I use quotes for a reason). I finally told all my siblings what has been going on for years and to the tune of tens of thousands and it turns out I’m not the only one who “got screwed by a family member!!!!”
Now they’re “hurt” and saying horrible ugly things, at least when they’re actually talking to us.
And when I say “they” I should be saying “her” because my poor dad is not at fault.
In case you’re wondering how things turned out, my generous husband bought them 2 one way plane tickets home for Christmas and told them to go get help.
I am googling this and other things to try to find someone who has actually had this happen to them before. This is the closest I have found. I know people who have been screwed by their irresponsible twenty something kids, but not their senior citizen parents.