My wife's parents took out student loans in her name

[mrsworried]

Hi there, I'm trying to find some help for my wife. Her parents took out student loans in her name while she was away at college. She was able to get most of them removed as it was obvious they were fraud. They didn't even try to forge her signature. But their was one loan with her signature on something she says her father had her sign saying it was for something else. the loan was for $24,000, her father gave the school $5,000 and pocketed the rest, she had no knowledge of this at the time and has found out all these details on her own (after the loan companies started going after her). She's not trying to get out of paying back what went to her education. But is there a way to get rid of what her father took or is she just out of luck? She's been paying these loans for 7 years. And she's not in a field where she makes very much money.

 

[Betty3]

It's possible the only way to try & get back any of the money would be to sue her Father.

 

[mightymoose]

Another option is to report the fraud to law enforcement if she is willing to do that.
Her parents apparently committed multiple felonies. She does have some liability for signing documents and apparently not reading them, but the circumstances of the other loans may support that she was a victim of her parents fraud.
Have her speak with an attorney to decide the best approach.

 

[mightymoose]

Correction.... If she has known of this for the past 7 years and taken no action then she may be stuck. The statute of limitations for any legal action, civil or criminal, may have expired.

 

[mrsworried]

She has. She's filed all the police reports and done all the paperwork, they haven't been convicted and did it in multiple states, to multiple people over the years, the police said it would be up to the banks to press charges (which I don't understand). I was just hoping there was a way to get rid of what didn't go to the school, what they pocketed for themselves.