Marie from Ohio called the ramsey Show (1) recently with a heartbreaking and sobering story: her boyfriend had secretly spent almost $17,000 on two of her credit cards. He only discovered this after closely examining his finances.
Marie mentioned that she had given her credit card to a pest control company for a recurring monthly charge and that her boyfriend agreed to cover it as a household expense. What she didn’t know was that he was also using her card to pay for joint car insurance, buy auto parts, and cover other personal expenses, all while intercepting paper statements before she could see them in the mail.
Must read
When he realized it in 2023, one card had skyrocketed to almost $11,000. A second card, a Lowe’s account she didn’t even know she was using, had another $5,600 on it (1).
Marie paid both shortly before calling, leaving balances of $8,100 and $4,900, but is still on the hook for about $13,000 total, all in her name.
Why can she have few resources?
The hosts were candid about their position.
As co-host Rachel Cruze noted, “If you voluntarily gave up your credit card and you just have a shitty boyfriend who doesn’t pay it, that’s more your fault. That’s not a legal situation (1).”
While the hosts advised her to contact both credit card companies, flag those specific charges as unauthorized, and ask if they can be reversed, using their cards still leads to her.
According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) (2), “unauthorized use is defined as the use of a credit card by someone who does not have the right to use it.” But the most important thing is that if you gave the card to someone, you have authorized its use.
The CFPB also notes that if that person later uses the card for a different purpose, it can still be considered authorized use and you are still responsible until you notify your card issuer that the person can no longer use the account (2).
A critical nuance
This is the trick for Marie. You could still be responsible for charges you don’t know about until you notify your card issuer that your boyfriend can no longer use the account.
That makes car insurance payments and auto parts purchases with the original card harder to dispute than they might seem. The Lowe’s card may be a different matter, as Marie had no knowledge that he was using that account, making it the stronger fraud claim of the two.
According to the CFPB, if unauthorized use of a card occurs before you report it lost, the most you should be paid is $50, and many cardholder agreements do not impose any liability on you. If your account number is used without your knowledge and you never lost the physical card, you generally have no liability (3).
Read more: Here’s the median income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?
She is far from alone
Marie’s situation reflects a documented pattern. According to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, financial abuse occurs in the vast majority of abusive relationships and 78% of Americans do not recognize it as a form of domestic violence (4). The misuse of a partner’s credit, without his or her knowledge, falls squarely within that definition (5).
Beyond the relationship angle, a Security.org report found that about one in three American adults experienced a fraudulent charge in the last year alone, totaling an estimated $6.1 billion in unauthorized charges. And 22% of fraud victims reported recurring unauthorized charges from the same source, nearly double the previous year (6).
Where to go from here
The program’s advice to Marie was simple: cut off all financial access, close any compromised accounts, and freeze her credit with the three major agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian) so that no new accounts can be opened in her name. As Cruze said, “Who knows what he would do when he gets angry (1) because you evict him.”
Beyond that, the National Consumer Law Center recommends submitting any disputes in writing to your card issuer, not simply reporting them over the phone, as written billing error notices have advantages over verbal reports alone (5).
If the credit card companies don’t budge, Marie could have to pay what the show grimly calls a “stupid tax”: a harsh financial lesson with no legal remedy. But the steps you take now can limit the damage and ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.
you may also like
Join over 250,000 readers and get the best Moneywise exclusive stories and interviews first – clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
Article sources
We rely only on verified sources and credible third-party reports. For more details, see our ethics and guidelines.
YouTube (1); Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2), (3); Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (4); National Consumer Law Center (5); Security.org (6)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com with the title: Ohio Woman Says Her Ex Secretly Spent Nearly $17,000 on Her Credit Cards. The Ramsey Show says it must be fought as fraud
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
Source link
