Found Out During Mortgage Pre-approval That My Mom Opened Credit Cards In My Name When I Was 16. My Score Is Trashed.

Location: Ohio. I am 26M and recently started the pre-approval process to buy my first home. I make decent money, have never missed an auto payment, and assumed my credit was around 740 because I only had one low-limit card that I always paid in full. Yesterday my loan officer called me sounding completely baffled. My report pulled up three delinquent store and bank credit cards opened between 2014 and 2016, with roughly $21,000 in defaulted balances that got charged off. I was literally 16 and 17 years old in high school during those dates, with zero income. The lender immediately froze my application and told me my score is sitting under 510.

When I checked the detailed credit pull, the registered addresses on those accounts were my childhood home. I confronted my mother about it last night. After arguing for ten minutes, she broke down crying and admitted that she used my Social Security number back then after her own credit was ruined, claiming it was "just to buy groceries and essentials." She has no savings, works part-time, and has zero ability to repay that balance. Shes now hysterical, begging me not to do anything formal because she is terrified of going to jail, and my brother is already texting me calling me heartless and saying I will destroy our family if I involve the law.

I am numb and overwhelmed. The loan officer told me the only legal way the bureaus and original creditors will erase fraudulent debt from my file is if I file an official identity theft report with the police and submit an FTC affidavit. If I file that report and list her details, does the county prosecutor automatically pursue criminal charges against her? Is there any legal mechanism to void these contracts solely because I was a minor when they were opened without triggering a criminal indictment for my parent? I genuinely do not know what steps to take next.