How should I counsel my mentoree who at 27 has outstanding school?
He has a few choices. One is to file identity theft reports, and use that legal process. This includes filing police reports. However, his parents could get into legal trouble, if he reports that they fraudulently opened accounts. So, this is something he needs to think about, based on his relationship with his parents etc. Identitytheft dot gov has a comprehensive guide to dealing with identity theft, or just Google FTC Identity Theft. The other option is simply to wait until these negative accounts fall off his credit reports. By law, these items cant remain for more than 7.5 years after he (his parents that is) first stopped paying on the accounts. So, perhaps if we waits several more years, then these accounts are gone, and his credit improves. If he goes this route, he needs to freeze his credit reports, so that his parents cannot open further accounts in his name. Also, he may want to consider opening other accounts to help build better credit, such as a secured credit card.