<prompt> Human: Hello PF.As Im planing to propose soon to my GF, I was looking ahead at some of the financial issues wed face. First and foremost, credit. My credit is in the high 700slow 800s from the various sources Ive used CreditKarma, several credit card scoring services, etc. My girlfriends credit falls in the 400low 500 range after her mother took out a card in her name in her teens over 7.5 years ago and racked up thousands in debt. She didnt even know about it until collections agencies started to call her, and received a letter about a lawsuit a few years later that she ignored and discarded.As I began looking into ways to improve her credit, we decided to start with a secured credit card, then move on to getting her a car loan as soon as mine is paid off in about 7 months. Surprisingly, the credit card application was denied. When we read the letter as to why, it stated that it was because she was being sued for the aforementioned CC debt. This was the first Id known about the suit as she was too embarrassed to talk to me about it, and Im not sure how to proceed now since that pretty much rules out establishing any new lines of credit to fix it.Based on some things Ive read in the wonderful FAQs here and some other sources, it seems the statute of limitations for this being on her credit report has expired, as its been over 7.5 years. Its still there. Also, in our state the supposed SOL on lawsuits for credit card debt is 6 years. Its been well past that now obviously, but I believe the suit was first filed within the SOL, so can they still pursue her for it?Basically, where do we begin to start fixing this? Obviously taking care of the lawsuit one way or another is mandatory, but were not too sure where to start. Since she doesnt have the initial letter about the suit, where should she gowho should she contact to get more information about it? Also, who do we contact to try and get the marks on her credit report removed? The credit bureaus, or the collection agencycreditor?  <response>: You might actually have a relationship-issue at hand when your future wife doesnt spontaneously tell you that she is being sued. 