Can we sue the credit bureau?
Posted in Credit on 01/09/2010 06:19 pm by admin
Mercedes asked:
My husband requested his annual credit report from all three bureaus. We noticed something was wrong when two of the credit bureaus (Equifax and Transunion) refused to show his report online stating that further verification was needed, or we had the option to request the report through the mail. Experian showed us a report but it was not my husband’s. They had mixed my husband and his Dad’s credit histories. My husband is 22 and the report stated he was born in 1955. It has over 15 years of accounts mostly very high balance delinquency accounts (over 40 accounts). None of which were opened by my husband. I requested reports from the other two agencies by mail and transunion sent me a correct report, but Equifax said that either I had not submitted enough identification or my husband had no history on file (which he shouldn’t because he as never applied for credit himself). The action I have taken so far is to mail Experian a dispute letter in which I identified every account individually and told them it was not his debt and that it was the debt of his dad which has a very similar name. As documents I sent a copy of the Transunion report, which is correct, an enlarged copy of his license, a W-2 form, and a pay stub. Of course I wrote the letter as my husband. I sent it three weeks ago and have had no response. What should I do at this point. This “mistake” has caused us to be denied for apartments, cell phones, and for home loans. We are stuck if this isn’t corrected
ANGEL
My husband requested his annual credit report from all three bureaus. We noticed something was wrong when two of the credit bureaus (Equifax and Transunion) refused to show his report online stating that further verification was needed, or we had the option to request the report through the mail. Experian showed us a report but it was not my husband’s. They had mixed my husband and his Dad’s credit histories. My husband is 22 and the report stated he was born in 1955. It has over 15 years of accounts mostly very high balance delinquency accounts (over 40 accounts). None of which were opened by my husband. I requested reports from the other two agencies by mail and transunion sent me a correct report, but Equifax said that either I had not submitted enough identification or my husband had no history on file (which he shouldn’t because he as never applied for credit himself). The action I have taken so far is to mail Experian a dispute letter in which I identified every account individually and told them it was not his debt and that it was the debt of his dad which has a very similar name. As documents I sent a copy of the Transunion report, which is correct, an enlarged copy of his license, a W-2 form, and a pay stub. Of course I wrote the letter as my husband. I sent it three weeks ago and have had no response. What should I do at this point. This “mistake” has caused us to be denied for apartments, cell phones, and for home loans. We are stuck if this isn’t corrected
ANGEL
01/10/2010 at 3:56 am
BRENT
you have taken the correct steps, and it will be corrected. This happened once to me with my brother, luckily, he had great credit. Try and relax it will be ok.
01/10/2010 at 5:40 pm
MAURICE
Get a copy of his birth certificate, drivers license and Social Security card.
Send a letter with these copies via Certified Mail + Return Receipt (NOT regular mail) to the Equifax stating:
Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act Violation, I am requesting written validation of Date of Birth that you have for me on file. Apparently Equifax has merged by father’s credit file (who has a similar name) with mine. None of the delinquencies noted on my report belong to me. Please provide written validation of this alleged debts.
01/11/2010 at 8:14 am
JERALD
Try writing them and submiting the slip, requesting your free report. You can also call (FREE REPORTS) and they will send you your reports within 15 days…
1-877-322-8228
Hope this could be of great service!
01/14/2010 at 12:48 am
HOLLIS
It is a common problem that similar named parent and child end up with merged credit reports. You simply have to send a dispute. The credit bureau will respond within 45 days.
If your husband has no credit history in his own name, none of the credit bureaus should have a report for him. What showed up on the TransUnion report? He should have gotten the same response as Equifax.
By the way, if your husband has no credit, he still would have been turned down for cell phones and home loans.
01/14/2010 at 2:44 am
DONOVAN
Did you also forge your husband’s signature on your letter?? Letters to the credit bureaus are scanned and kept electronically. You should not have done that. If they already have your husband’s signature, they could become suspicious.
Credit files are often crossed, especially if the name is similar and if the address have ever been the same. It takes time to get that straighten up.
Give the credit bureaus at least 45 days to respond.
01/16/2010 at 7:11 am
ALBERT
the credit bureau didn’t make the mistake. Apparently your father in law was using your husband SSN and other information to obtain credit. It is done many times by parents that have bad credit.
So far all info you sent with the letter seems to be enough, give them at least 45 days to respond, if they don’t hopefully you kept copies and re-send them again and again. eventually they will remove the info from your husband SSN
Patience, it will be a lengthy process to get your husband back on the right track.