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Advice about Son's Judgment on Father's Credit Report - The Bills.com Blog
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Advice about Son's Judgment on Father's Credit Report
Thursday, Apr 2, 2009
Question: My father and my brother have the same name. My brother has a credit card that wasn't paid and had a judgement against him. It was put on my Dad's credit report in error. How can he get this taken care of?
Answer: Individuals who are named after a parent often find that their namesake parent’s credit information is reported incorrectly on their credit reports. It is easy to see why this error occurs; not only do these consumers share a very similar name (often with the only difference being a “Sr.” or “Jr.”), but they often live in close proximity to each other, sometimes even sharing the same address. Judgments can be especially problematic because they do not include the debtor’s Social Security Number in the file information for privacy reasons (judgments are public records, after all).Thankfully, federal law provides a procedure for consumers to have inaccurate information removed from their credit profile.
Your father needs to dispute the judgment appearing on his credit report with each of the three major U.S. credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian & TransUnion. The Federal Trade Commission offers a free guide to disputing erroneous items on your credit report, available here . In addition, the FTC offers a guide to self-help credit repair, available at www.ftc.gov , which may assist your father in cleaning up his credit report once the judgment is removed.
I encourage consumers to carefully review their credit reports from each of the credit bureaus
I encourage consumers to carefully review their credit reports from each of the credit bureaus
at least once per year to make sure that all of the information appearing on the reports is accurate. Credit reports are notoriously inaccurate, and close scrutiny is required on your part to make sure that your credit report is current and accurate. To learn more about credit, credit scoring, and credit reports, I encourage you to visit the Bills.com credit information page at http://www.bills.com/credit/.
I wish your father the best of luck in resolving this error, and hope that the information I have provided helps him Find. Learn. Save.
Best,
Bill
www.bills.com/blog/
I wish your father the best of luck in resolving this error, and hope that the information I have provided helps him Find. Learn. Save.
Best,
Bill
www.bills.com/blog/
Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!
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1. Posted by H.J. on Friday 3rd April 2009 11:46
Hello, A Creditor was granted a judgement through Colorado county court against me but I believe it is going to expire soon (within a couple of months). Problem is I found out they recorded an Abstract Lien on my home here in Nevada in 2007 without going through the proper domestication procedures. In addition, I have a Homestead Declaration recorded on my home prior to the Abstract Lien. What route do you recommend I take to get this lien removed? Thank you in advance for your opinion.
2. Posted by Sam on Friday 10th April 2009 08:32
You may want to call your local county recorder's office to inquire about your state's process for removing a illegitimate lien. It is very strange that the recorder's office would record the California judgment; they are only supposed to record Nevada judgments, unless some other agreement exists between the states. If the county recorder's office will not assist you, the next step would be to consult with a lawyer about possibly filing a lawsuit as a collateral attack against the out-of-state judgment creditor for recording a lien illegally. I wish you the best of luck!