Information and advice about correcting errors on credit reports

BILL'S ANSWER

As you have probably realized in the time you have spent trying to clear up your own credit, credit reports are notoriously inaccurate. The fact that your late father's delinquent accounts are appearing on your credit report does not surprise me; in fact, I have seen this same situation several times with children named after a parent. Since you have the same name as your father, and since you presumably live, or lived, in the same town as your late father, it is easy to see how this mistake is made by the credit reporting agencies. When the credit bureaus receive information from a creditor, they attempt to identify the debtor by first looking at the name, then the address, social security number, and date of birth, in that order. Depending on the information supplied by the creditor, they bureaus may not have all of this data to review. Since your name and your father's match, the creditor will next look at the address. If the address listed by the creditor matches one of the current or former addresses appearing on your credit report, then the bureau will place the information on your credit report, in some cases even if the SSN and DOB do not match. I know this sounds strange, but I have seen credit reports with three and four different Social Security numbers listed as belonging to a single consumer. Your father's accounts may be appearing on your credit reports because, in addition to your shared name, the credit bureaus have associated his DOB and SSN with your credit report; if you look at the SSNs appearing on your credit report, one of them will likely be your father's.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to fix the problem of your father's derogatory credit items appearing on your credit report. From your question, it sounds like you have already disputed the incorrect listing, which is a very important step to resolving this situation. Hopefully, the credit bureaus will work with you in removing your father's personal information from your credit reports. Having your father's information removed from your credit file should reduce the likelihood of his financial problems from negatively affecting your credit rating in the future.

You should also consider placing a consumer statement on your credit report explaining the situation and stating which specific accounts appearing on your credit report belong to your late father. While your statement will not necessarily improve your credit score or help you obtaining a loan, it will be seen by anyone who pulls a copy of your credit report. In some cases, these statements can cause lenders to take a closer look at a consumer's credit worthiness when making lending decisions, which should help you given your otherwise good credit history.

Read more about placing a consumer statement on your credit report by visiting www.bcsalliance.com. See the Federal Trade Commission document FTC Facts for Consumers: How to Dispute Credit Report Errors for more information.

Even with these efforts, your father's accounts may continue to show up on your credit report from time to time. Therefore, you will need to continue reviewing your reports periodically and dispute any erroneous items that are appearing on your credit file.

Federal law (US Code Title 15, §1681c) controls the behavior of credit reporting agencies. This law is known as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Under FCRA §605 (a) and (b), an account in collection will appear on a consumer's credit report for 7.5 years. The clock starts approximately 180 days after the date of first delinquency on the account. To learn when an account will be removed by the credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian and others), add 7.5 years to the date of first delinquency. Subsequent activity, such as resolving the debt, is irrelevant to the seven-year rule. However, if the debt is a tax lien, that can appear for seven years from the date of payment. A bankruptcy will appear for ten years from the date of the final order. Delinquent federal student loans can be reported indefinitely, i.e., for as long as they are delinquent.

So, even if nothing else works, these accounts should fall off of your credit report with the passage of time.

I encourage you to keep a close eye on your credit profile, and to continue working to keep your late father's accounts off your credit report. I wish you the best of luck in resolving this problem, and hope that the information I have provided helps you Find. Learn. Save.

Best,

Bill

www.Bills.com