Wat to Do About Dad's Debts on My Credit Report

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READER QUESTION

I need to know how I might PERMANENTLY remove any and all references to my late father's credit history from my identity

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Bills.com Resident Expert
Jan 05, 2012
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 fatherÂ’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 late fatherÂ’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.

In fact, the bureaus may even add your fatherÂ’s SSN and DOB to your credit reports. 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 fatherÂ’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 fatherÂ’s.

Fixing credit report errors

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to fix the problem of your fatherÂ’s derogatory credit items appearing on your credit report. From your question, it sounds like you have been regularly disputing the incorrect listings, which is a very important step to resolving this situation. I do not know of any foolproof way to prevent these accounts from appearing on your credit report. However, you may be able to work with the credit bureaus to try to stop these derogatory items from being repeatedly placed on your credit reports. First, you should obtain a copy of your report from each of the three major U.S. credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). You can obtain a free copy of your reports once every 12 months by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com.

Review your reports to see if your fatherÂ’s Social Security number, date of birth, or address are appearing on your reports. If they are, contact each of the bureaus listing the inaccurate information, explain your predicament, and ask them to correct your credit file. By law, the credit bureaus must work with you to remove your fatherÂ’s personal information from your credit reports. Having your fatherÂ’s information removed from your credit file should reduce the likelihood of his financial problems from negatively affecting your credit rating in the future.

Consider placing a consumer statement on your credit report that explains the situation and states 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 consumerÂ’s credit worthiness when making lending decisions, which should help you given your otherwise good credit history. You can read more about placing a consumer statement on your credit report by visiting the BCS Alliance Web site.

Federal law governs the credit bureaus' behavior and how your credit history can be used. Study the Fair Credit Reporting Act to understand your legal rights in the matter

As mentioned above you need to make the credit bureaus aware of the fact that your late fatherÂ’s accounts are appearing on your credit report, and work with the bureaus to remove any information from your report that may be causing these accounts to be placed on your credit profile. However, even with these efforts, your fatherÂ’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.

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 fatherÂ’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

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Comments (6)


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Bills.com
March 01, 2009
If he was a joint-borrower, then she cannot stop it from being reported on his credit report. She could close the account and hope that it stops getting reported. That is probably her best bet, but it's not guaranteed that he will still see it on his credit report.
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Scott R.
February 27, 2009
my girlfriend reopened an existing credit card that she is the primary card holder on. the same information with her new address appeared on her soon-to-be exhusbands report. she does not want him to know where she lives now and is scared he will find out. what can she do to have this address removed from his credit?
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Bills.com
May 07, 2008
I think it is the bankruptcy and not these entries that are causing your credit to be low. If the credit reports are stating the facts accurately, then there is nothing you can do get those items deleted as records on your credit reports can continue up to 7 years or more depending on your state. I would focus more on rebuilding your credit history. Bills.com has a wealth of tips available at http://www.bills.com/credit-score/.
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Linda .
May 07, 2008
I am working on improving and repairing my credit report. I filed Chapter 7 in 2006 and it will be discharged two years in November. I have several student loans which spans over a period of 13 years. I graduated in 2003 with a doctorate degree. I consolidated my student loans into one lender and i am not in deferment. I am scheduled to start payment in a few months. There were several that I was unable to consolidate and I am repaying those. The problem is that i have over 30 entries dating back to 1989 of student loans. The statement reads that the account was transferred to another lender and that I was never late. Although, this is a positive thing, the numerous entries are causing my credit score to be lower than it would if the credit reporting agency was only reporting the active accounts. I am preparing a dispute letter to the credit bureau requesting that these accounts be deleted since they have been transferred to one account. Please give me some much needed advice.
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Nate .
September 27, 2007
You should by pulling a copy of your credit report from each of the three major U.S. credit reporting agencies–Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each of these bureaus maintains independent records regarding a consumer’s credit history, so it is important that you request a copy of your credit report from each agency. Under federal law, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from each of the agencies once every twelve months; you can request your free copies by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com Once you have obtained your credit reports, you should carefully review them to make sure that all of the information appearing on the reports is accurate. If you find any credit listing that you feel is inaccurate, you should dispute the listing with the credit bureau on whose report the listing appears. Once you dispute an item, the bureau will investigate your dispute and contact the company that reported the information; if it finds that the listing in inaccurate, it will remove the listing from your credit report. The Federal Trade Commission offers a guide to disputing credit listings, available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm
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Vuronika .
September 27, 2007
I'm asking a question in relations to my mother. I moved to florida and later texas. However, somehow my address (Our names are similar) ended up on her credit report. I believe this began when I had my mail forewarded and instead of looking at the names carefully they just looked at the first initial and last name...
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