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Credit report errors

Client reports that after applying for a new credit card that was denied, he learned that his record showed a bankruptcy, uncollected balances and legal fees. None of it is true.

All of this has been posted to his account in the past few months as earlier this year he got a car loan with no problem. He was told at the time that he had a great credit record.

He asked me what he should do. This is outside of my comfort zone so my question is ... how should someone proceed in this circumstance?

-HW "Skip" Weldon Columbia, SC

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Reply to
HW "Skip" Weldon
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In such circumstances, I would do two things:

1) Go to annualcreditreport.com, get my free credit reports from the three major agencies, and file a formal complaint about any misstatements. 2) Take copies of those reports to my local police department and ask them to start an investigation of possible identity theft.

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Reply to
Andrew Koenig

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I had a small ID theft problem c. 2004, resulting in rejection when I applied for a new credit card. It took about two months to resolve fully, with maybe 10 hours of personal time, mostly paperwork and phone calls. The three credit agencies were reasonably polite and helpful, though a little more patience than is usual was necessary.

-------------------------------------- Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the Newsgroup.

Reply to
Elle

The reports are the first place to start without a doubt. When I first pulled my report, some 20 years ago, I found that some of my father's accounts were appearing on my report as he had the same first name. Two rounds of submissions to the big three, and no repeat offenses since. I am aware of mistakes caused by (1) others with a similar name or (2) typos on SS# causing bad data.

There's always the chance it was one of my suggestions above, depending how long it's been since the client checked his report. For identity theft, would the thief first have to get a card (or some other account) steal some funds, default, and then have a judgment? What Skip offered above seems more like a misidentified account than true ID theft. But I'm sure he'll update us, so we'll learn the results. Joe

-------------------------------------- Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the Newsgroup.

Reply to
joetaxpayer

Many thanks to Elle, Andrew and Joe. I have forwarded the information and hope to hear of the resolution.

-HW "Skip" Weldon Columbia, SC

-------------------------------------- Misc.invest.financial-plan is a moderated newsgroup where Moderators strive to keep the conversations on-topic for financial planning. Other posting guidelines include a request for brevity and another for trimming posts to which we respond. For all of the other tips and suggestions, see "FROM THE MODERATORS: Posting to misc.invest.financial-plan", a weekly post now on the Newsgroup.

Reply to
HW "Skip" Weldon

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