Error in my credit report

Hi jkumar

Welcome to the forums. Your post reminds me about the mixed files kept in the credit bureaus. These files usually contain your information in someone else's name and vice versa. So, it may have happened that your name has been wrongly mixed with another name.

These sorts of mistakes can be formally disputed as per the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The bureaus are required to keep accurate data and ensure the privacy of your information.

You can contact all the three bureaus and describe your problem. They will take steps to investigate the content in your credit report for accuracy. As per the FCRA rules, you will be notified about the change in 30 days. They will provide you a free copy of your credit report reflecting the change.

Regards
Roxette

[quote=jkumar]Went to buy a new car last night, and 2 of the 3 credit agencies showed I was deceased. Needless to say I couldn't do my car deal. Interesting problem, and I don't really know where to begin. Went online to pull my credit reports, 2 of them have alerts attached to them and forced me to order them by regular mail (which I've done). I feel like I'm going to play hell trying to rectify what is clearly a typo somewhere along the line in my life (or death) !! :roll:[/quote]

What a bizarre story. I'm sorry to hear that you have to go through this nonsense. This should not be treated as a typo.


It appears to be something more serious than that. In the worst case scenario, you could be a victim of identity theft.

First, you should contact the credit bureau to see if this error is a result of an inaccurate entry. In order to do this, you should put your dispute in writing.


Under the New law, Credit reporting agencies and information providers have a responsibility to ensure that the data contained on your report is accurate. The Credit Bureau must investigate your claim within 30 days.



When the investigation commences, the Credit reporting agency must provide you with the written results of your investigation.


If the investigation results in a change in your credit report, the credit reporting agency must provide you with a new credit report.


If this was an honest mistake, this procedure should take care of this problem in no time.

[quote=benjaminz6][quote=jkumar]Went to buy a new car last night, and 2 of the 3 credit agencies showed I was deceased. Needless to say I couldn't do my car deal. Interesting problem, and I don't really know where to begin. Went online to pull my credit reports, 2 of them have alerts attached to them and forced me to order them by regular mail (which I've done). I feel like I'm going to play hell trying to rectify what is clearly a typo somewhere along the line in my life (or death) !! :roll:[/quote]

What a bizarre story. I'm sorry to hear that you have to go through this nonsense. This should not be treated as a typo.


It appears to be something more serious than that. In the worst case scenario, you could be a victim of identity theft.

First, you should contact the credit bureau to see if this error is a result of an inaccurate entry. In order to do this, you should put your dispute in writing.


Under the New law, Credit reporting agencies and information providers have a responsibility to ensure that the data contained on your report is accurate. The Credit Bureau must investigate your claim within 30 days.



When the investigation commences, the Credit reporting agency must provide you with the written results of your investigation.


If the investigation results in a change in your credit report, the credit reporting agency must provide you with a new credit report.


If this was an honest mistake, this procedure should take care of this problem in no time.[/quote]

Alternatively, you could be a victim of identity theft. This could be a result of a person impersonating you are someone with a similar name.


The identity thief may have told creditors that he or she is dead in order to escape a debt or to collect on life insurance. So, you should also keep open the possibility that this is an identity theft case.

First, you should place a fraud alert on your credit record. This could be accomplished easily by contacting one of the credit bureaus. This credit bureau will communicate your fraud alert to the other two credit reporting agencies.


Also, file a police report. You may need this just in case you need to present proof to any creditor that you may do business with in the future.

Also, be vigilant with your credit report. Continually check and recheck your report in order to see if there are any suspicious entries.


In addition, if you do find any inaccurate entries, you should follow the procedure that I outlined in the previous post.


And also, be vigilant with your credit bills as well. If you find any credit entries on your bill that you cant account for then your should contact your creditor immediately.