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What to Do if Someone Else is on Your Credit Report?

Question: My husband and I recently decided we were going to buy our first house. I went to apply for a mortgage and discovered that on my credit report was information from another person. I have been trying to figure out how to approach the situation to get their negative items removed from my credit report. What is the best plan of action to get this accomplished?

 Answer:    We have encountered this question before and we felt we should address it for others who are facing this issue. It can be extremely frustrating when you are ready to apply for a new credit line whether it be a mortgage, credit card or any type of credit, to find out that the credit report you have worked so hard to preserve has been violated without you knowing it. We have found that the best way to approach this situation is a two pronged approach. First you must have a current credit report to go by, you can gain access to them throughout the internet or if you have not taken advantage of your free credit report this year that is now allowed by the federal government you can use that. Please make sure though that you have a copy of all three credit bureaus so you can thoroughly address this issue and be sure that the other persons information is removed from all of your credit reports. You want to then go through and pick out all the items that are not yours and address them at both levels, meaning the actual place where the credit was issued and also the credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, that show the item(s). You need to tell the original creditor that this item was mistakenly placed on your credit report and you need it removed. They will typically ask you to verify yourself, meaning you social security number, address etc. and typically will give you some sort of dispute form to fill out to get the matter resolved. Then you need to call the credit bureaus directly and inform them of this misinformation, tell them you have contacted the original creditor and have them working on the item(s) being removed. They may also ask you to fill out a dispute form to have the item fixed on their end and prove your identity again as well. This process may seem like a lot of work but the end result is you will regain your credit report and be approved for the credit you need again, when you need it. This process can take a month or two to finally have it fully removed from your credit report so be patient. Remember, you need to be courteous to the people you are dealing with; they are not the ones that personally did this to you. We understand the frustration you feel that you are now stuck doing all the work for errors that was out of your control, but don’t shoot the messenger! When you treat the credit bureaus and credit agencies with respect, you will typically receive it back. Remember these people are dealing with a lot of complaints so be prepared when you call with the information to prove your identity and be specific on what you need done. These types of errors are what make it important to always be aware of what is on your credit report. Make it a yearly task to look at your credit report and address any errors or misinformation that it may contain. There is nothing worse then planning to buy a new home and then finding out that your credit history contains errors!

Top 5 Things to Avoid when Fixing your Credit Report

          Repairing your credit report can seem like a daunting task if you try to do so without having the proper knowledge and information you need to get it done effectively and legally. You need to use all the expert resources out there so that when you go to talk with credit agencies, you know your rights, you know what to do and maybe even more importantly, what not to do. If you do the wrong things, you may cause negative items to remain on your credit report when you could have had them removed or re-reported in a more positive light.  Creditors can be tricky and without you knowing it, a simple request for more information can turn into a new updated mark on your credit report that will begin another seven year mark on your credit! Beware of such tactics, become an informed consumer and learn that you can fix your credit yourself, effectively as long as you approach the process well prepared.

1.     Avoid sending out ALL of your dispute letters to your creditors at once.

This is often done by many “credit repair companies” that are popping up on the internet. They may claim to be helping you, they may even claim to be law firms, but always do you research so you know what type of company you are dealing with. Sending out multiple complaints at once will “Red Flag” your account. What this means is that credit companies will see that you have multiple complaints all at once and therefore just assume you are frivolously attempting to change your credit report with no true grounds to do so. This may be done accidentally, by not being aware that this would happen, but once your report has been red flagged, you have caused an up hill battle to fix errors on your report, it will take twice the work to convince them that your claims are real and you may become so frustrated over their stall tactics, you may give up before you really get started.

2.     Never submit a statement to a creditor to prove your side of the case.

This may seem like an easy solution, ‘Here’s my statement, now fix it on my credit report” but this tactic by the creditors can backfire on you. Upon you submitting you statement you are also confirming the account, if the item doesn’t get removed, you may then have to begin your 7 year negative mark on your credit report all over again. Credit agency’s have many of these tactics that sound good to a uniformed consumer, but in the end they are only working towards their advantage, don’t fall into their taps!

3.     Dispute the accuracy not the validity.

When talking with the creditor to get an item removed don’t simply say “It’s not mine”. This give s the creditor an easy out to keep your item on your report. You want to approach it more in a way that you are disputing an inaccurate component. By saying it is simply “it’s not mine”, a creditor can easily confirm an account as truly being your credit. If you approach it as an inaccuracy, there will be more information they need to verify and the likelihood of being able to verify the smaller details will be much harder for them to do. This can in turn help you to get the item removed or at least be re-reported in a more positive manner.

4.     Don’t attempt to create a separate credit identity to get around your flawed credit report.

There are many credit repair companies out there that will suggest you try to backdoor the system by getting a separate tax id number to begin a new credit report. This method is not only unethical, it is illegal! The idea is out there to get a corporate tax id number so that you can in turn use that tax id number to gain personal credit. This is not the best course of action because it is fraudulent to use a corporate tax id number to gain personal credit. Plus corporate tax id numbers are different from personal social security numbers and are easily picked up by the creditor. To get around this some firms will tell you to continuously apply for tax id numbers until you get one that resembles a legitimate social security number. This is fraudulent behavior and is illegal.

5.     Don’t be belligerent!

Credit bureaus are bureaucracies, but you still have real people looking at your dispute letters. If you just rant and rave about how this is an injustice and call them nasty names you will get nothing accomplished and the checker will most likely just disregard the letter as frivolous or irrelevant. Mistakes happen and be understanding to that and frame the situation as nicely as possible, you do catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. We know how easy it is to lose your temper to a big company that seems to not care, but reframe from this behavior as it will get you no where.

These five ideas are just to start making you think and become more aware of how to repair your credit most effectively. In today day you are surrounded with lots of information to help you through this process in the simplest manner possible. Creditrepairplan.com will show you a step by step process of how to get your credit repair done in a manner that will not have you ready to pull your hair out. Their sample dispute letters, easy organization and negotiating techniques will help you approach creditors with confidence and the knowledge you need to get the job done!