Credit
reports contain errors on a regular basis.So, before applying for new credit or beginning your credit repair
journey make sure that all of the information contained in your credit report
is yours.
Reasons for such mixes include:
Common name.For example, a father and son who live
at the same address, or who don’t add “Sr.” or “Jr.” when
completing credit applications.
Loan officers make clerical
mistakes.For example, spelling
names wrong, transposing social security numbers when pulling the credit
report, or even entering incorrect addresses.
When reporting data to the
Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) personal information is entered
incorrectly.For example, an
address at which you never lived.
If married, the social security
number of the incorrect spouse is entered.This is not good because each credit report should be
individual.What can happen is a
merged credit report resulting in incorrect scores.
Co-signing for children or
other people.Sometimes the lender
will match the social security number with the wrong person.
Individuals with the same name
mixed at the CRA's side.For example, John L Smith and John M
Smith all is the same except the middle initial.
This is a very common mistake.
It is not
easy finding these mistakes, but if you know you see information that does not
belong to you, then call the CRA specifically to ask, “Is my file mixed?”
Mortgage lenders pull three bureau credit reports through different
systems.Sometimes the system has the capability to pull in mixed reports or split files, which
will show the conflicting information. This is something consumer reports don't
always show.
Experian: Experian is the best for this because
the mix can show two ways.
It will show additional names
and addresses and possibly incorrect accounts that are not obvious.If the consumer gets the chance to
review the credit report and knows something is not right, then the
consumer will have to write directly to Experian
and provide a copy of a driver’s license (with DL number marked out) and
request to un-mix the file.
Sometimes it is obvious
showing additional social security number of the other individual mixed
on the file. Fix the same way by writing to the CRA with request to
un-mix the file.
Equifax: On the mortgage side when the files are split, the
files are received as Equifax 1 and Equifax 2.What is different is that on the credit
report are two credit scores, one for each file. But it is all merged on
the mortgage reports.These are
very complicated.
It may very well be all of the
consumer’s information that just got split because two names were
used.For example, a married name
verses maiden name.If that is the
case, Equifax advises to add both scores and divide by two for the end
score to be used. But also follow up informing Equifax that the file
needs to be re-merged.
Other splits may be by common
name, for example father and son, where there are two people making up
the files. These need to be unmixed.
Consumers using and pulling
their personal credit report on a daily basis from monitoring services
can cause problems, compiling soft hits to the credit report.If the file gets too large, Equifax
cannot handle it and will result in a split file. Some accounts will show
on one credit report while other accounts show on another credit report.
TransUnion:Like Equifax, TransUnion
doesn't show additional social security numbers, only additional names,
addresses, and possible accounts that don't belong. The consumer must
contact TransUnion with a copy of their driver’s
license in order to update the file.
So,
depending on the vender and software used, besides the type of creditor,
different things can result when trying to pull credit reports. Sometimes it
just looks like you have no credit history, and other times it mixes other
people’s credit reports right in with yours.If creditors don't know to look for the warning signs, they will flat
out decline credit because they think it was all your credit that was bad.
The CRA’s don't go first and foremost by the social
security number.Listed below is how the
repositories assign importance to this information (from most important to
least important).Notice the SSN is not
the most important (Information provided by California Association of Mortgage
Brokers, Orange County Chapter, “Shedding Light on Credit Scoring” by the NAMB
Credit Scoring Committee Chair, March 12, 2002):
Equifax
TransUnion
Experian
Last name
First initial
Address
SSN
Zip Code
Address
Last name
First name
SSN
AKA/Alias name
Last name
First name
SSN
Address
With this in mind, understand that it is quite easy for the creditors to mix
consumer files.Even if you catch this
and fix it completely, it can happen again.
You must take precautions to just use one deviation of spelling your name,
especially if you have a father and son with similar names living at the same
address.
Finally, be sure to obtain a copy of your credit report at least once a year or
60 days prior to applying for credit so you can catch and fix mistakes in time.
Pammila Allen is a staff writer for CardRatings.com. She is a monitor
of the CardRatings.com message board and has been helping consumers on a volunteer basis with credit issues for many years.
Important Note! The information in this article is believed to be
accurate as of the date that the article was written. Please keep in mind,
though, that credit card offers and terms change frequently. Therefore, we can
not guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Please verify all
terms and conditions of any credit card offer prior to applying.
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Pammila Allen is a staff writer for CardRatings.com. She is a monitor
of the 