I waited all weekend to call Experian and when I got the chance to yesterday–all I did was deal with an automated machine that after 50 million prompts would tell me that no agent can help me because the office is closed. Hello, I was calling after 8am all the way to 9am and got the same recording. Their hours are 8am-5pm. I could not deal with it any longer. I was already late for work, my little one was sick and we ran into major car issues (more on that later). So yeah, “Monday, Monday” was playing in my head.
I would have loved to call from work but I have a boss that sits right on top of me..all day. So basically, I make no personal calls all day–and I don’t have a lunch break to do it either. Yeah, it’s legal…don’t even make me go there. So I am home because the little one that decided to go to school sick yesterday–so she wouldn’t fall behind, is flat-out sicker than ever. My husband is overloaded and can’t stay home. So I am here and I needed to be. Great time to catch up on my other work, be here for my little girl, and get someone on the phone at Experian.
I remember talk about sites that will tell you how to get a “live” person on the phone at some of these big companies. Wow-What a lifesaver. I found a number and directions for Experian. I am posting a link here and let me tell you…I was on and off the phone in less than 13 minutes! For them, that was awesome. As I was on hold, I was reading horror stories and I was nervous. Experian did alright. I am still pissed I had to wait all weekend, but I think I got to the bottom of it.
Basically after giving my basic info to the first rep(that was very nice by the way) that helped me, she recognized right away there was a problem. She then transferred me to “that department”. My next rep was nice too and she was helpful. My main concern was if creditors were going to start hounding me for this other person with the same name. She could not offer any answers about that but assured me they will handle my “credit reporting issues”.
She also seen there was a mix-up and I was getting questioned on what names and addresses were mine. I was then told my file is obviously mixed up with someone else and that there is another “special” department that will go through everything and clear it up. I will then receive an updated copy of my credit report when it is all straightened out.
So now, it is a waiting game. I am sure there will be the few legit discrepancies, but I am not touching anything until they are done with what they are doing. As far as the 4 disputes I initiated, I can only hope Experian intercepts them so the creditors do not get them. I don’t want to deal with relentless creditors and collection agencies again. Luckily, my credit report info shows my PO Box and Cell #. If they start, well then I guess it will be finally time to get a new phone number.
I’ll update here with the outcome.
Hopefully it will work out.
Years ago at a bar I worked I carded a girl that turns out had my exact same name (first middle last were all same as me). It was really weird. This past year I paid off all my debt. I then received a call saying I owed $75 to Verizon. I bever had a Verizon phone. At the time they said I did I had had Cricket. I thought about paying it since it was just $75 to be done with them, but I told them to send me a statement and I would pay it. Never got it and havent gotten another call from them, and never had before.
I think it was for her and they thought Id pay it. They probably just looked on Whitepages.com for my name and called.
Ive also had a mystery woman using my address and phone # and last name for stuff. I had a repo guy come to my home looking for her, and her car. My cars are paid off and not the same brand as hers. He was good though and reported it as wrong address for her. Same for her creditors calling. Crazy.
That is crazy! It is pretty sad we gotta deal with stuff like this. Life is wild enough without all this crap.
You know, years ago I went through identity theft and it was a total mess to clear up. Lots of phone calls, letters, even had to fill out a “Not Me” case with the State Attorney’s Office. Never had a repo guy show up though…well not for someone else’s car anyway
It kind of stinks having a common name, and they should really make it harder for this stuff to happen. Even when I sold my home, another girl’s info was on our closing paperwork…all because she had the same common name as me. I had to fill out an affidavit saying that was not me…blah blah blah. Now this whole credit report stuff. It just agitates me. This crap should not be happening.
I am glad your situation worked out and I hope it never happens again.
Same here, also with Experian. It’s actually my wife’s credit report, contains tons of records from another woman with the same first name spelling, and last name is only different by one letter. I had a horrible time reaching experian as well, but used the link you provided and said “agent” at the key moment and after a lot of hold time got to someone who helped me out. Now I’m waiting for them to send us a corrected credit report. I wonder how many of us are in this same boat? And will they be able to keep it from happening again? It was clearly an automated process that led to it happening in the first place. The person my wife was confused with also lived about 50 miles from an old address of ours, and had a similar SS#.
Hi Peter,
I’ve been wondering that myself…how can we keep this from happening in the future? Luckily for me, I wasn’t sitting in a car dealership getting my credit pulled trying to buy a car, or better yet trying to rent or buy a home. I would’ve been out of luck until I got this mess all cleared up.
Of course Experian tried to put it in my box like if this mix up was “my fault”. I just read a little paragraph that was enclosed with my credit report that I didn’t pay mind to before. It basically told me that every time I pull my credit, I need to use my complete identification information when doing so: full name with middle initial, SS#, DOB, and complete addresses for the last 2 years…basically to keep this from happening. They don’t say it, but I know that is what they mean.
Hello? That is exactly what I do and have always done. What does Jane Doe with one SS# have to do with another Jane Doe with a different social security #. I mean, how many people have the same name on this earth? I have googled mine and I am share the same name as millions of others.
If our social security #’s are unique to us, why would a name or variation of it even matter. Even birth-dates? The likelihood of 2 Jane Doe’s having the same birth date is very high. They need to figure out a way to make sure this type of situation does not happen…to anyone.
I’ve also really thought about the security aspect of all of this. Having your name, DOB, and last 4 of your SS # show up on someone elses report is a problem. I am an honest person and would never use the other Jane Doe’s info, but is the other Jane Doe as honest? Of course, they say your whole SS# is not compromised, but isn’t it always the last 4 digits they ask for anyway? I don’t know, I think about this stuff…
Right now, I have the other girls address, phone #, where she works, last 4 of her social and DOB. I don’t think she would like that too much. However, I am pretty sure if this happened to me, another girl with my name is probably carrying around my information—and I know I definitely don’t like that!
I hope they straighten out everything with your wife’s name and info and soon. I have been reading up on this, and no, we are not the only ones this happens to, and Experian seems to be the one who is famous for this.
Good luck with it all…
P.S. Sorry to any Jane Doe’s reading…I just used the name as an example. ;P
Same thing happened to me. Also with Experian. I was able to resolve it with them on the phone.
My concern is: I still don’t understand how this happens in the first place. I’ve been looking around online, but I haven’t yet found a good description of what causes this mixing of credit data. Do you know of any good resources on this?
Brian,
I wish I knew!I am happy to say that I got my report all cleared up after months of dealing with it.
I asked the very same question you did, but Experian seemed to throw the ball back in my court-like it was *my* fault my report got mixed up. They never admitted any fault and could not give me reasons why this happened.
All I got was a notice with my updated report to make sure that I always use my FULL name when making any credit inquiries or when pulling my credit file. For instance, if my name is Jane Marie Doe, I need to fill out the information with
Jane Marie Doe, not just Jane Doe.
I always do that anyway….
I did not forget about this one at all. If I find anything else out, I will update you. Because like you, things are fine and dandy with my Experian credit file now, but who’s to say it will not happen again?
It’s scary, isn’t it?
Experian does it again! They mixed my husband and another man’s information on one report. We accessed the report using the correct data, but the report has the wrong DOB, social, spouse, etc.. It’s incredible that this can happen and it’s our responsibility to pay for the report and waste our time on the phone to correct Experian’s HUGE mistake. Why aren’t they accountable?
Incredible! Imagine if you and your husband were sitting in a dealership or trying to get a mortgage and someone else’s info came up when they pulled your husband’s credit report? Even worse, what if he was applying for a new job and it happened? Not only would he have some explaining to do, he probably would not get that mortgage, qualify for a car loan, and quite possibly be turned down for the new job too…
That is crazy! I think Experian SHOULD be held accountable. I am not sure if you have done it yet, but get on the phone with them right away. Do not dispute the items online…trust me on that one. They will clean it all up once you tell them that it appears your husband’s file is mixed up with someone else’s.
It seems this happens so often that they know how to correct the problem right away. In a few days, you will receive an updated credit report (no new score) with all your husband’s correct info on it. They also give you some kind of letter with it…basically, telling you that when you pull your credit to make sure you supply THEM with the right info. Because, you know, it’s YOUR fault, THEY screwed up your report.
Yeah, I know… It is always our fault.
They should not only give us a new credit report, but also a FREE updated credit score. Because it is obvious a credit score is going to be deeply impacted by the wrong info listed on a credit report. I never paid to get my updated credit score. I didn’t think I should have to. In fact, I haven’t pulled my credit again since the last Experian mix up.
Gosh, that makes me angry. I’m sorry you gotta deal with this. I do hope it all gets cleared up soon for you. They really need to look into this. I wonder who we could report this to that would stop this from happening. This is just not right.
The same thing just happened when I ran my husband’s credit report. Luckily I think ahead as we are preparing to purchase a home. He had two large credit card accounts saying he owed money, I knew they were not his because the only credit card he has is with me and it was not with these companies. So I continued to read his report and I see my husband’s name and someone else’s name on his report, the same first name, completely different last name. That name sounded familiar as we had been receiving collection calls at our house for this person and receiving his mail and I never thought anything of it. Apparently he owes IRS also. The last 4 digits of his SS Number were not the same as my husband’s it was off by one digit, the year of birth was 15 years older than my husband, a different address was also listed. I called Experian and come to find out they have a special department just for this was the merged department. They sent the report to the appropriate department and this should be cleared up within less than 2 weeks. This is just crazy I am so glad I ran his report when I did.
I am going thru the same thing. I was in the middle of purchasing a home when I found out that experian added several accounts with different spellings of my name on my credit report. The person is 2 years younger than me and last 4 digits of the ssn doesnt even match. This has caue me a major headache and worrying. I feel that they are the worst and something needs to be done about them. This person has over 30,000 worht of debt attached to me all because of their error and they havent resolved the issue yet. I have creditors, lawyers etc calling me now since this person info is attached to me. This is the worst thing I have had to deal with. Whats the purpose if they are not going to provide the correct info to creditors!!!
Nean,
Yuck. I hope that the whole Experian mix-up didn’t cause problems with you getting a house. That was my biggest fear! I can’t imagine sitting somewhere like a bank or car dealership and they come out with this huge credit file with all kinds of crazy stuff on it that doesn’t belong to me. I’m glad I pulled mine at home because my reaction was not good!
Just make sure that you do not dispute this stuff online and call them immediately. Like I said before, it is pretty sad that this happens so much that they know exactly how to fix your credit file as soon as you bring it to their attention.
Experian will send you out an updated version of your credit report when they do fix it. Just make sure EVERYTHING is correct on it when they do.
Good luck with it all. Buying a house is stressful enough. Now you have to deal with this on top of it. I don’t think it is right and something does need to be done about it!
I need to pull my Experian credit report again soon to see where I stand, but I will admit that I am nervous to see what they have done this time!
Wow! I had this same thing happen to me when I applied for a mortgage a couple weeks ago. I was surprised when it took the bank a week to get back with me, and even more surprised to find out I got denied due to my 10 pages of collections!!! I’ve never had an unpaid bill in my life! After a very depressing weekend I spent much of the next week on the phone trying to figure out what had happened. Turns out EXPERIAN had mixed my file with someone who had the same first name as me and was born in the same City as me and we have the same last 4 digits of our SS the same, but not in the same order. My report actually showed 7 different name variations, 2 SSN variations and over 15 addresses I have never lived at, not to mention the 4 employers listed, none of which were mine. It even showed me owing child support and I’ve never had kids! I was unable to get anyone on the phone at Experian and ended up writing them a letter. I am currently waiting for their response…at least based on the things I’ve read here I have hope now that this problem will be cleared up faster than I was expecting! I agree with your theory on the SSN, there should never be any reason more than one shows up on anyone’s report. On my report there was not one single thing in the “Accounts in Good Standing” section that didn’t belong to me and everything in the negative section belonged to this other woman! My mom actually called our State Senator’s office who told her that the attorney general’s office was the proper place to handle this kind of problem! I also think that after a CRA makes this kind of error we should be entitled to free credit reports and credit monitoring for at least 5 years to make sure that they keep our reports clean!
Oh geese. What is going on over at Experian? I’m so sorry to see another person has to deal with this mess. You were trying to get a mortgage too and got denied because of it. That is not fair at all. Yes, they will clean up your credit report, but what happens to the mortgage you got denied for and all the other after-effects that happened because of their HUGE mess up? It’s just not right…
I’m glad your mom called the State Senator’s office and hopefully followed up with the Attorney General’s office too. This really does need to stop. From what I am seeing, this is happening far too much with Experian. I wish I would have did something right away when my mix-up happened, but I didn’t. I was just so worried about getting it cleared up that I didn’t pay mind to much else—I should have though. Now if it happens again to me, I will take action!
Geese, I have been holding off on reviewing my credit reports for months now for fear of another Experian mix-up. Reading this today makes me really not want to do it.
I really do hope that this all gets cleared up quickly so that you can get your mortgage that you should have been approved for from the get-go.
Good luck with it all!
I too am about to bang my head against the wall. I have a negative on my credit report for a medical bill of $153. I called the original creditor and they said it wasn’t me. I did some further investigation and realized there was an address in a different city on my credit report that doesn’t belong to me either. I found there is someone with my name in this city that is near the city where the medical bill originated. I called the Radiological group and they refused to tell me if this man was the one that they had turned over to the collection agency. All they would tell me is that it wasn’t me. I called Experian and they said they would investigate. I just got an e-mail telling me the negative would stay! I am nuts over this. This is not my debt and I want it removed. What do I do next?
Hi!
A $153 medical bill that isn’t yours and they will not remove it…incredible! I wanted to bang *my* head against the wall when I read this. As you know, I am no expert with this stuff. But what I would do if I were in your situation is get a Debt Validation (DV) letter off to the collection agency that is reporting you, not the radiological group.
Send that letter via certified mail. They have 30 days to validate this debt as being yours. If they do not, contact Experian by certified mail and let them know that you contacted the collection agency in writing and they have not validated your debt within the 30 days. It’s best to send them a copy of the DV letter you sent and a copy of the certified mail receipt. By law, they are supposed to remove anything that can’t be verified.
If they do not remove it still, I know legally they have to put a consumer statement next to this negative information. I wouldn’t go for that though. I mean, it is really NOT YOU. In my opinion, you shouldn’t even have to dispute this or put a statement in there. You aren’t the one that went to the radiological group in the first place.
If Experian still does not budge, I would then contact the FTC and tell them what is going on. They are the ones that handle complaints about the CRA’s. I know, it sounds like a bunch of red tape, especially for a $153 negative that is not even yours.
I am hoping that once you contact Experian by mail that they will remove this and you will not have to go any further. I am sure a good lawyer that specializes in this stuff would certainly get that negative off right away, but I can just imagine how much that would cost…way more than $153.
Sure, $153 may not seem like a lot of money. But, that negative could be costing you a job, a decent rate on a car loan or a mortgage. Just imagine how much money that all could add up to. I am not one for lawsuits and I really like to keep things simple. However, if you have done all you can on your own and still can’t get this negative information that is not even yours off of your credit report, hiring a lawyer may be what you need to do.
As far as the incorrect address, I would continue to dispute that too. Usually the addresses are a lot easier to get off than credit information. I have had a few incorrect addresses deleted from my files just by disputing them directly with the CRA’s. You probably already know this, but remember to keep everything in writing when dealing with creditors. It will only help you in the end.
Here’s a copy of a sample DV letter.
Good luck!