Is there anything else I should do to correct the information on my credit reports?
toastergnome asked:
My ex-husband and I divorced in 1998, I am now remarried with a different last name. He is now married to a woman with the same first name as me so now she has the exact same name I had when I was married to him. Can you see where the trouble begins?
So, I pull my credit report yesterday and find that there are 7 collection accounts on my experian report and 1 collection account on TU and 1 also on Equifax. I do my own “investigation” and find out that Experian has added my ex-husband’s new wife’s collection accounts to my report because we have similar names. Fine, but we don’t have similar date of births or social security numbers. I contacted Experian and have disputed these collections over the phone.
Now comes the hard part. I still had one common collection on all three of my reports and I knew it was not my bill. I called the Collection Agency to find out what information they had and sure enough it was my date of birth and my social security number. I then called the original creditor (a medical clinic) to find out what in the world was going on and to see if the New Wife was using my social security number. Turns out the bill was for her son and when she gave the billing clerk her name they pulled up MY old information instead and added the bill onto my account. The credit clerk at the clinic was very nice and said they would get it fixed with the Collection Agency. Meanwhile I have contacted all three CRA’s to dispute this collection account. I have worked very hard to build and groom my credit and it just makes me sick to think that somthing like this can keep me from getting the best intrest rates when I refinance my house. Have I done everything I can do to correct these mistakes? Is there anything else I can do to make sure these inaccuracies are removed?
Thank you all for your responses, I can’t pick a best answer because all of you had really good advice.
Jean
My ex-husband and I divorced in 1998, I am now remarried with a different last name. He is now married to a woman with the same first name as me so now she has the exact same name I had when I was married to him. Can you see where the trouble begins?
So, I pull my credit report yesterday and find that there are 7 collection accounts on my experian report and 1 collection account on TU and 1 also on Equifax. I do my own “investigation” and find out that Experian has added my ex-husband’s new wife’s collection accounts to my report because we have similar names. Fine, but we don’t have similar date of births or social security numbers. I contacted Experian and have disputed these collections over the phone.
Now comes the hard part. I still had one common collection on all three of my reports and I knew it was not my bill. I called the Collection Agency to find out what information they had and sure enough it was my date of birth and my social security number. I then called the original creditor (a medical clinic) to find out what in the world was going on and to see if the New Wife was using my social security number. Turns out the bill was for her son and when she gave the billing clerk her name they pulled up MY old information instead and added the bill onto my account. The credit clerk at the clinic was very nice and said they would get it fixed with the Collection Agency. Meanwhile I have contacted all three CRA’s to dispute this collection account. I have worked very hard to build and groom my credit and it just makes me sick to think that somthing like this can keep me from getting the best intrest rates when I refinance my house. Have I done everything I can do to correct these mistakes? Is there anything else I can do to make sure these inaccuracies are removed?
Thank you all for your responses, I can’t pick a best answer because all of you had really good advice.
Jean
