Not sure if this has been brought up in the Credit FAQs, but I thought I would share.
I recently applied for a CC, and to my surprise, got a rejection letter, saying that I had too little credit history. Odd, I thought, since I've had a CC since 2002 with a 20k limit (and have paid it off in full each month without fail) and have had student loans since 1999... 14 total accounts, all in good standing or consolidated. Furthermore I just applied for, and received, another CC in Nov.
Turns out this new CC issuer that rejected me was using TransUnion for their info. I pulled my Experian and TU reports for free (first time I've ever checked them) and saw that Experian was 100% accurate, but TU only had my most recent CC on there.
It turns out that my father cleared up some incorrect items on his report this fall; TU had completely mixed up our info, since he's Jr and I'm the 3rd. His birthdate with my soc security # and my accounts mixed in with his accounts. He explained the situation back then and asked that they fix his SS# and transfer my accounts to my file. But apparently they just deleted my accounts, rather than transfer them to my file!
So I've had to go back and forth with CLUELESS TU reps. Same old scripted responses:
TU: "Did you make sure that your creditor reports to TU?"
ME: "Ummm yeah, I'm pretty sure Sallie Mae and BOA report to you guys. How is it that Experian is 100% accurate but you are missing almost everything?"
THEM: "Well, we don't share data with the other agencies"
Finally got someone with a brain on the phone, and got them to realize they f****d up, and what do they suggest I do? Mail them my Experian report, so they can copy the information! I thought they didn't share data!?!
ANYWAYS, I'd suggest that if you are a Jr, or a 3rd, or a 4th, etc. you pull your reports and monitor them. Apparently these guys don't use SS# to identify accounts, so you could be missing accounts, or worse have some deadbeat's collections on your report. I feel sorry for the John Smiths of the world.
To enter a coupon code in your post please enter the following info:
Coupon Code:
Coupon Offer:
Merchant:
Expires (optional):
Restrictions (optional):
saving...
Quick Summary is created and edited by users like you... Add FAQ's, Links and other Relevant Information by clicking the edit button in the lower right hand corner of this message.
Frolet said: So I've had to go back and forth with CLUELESS TU reps. Same old scripted responses:
TU: "Did you make sure that your creditor reports to TU?"
ME: "Ummm yeah, I'm pretty sure Sallie Mae and BOA report to you guys. How is it that Experian is 100% accurate but you are missing almost everything?"
THEM: "Well, we don't share data with the other agencies"
Finally got someone with a brain on the phone, and got them to realize they f****d up, and what do they suggest I do? Mail them my Experian report, so they can copy the information! I thought they didn't share data!?!
That's good stuff! Not that you are going through issues, but the response you got from them.
Imagine if you were one of the George Foremans George Foreman has ten children; each of his five sons is named George (George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI). He is able to distinguish one from another by the use of nicknames (e.g. "Monk", "Big Wheel" and "Little George").
I doubt the CRAs are able to distinguish "Monk" from "Big Wheel" very easily
I have the same name as my dad and when I applied for my first mortgage there was a Sears card opened over ten years before I was born on my credit report. Logical thinking does not come into play on credit reports.
I have a common name, worked for Comcast in tech support, and their were three people working at Comcast with the same name. One left, and I stopped getting a paycheck . . ..
I am also a Jr., and I have had mix ups at a bank. My uncle had an account with my dad’s name on it, and the teller almost gave me my uncles money!
My friend has the same name as his dad. He is 21 years old with a 28 year old credit card reporting on his credit reports with him as the primary owner. FICO = 822 (not bad for a 21 year old with 28 years of credit history )
longwood8 said:I have the same name as my dad and when I applied for my first mortgage there was a Sears card opened over ten years before I was born on my credit report. Logical thinking does not come into play on credit reports.
im in the same boat, ive been an authorized user on two of my dads cards for years, when i asked him about it he never put me on them, somehow i was just added on. At least hes never been late.
Experian mixed my wife's credit with mine. We have same address, but different name (either first or last). And my wife has been an authorized user on a couple of my cards. Mine credit reort seems fine. But my wife's report has my SSN. It took my wife more than 30 minutes to get a real person over the phone and they do not accept fax. We have to write them for correction and are still waiting for response.
Congress should require that credit applications accommodate a full legal name - including middle name and suffixes like Jr., Sr., II, III. All too many credit applications don't accommodate those fields, as well as applications for employment and for government services, fail to include those fields.
An additional problem arises for individuals with Spanish names, when in some cases what we call the "middle" name is actually used as the last name.
SeattleNative said:Congress should require that credit applications accommodate a full legal name - including middle name and suffixes like Jr., Sr., II, III. All too many credit applications don't accommodate those fields, as well as applications for employment and for government services, fail to include those fields.
An additional problem arises for individuals with Spanish names, when in some cases what we call the "middle" name is actually used as the last name.
They should also require a full match of a number of fields, such as full name, social security number, birthdate, and some part of the address.
I'm a Jr. and my dad's accounts ended up all over my reports. Since he has excellent credit, I didn't dispute the items. They help my credit. I have accounts on my credit report that are nearly as old as I am. Wooohoooo! Thanks for the 800+ credit score!
I'm a parent to twins, and the same is true of twins, even more so because their birthdays are shared, making the confusion even easier to occur in the first place.
I'm not a big believer in matching, rhyming, or alliterative names for twins, so it doesn't apply to my kids initials. However, I'm sure there are a lot with problems for this reason, too!
I just went to a wedding where the groom is a twin (so they have the same last name and birthdate, but different first names). He married a girl with the same common first name as his twin's wife (so now the wives have the same first and last name). So what we have now is 2 couples. All 4 people have the same last name. The 2 women have the same first name, and the 2 men have the same birth date. Sounds like those 4 might be in for a fun time trying to sort all of this out with the credit bureaus... And let's just hope none of their decide to name their kids Jr.!
I benefitted from having my dad's stuff on my report. Of course dad always paid his bills on time. Heck, it wasn't until I was in my 40s that the tradelines finally fell off.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I find it bizzare that credit bureaus, in this day and age, would get people's credit histories mixed up. I understand that people share the same names and there are certainly different variations of the same name as well. But everyone's SSNs are unique and all it takes is a monkey (they are quite smart at handling mundane tasks) to punch in the SSN and bring up a person's credit profile.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
)
