I hope my story may help someone somehow. In 2004, my husband and I were in the process of obtaining a home mortgage to buy our house. We were under a very tight deadline because I was going to have a surgery and we were trying to close before then. Things were progressing, until one day I was notified that there was a collection on me, and the bank could not give me the loan. After further investigation, the collection was not on me, but on my husband. It was from a medical center that we had never heard of (and of course, never obtained services from). I contacted the collection agency and the credit bureau, and finally found out it was for another person who had exactly the same name as my husband. It seemed absurd to me because people with the same names have different social security number. How could the collection agency and the credit bureau put that on my husband's record? But anyway, they did. It would take weeks or months before the record could be removed from my husband's credit report and collection account, so I decided to go ahead and pay for it. That way I could clear the collection immediately and allow the mortgage to proceed. In the meantime, I filed a dispute to get my money back from the collection agency. Luckily, they understood the issue, and I received my money back from the collection agency in about 2 months, and my mortgage loan went through successfully and we closed the house on time.
This happened before everyone is allowed a free credit report from each credit bureau every year, I believe. We didn't have a habit to check the credit report on a regular basis. I am glad this particular issue was relatively easily resolved. But who knows what will happen the next time? So, it is really important to review your own credit report on a regular basis. Especially for people who have common names, you might want to pay particular attention.
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Comments: 18
I have had the name mix up happen when picking up medication at the pharmacy, but with the credit report that is very serious.
Did you ever find out who made the error, the collection agency or the actual reporting company?
you can request one free report from each of the three major credit bureaus once a year.
I believe it was the collection agency's mistake, because the credit bureau receives their information from the collection agency.
I am glad you got your situation worked out, but it is not as uncommon as you might think. The collection agencies are sloppy, and if they can find a person by the same name, they make you prove that you are not the person they are looking for.
I know you said that it wasn't identity theft, but I do want to share that medical identity theft is becoming a big problem. Someone who is uninsured gets the information of someone who is insured, and obtains medical care using that person's information. The insurance company pays and no one is the wiser, unless the uninsured person fails to pay their portion and the insured person gets a bill. But in many cases the co-payment is paid, and there is no bill sent to the insured person. When you receive anything from your insurance company, look at it carefully to see if it is a service that you have not received. It's very important because the service provided gets included in the medical records, and the uninsured person receiving the care may have illnesses that the insured person does not have. For example, if the uninsured person has diabetes, this goes on the medical records of the person whose insurance is being used. Then when the insured person goes to the doctor - or heaven forbid, the emergency room - improper care may be given based on the medical records. The article I read, which I am paraphrasing (and cannot remember where I saw it, sorry) suggested that we review our medical records periodically to be sure they are correct.