I've been reading the board and trying to come up with the best approach, but perhaps someone could help me out. I'll try to keep this short and to the point. My husband got his credit report with Experian and it contains incorrect addresses, accounts that are not his, a SSN thats not his, and incorrect work information. It almost seems like someone's information was added to his report in a time frame of 5-6 months (that was the last clean report we have). He had excellent credit before this and suddenly all this bad data shows up! Here are a few questions: 1) Is this identity theft or Experian just messing up? 2) Should we dispute everything at once or do it in batches? I have read on here that I should only dispute 4 at a time, why is that? 3) Should we dispute everything in writing or should we dispute the personal information (addresses, SSN, work info) via phone? 4) Is it ok to dispute this online? or should we do it via mail? 5) When they correct something does the report we have access to online get updated or do we need to get a new report? is that new report free or do we have to pay? He has about 9 accounts that are negative (charge off), 5 acccounts that are in good standing.. but ALL are NOT HIS! The incorrect addresses (5 or so) are for someone in Ohio who has the same last name. He had excellent credit before this (~750+). Any advice is appreciated. I apologize if I missed something obvious while searching the boards. Thank you!
In cases such as this, I'ld personally dispute everything. There are any number of possibilities, as to what could have happened, you provided two of them... A data furnisher could have mistyped something... A data furnisher could have errantly skip-traced your husband while they were looking for another XXX XXXXX; and when they reported something, they could have updated their records to show it as his; then both files could have merged into one file... There are so many possibilities, that it's impossible to know for sure. First, I would send a letter to all of the data furnishers who appeared explaining that it appears as if an account for their company is errantly appearing on my credit report; and that you have no idea why, but it appears as if your credit file has been mixed with someone eles'. Put it in your own words... Then I would dispute via certified mail the personal information, and accounts which aren't his. For these you want to be cordial and informal... Hello, there, my name is... ... ... Thank you for any information that you can provide, and have a great day... Just like you'ld write your best friend... At this time they are your friend, and when they get hundreds of un-friendly letters, the tone will be a welcome change... After all, you want them to take the time to conclusively research this so that they can fix it... There'll be a time for coming on a little stronger if they would happen to verify the incorrect information, after (a) being personally advised of it, and (b) having received the CRA dispute...
