A mixed credit report often comes as a complete surprise for many consumers.
One minute, you’re running a credit check on yourself just to make sure everything is in-line with reality. The next minute, you find yourself frustrated and confused at the inclusion of false, partially correct, or outdated information on your credit report.
This inaccurate credit report data is what is used by financial institutions to make decisions about whether or not they’ll lend you money, how much credit to extend to you, and how much interest will be charged on the credit you are given. With as important as all of these decisions are, it’s critical to have an accurate representation of your financial worthiness.
The good news is that there are steps you can take to resolve a mixed credit report situation. At the law office of Matthew Osborne, PC, we specialize in empowering consumers to take their credit into their own hands and to take action when false or inaccurate information makes its way onto a credit report.
If you’ve become a victim of a mixed credit report, here are the things you can do to restore truth and accuracy to your credit profile.
Remember that Mistakes Happen
When one person’s credit information becomes mixed up with anothers, both individuals can be negatively impacted.
The reasons this happens can be numerous. Common explanations for why mixed credit reports occur include:
- Miskeying of identifying information by credit reporting agencies. If you share the same first and last name with another US consumer, it’s possible that the other person’s credit file could wind up mixed up with yours due to an honest accident.
The same can be said for social security numbers that are off by a single digit. Humans are prone to making mistakes, and it’s important to remember this as you try to get to the bottom of your credit report errors.
- Fraud. Unfortunately, cyber criminals can be very crafty, and they’re often able to steal personal information and use it to obtain loans and run up lines of credit, all in someone else’s name. This can result in a credit report that has delinquencies, charge-offs, and other ‘dings’ that are not actually associated with anything you’ve done.
- Divorce. After a divorce, it can be complicated restoring financial independence to the newly separated individuals. Even years after the divorce is final, it’s common for mixed credit report results to still cause problems.
Get in Touch with the Credit Reporting Bureaus
To remedy mixed credit reports, it’s important to get to the root of the problem. That root lies with the credit reporting agencies themselves: Equifax, Transunion, and Experian.
It’s possible that these agencies were given inaccurate information about you from third parties that simply made a mistake. In most cases, these situations can be corrected by merely pointing out the inaccuracy.
This needs to be done in a clear, straightforward, and concise way. Here are some tips to help achieve this:
- Provide the credit bureaus with a copy of your credit report with highlighted errors. Each of the ‘big three’ bureaus has options on their websites for doing this. Often, a polite, fact-based communication is all that is needed to fix a mixed credit report.
- Make sure the credit bureaus have all of your identifying information, including your full name, mailing address, and date of birth. Prior to 2015, a date of birth wasn’t necessarily required to obtain a line of credit. Now, it’s universally required, for the most part.
- If your mixed credit report situation is extensive or too complicated to figure out on your own, or if you encounter an impasse in dealing with the credit reporting bureaus, consider hiring a consumer law attorney like Matthew Obsorne to assist you.
Lastly, remember that a credit profile evolves over time as life situations change. What’s incorrect on a credit report today isn’t a permanent error. It can be corrected.
If you’re currently dealing with a mixed credit report situation, remember that this is temporary and that, with some patience and calculation, you’ll be able to restore your good name and ensure that what your credit report says about you is steeped in reality.
As always, our team would be happy to assist you in navigating a complicated mixed credit report scenario. We know how aggravating it can be having to untangle an especially puzzling mixed credit report situation. You don’t have to go it alone. Contact our office today to schedule a consultation.
