January 3, 2008

• Fixing my Credit Info (and how protect yours)

  This entry may prove educational for those of you who care about your credit score.  There’s a story first, and advice and links at the end (and a discount code for something I bought).  I would also like to say that I receive no endorsement from any links that I provide, or their companies.

  I have decided to put the links first so that you know they are here, incase you don’t make it to the bottom.  Here are some things that you may want to go to and read up on for more info about your credit.  The first link is to a main page, and the other links are things that are also interesting:
  GuardMyCreditFile.org => Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4 (About how student loan rates are calculated),
  Give Me My Credit Back => Link 1
  PBS Special on th Credit Card
  Lifelock

  A few months ago, I requested my free annual credit card report, and noticed that there were two items on there that did not belong to me in the public records section.  Long story short, they belonged to my father (same first and last name).  Now, my credit score is classified as “Excellent”, but there’s no reason not to shoot to get as close to 830 as i can.  So, I used Experian’s simple online dispute page, and stated that it wasn’t my account, that it belonged to my father, and that it needed to be removed.  I figured that would be easy.

  About a day later, they tell me that they completed their investigation, and that it came back that the information was mine, and that it would remain on my report.  This is where things get difficult, and it’s not like my story is a new thing (just do a search).  Once you dispute something, if the company says that they believe that the info is correct, there is no easy way to dispute it again.  For further disputing, you must provide additional evidence proving your point.  So, how do you provide paperwork that doesn’t exist?

  (Example)
  Them: Our records say that you own a Ferrari.
  Me: I don’t own a Ferrari, and I have never owned one.
  Them: Well, we “investigated” and we believe that you do own the Ferrari.  Do you still want to dispute this?
  Me: Yes.
  Them: Well, just send us a receipt that shows that you did not purchase the Ferrari, and we’ll remove it. 

  I decided to trace this thing backwards and figure out where the information came from.  Step one, call the court.  Well, they had the name and information that the credit report company had, but not my Social Security Number (SSN).  Also, they apparently could not fix anything, and I would have to contact the company that originally reported the issue. 

  Contacting them was easy (a little Google work for a phone number), but here’s where things get tricky.  I stated my situation and the fact that I never had an account with the company.  They asked me for my SSN, which they verified that they never had on file.  Then they asked for the name that I believed that it belonged to.  That came up, info they had was exactly what I thought it was.  The company did a little investigating, and verified that the info was not mine.  So I tell them that they need to fix it.  They assure me that they will.  A month later, nothing has been fixed, so I call the person I spoke to, and let her know this.  She seems surprised that this is the case, and assured me that she will look into it.  She also still had the documentation that I had sent her.

  Jump forward a bit and I find that it is not fixed.  In the meantime, I was transitioning into a new job, and didn’t have the time to put into getting this fixed.  Needless to say, I have time now, so let the harassment begin.  Hours of calls later, and I’m only beginning to make headway. 

  If you do some reading on the internet, you will find that many people have run into the same problem.  I’m not even talking about people who actually defaulted on payments and simply have to bite down.  I’m talking about people with erroneous information on their reports, who want simple corrections.  Now, when it comes to your credit score, you  have three options: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.  By law, you are authorized on free credit report a year, and most people get that from Experian, which i believe is the largest company.  One thing to note is that although they keep information on hand and such, and as big as they are, I find they do basically nothing to fix problems.  You basically do everything yourself. 

  Lastly, although I was never really concerned with it in the past, I signed up for Identity protection with Lifelock.  Hell, I had even received things from the Army, telling me that a database containing my information had been compromised, and I still didn’t care.  It was the hassle of trying to fix crap that finally broke me down.  Lifelock is the company that has the commercial with the CEO who has put his SSN on the side of a truck, because he is so sure of his company.  In fact, it’s also on the website.  That’s pretty ballsy.  That’s right up there with someone telling the world that their computer is unhackable.  A lot of people will take up the challenge, like this reporter did.  Amazingly, it works.

  It’s not a bad deal.  For $10 a month, or $110 a year, they will provide security for your credit.  First off, The call the credit score companies and put a fraud alert on your account, and check to make sure that it is still active every three months.  Second, they have your name taking off pre-approved credit card mailing lists (which the companies were giving your name to, because that’s how they make money.  Also, interception of these mailings is one of the big ways that ID theft happens), and renew that request when it expires.  They also order your credit card score from all three companies for you.  Also, if your address information was incorrect with any of them (which mine is with one of the companies), they fix that when they go to put the fraud protection on.  Also, guarantee you up to $1 million, which means that if your identity is stolen, your are covered for legal fees and damages.  There are a couple of other things they do for you, but those were the major ones.

  If you go to sign up, you can use the promotion code “Denise”, and it will only be $88 a year.  Now, here’s what really sealed me on the company.  I went to sign up online, and entered in my credit info.  When I clicked to enter it, it denied me, saying that the zip code for my billing address that I entered did not match the one on my account bank account.  I thought that this was a mistake, since I had changed my address with my bank (USAA, which is an excellent bank) in October, and have done a lot of online shopping since then.  So I went to my bank’s website, and checked my mailing address, and it was correct.  However, my address on the specific account had not changed.  This means that for the past 2 month, merchants JUST ACCEPTED THE INFO, even though it technically wasn’t correct.  I’m the type that checks my account almost daily, so I would know it a dollar were missing, but that was scary.

   

  Black 6, out.

  • 5:22 pm
  • 2 Comments