Mailbag Monday: Disputing an Inaccurate Credit Report
Two years ago when my daughter was applying for college loans we ran into a snag with her credit. When applying to one lender she kept getting a message that her info didn’t match their files. I tried and got the same message – it was the first time we had ever contacted that lender. I got a representative from that company on the phone to admit that her Social Security number was assigned to someone with a different last name. They would not tell me if they had extended this person credit or if it was a new file. We immediately ordered credit reports from all 3 bureaus. Equifax said I had to mail a request, which I did — twice. Equifax said my daughter has no file. I have found out that this lender uses Equifax. How can I get through to Equifax to try to get this straightened out?
— Shelly
Hi Shelly, this is such a frustrating situation, I know. Luckily, the issue here may be simple: It sounds like you are trying to correct the problem on behalf of your daughter, and Equifax tells me that privacy laws prevent them from speaking to anyone except the consumer whose credit file they have. They suggest having your daughter pull a copy of her credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com. It will be free – and in fact, everyone can pull one copy of their credit report from each credit bureau from that site every year for free.
Once she has that file in hand, she can locate the error and then send in an online dispute through the site. They will then mail her a letter with a specific case number and a toll-free number she can use to call Equifax and discuss the issue. She should hear something in 30 to 45 days.
For reference, here is how to dispute inaccuracies with each credit bureau:
Equifax | TransUnion | Experian
I just want to note here, too, that you should always max out your federal student aid eligibility before applying for private student loans. Federal student loans, like Stafford and Perkins, are not contingent on credit score. They also carry lower interest rates and better terms.
