my credit report has negative items that are not mine but my mothers who do i hold accountable for this?

Question

her name and mine are the same except for the middle initial
her s.s number and mine are identical except the last number so
mine comes up first.
my credit report has my s.s number with her birthdate listed as mine.
her addresses appear as mine,even her spouse
its driving me crazy.
my credit score is extremely low because of all this
the credit bureau has corrected some of the items but the collection agencies have been very rude.
in your oppinion who do you think is making these mistakes.
who should i hold accountable and who should i go to for help dealing with this mess.
these are utility,cable,phone and mostly medical bills
this is very serious i only need serious answers

Answer 1

You need to contact each of the 3 major credit bureaus (you can do this online) and get a copy of your credit report (you are entitled to one free report per year).

For each item that is incorrect, you need to file a complaint (you can also do this online). You should also put a "fraud warning" on your account to let others know that you have the same name and similar social security number as another person, so that they will have to contact you to be sure that any new accounts were initiated by you, and not your mother.

Answer 2

When you pull a credit report from one of the reporting agencies see www.annualcreditreport.com to pull all three for free- you are given the opportunity to appeal any of the items on the report. The report will provide contact numbers for the agencies that have reported something on you. When you call- specifically ask for the department that handles credit reporting errors and indicate that there are accounts that you don't recognize on your report- it usually takes a letter or two and things will clear up within about 12 weeks. If your mother has been utilizing your identity to open accounts that she would have been unable to do otherwise- then you can call the credit reporting agencies and state that you have been a victim of identity theft. What this provides you is a gateway before anything else can be opened or added under your name. For example- if you wanted to open a credit account at a local department store- before the application could go through- the credit agency would call you directly to confirm that you are indeed applying for a new account to ensure that it's you.
It may seem like a long time before things happen but eventually they will clear up. Keep copies of the letters you send in case of any legal action or creditors calling you. You don't even have to explain that it's your mother or a relative but that "someone with a similar name" has items on your report.
I had to fix mine when I found a section that indicated that I was married to my father.... ick.

Answer 3

How in the world did you get a ss number that close to your mom's? You must both have gotten them at the same time or something. Be careful to always use your full middle name when opening any accounts.

The companies reporting items to the credit bureaus are the ones basically at fault for this. You should check with them to make sure your mom's not giving them your number when she signs up with them or something. Contact everyone who has put a negative report onto your credit report.

It's possible that the mistakes are at the credit agencies, but if all three show similar wrong info, sounds much more like it's in the reporting. And I'm not trying to pick on your mom, but sounds like she might be giving out wrong info, i.e. your ss number, as hers when she opens accounts.

Sounds like you've already talked to all the credit bureaus - if you haven't sent them something in writing detailing all this (names and numbers so close) and asked them to put the information in your file, then you should do that too. The credit bureau should at least be able to correct the wrong birth date, addresses and spouse - you might have to send an official copy of your birth certificate, and a copy of your social security card, to each of the three bureaus to get them to believe all this and get it fixed.

Sounds like a real mess, and probably won't be easily cleared up.

Good luck.

Answer 4

I am assuming you have received your FREE credit report from http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ and if you haven't do that immediately. You need to have each company who has a negative account against your name validate the debt. Go to http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml on how to go about this. Since they are not your debts, it will be impossible for them to validate them. It is mostly the collection agencies mistake b/c the credit bureau only reports the items. However, you shouldn't focus on blaming anybody, just try to fix the problem. However, the credit bureau should be helping you clear your good name.

Answer 5

You need to contact each of the credit bureaus and have them correct their records. You also can ask them to attach a letter of explanation to your files so that creditors know that two different people are involved.

It might help if you change your name on all your open credit lines - use your full middle name now and when you apply for credit again. This might help the credit bureaus distinguish the two of you.

Read this article to learn how to contact the credit bureaus and clear up the mistakes - http://www.credit-yourself.com/credit-report.

The article also describes what actions you can take if the credit bureaus don't cooperate.

Answer 6

What you need to do is contact the company that ran the credit report for you, & file a claim with them. I had to do it because something was on my report that should have been taken off from my bankruptcy, & I remember seeing your problem as one of the options to chose from.