In a quandry, what to do?

Question

This past week, my husband and I discovered that my husband brother had been working on cleaning up his credit. Here is the catcher, all of the derogatories that were on the brother's credit all of the sudden turned up on my husband's credit along with all of the aliases the brother used and the brother's addresses and the brother's business. I spent several hours going over my husband's credit report and highlighted all the items that belonged to the brother and wrote a letter to Equifax (the only bureau where this is happening) asking that the items be removed immediately. I also included a copy of my husband's birth cert., ssn card, driver's license and a copy of a recent bill with our mailing address. We have this feeling that the brother had disputed and told Equifax that all these items were my husband's just so he could get his score raised quickly. He informed us that he got an email from Equifax saying his credit had been repaired. He is also trying to buy a house.

In a nutshell, we suspect fraud because when we try to talk to the brother, he pretty much trys to change the subject while he is stammering and stuttering claiming he is on medication. Should we file a police report or is the letter to Equifax and all of the documentation included enough? I hope to hear from Studly and Echo on this subject. HELP!

Also, the brother and my husband's ssn numbers are very close. The last two digits are different. They are both born in December and are exactly one year and 10 days apart. Apparently, when they were young, their mother got their ssn cards at the same time along with another younger brother.

Echo,

How do I go about ordering the Lexis Nexis? I did a search and went to lexisnexis.com and it appears to be a site to sell products to potential clients for background checks and such. Is this the correct website and if so, I must be overlooking something. Please pardon me, I am quite upset with this situation.

Answer 1

I know what it's like to be a sibling with similar SSN's since I find some of my siblings things pop up on my reports from time to time - though luckily they have all been positive older closed accounts.

It's a sticky situation. Your husband "may" get lucky and all traces may be removed from his report(s). But on the other hand, his brother, or EQ, may have placed him in a position that he may have to fight for years to come.

I agree with Zeba, you should demand that the files are completely deleted and not simply removed and suppressed.
Otherwise the items could remain, unseen by everyone including your husband, unless a full factual report is pulled - usually by a mortgage lender if the loan amount is high enough.
You should wait until EQ finishes their investigation before including any new info (though I'm sure your already aware of that).
If they delete the items, or not, after receiving the investigation results from EQ your husband should send another dispute demanding complete deletion not just removal and suppression of those accounts. If your husband files a police report, he should include a copy of that.

The items may have already hit his Lexis Nexis report, which many lenders use though they would "never" admit it. And the average person cannot dispute with LN like they can with the other CRA's. If your husband provides a copy of the police report, he will be able to dispute the items with LN.
He should order his LN report right away since they take a very long time to send the reports.


As for filing a police report AND placing a fraud alert on his reports --

The pro's on filing a report would be that your husband would have proof that he considers those accounts are not his - should the accounts remain on EQ, spread to other CRA's (he's lucky it didn't pop up on EX first), if the brother had disputed the accounts and claimed that they were your husbands (which sounds likely by what you said) and if the creditors/CA's start going after your husband (since they generally don't care if they go after the right person or not). He would also be able to dispute the items on his LN report if LN is reporting them.

The con's on filing a police report and fraud alert would be - if the CRA's do not suppress the items but completely delete them, the brother may have simply disputed them as not his and EQ (in all of their error prone ways) stuck the items on your husbands report themselves.

If it were EQ's mistake and not the brothers willful action, I don't think it would be fair to the brother to file a police report and could create problems for the brother and possibly the rest of the family.

In my opinion, your husband should try to find out for sure who is at fault - his brother or EQ

Since the brother acted like he "knew" those accounts could/would have ended up on your brother reports (which is what it sounds like) - have your husband "go in person" and demand that his brother "give" him the copy of the dispute he sent before making his decision to file the police report (going in person and standing over the brother will not give the brother the opportunity to throw something together and claim it is what he sent). If the brother claims he does not have a copy, refuses to give your husband a copy, or the copy shows that the brother did throw those accounts your husbands way - then file the police report.

If the brother gives your husband a copy of his dispute and it shows he had simply claimed those accounts were not his, if it were me I would not file the police report since it was EQ's fault and not the brothers.

I'm sorry you and your husband are going through this.
I hope for your husbands sake that it was EQ's fault and not his brothers.

edit++++++

The LN site:
http://www.lexisnexis.com/terms/privacy/data/obtain.asp
(I cannot seem to make the full address show up without the end of it just being dots.................
So I would suggest that when you click on the link, you copy the address from that site then open a new window and paste the address in the new window - rather then clicking from this site to the LN site and entering your sensitive info)


They charge $8 for the report.

They claim they are not a CRA (ha) so they do not have to provide the free FACTA reports or be held responsible under the FCRA.

It generally takes around a month or so for them to send the report.

I don't blame you for being upset. It's bad enough when a stranger messes with a persons credit, it's worse when a family member does it.

Answer 2

First of all you don't want the items removed you want the DELETED !..Once you have wrote Equifax with all info you stated they have 30 days to respond to you. Please wait the 30 days for the response don't write another letter because that just gives them another 30 days to respond again.

If the items remain write another letter demanding proof from the reporting companies that are on your report.Dont be afrais to state the fact your rights are being voilated under the FCRA.