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What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

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Anonymous
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What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

Ok
 
This is semi-comical to us.. You have to know my other half to understand why, but this stuff usualy happens to him
 
Long story short, Best Buy M/C called him at 8:15 am demanding an immidate payment... He was far from awake and through the course of the conversation, thought they where calling on his dads account.. His dad is dead... So he told them this.. His dads name and his name are somewhat the same, just diffrent middle name.. SO, ok 3 weeks later (and no bill) he got a call that, there sorry for our loss, blah, blah, blah, is there going to be an estate opend and such... Um, no.. And which one are you calling in regards to.. OHHHH.. Its me, DUH!  Come to find out, the shut off his Best Buy Master Card cause he was dead.. Along with his Orchard Bank Master Card... Along with his Credit One Bank Card.. Along with his Aspire Visa... Along with his Imagine Master Card...Along with His Dell Account and several other things... We've gotten every one fixed, but HSBC..There being the pains in the butt..Its also killed his score (was about 600, now 425, thanks to this)
 
What do we do?????? We've tried sending what they asked for... But theres still no clear answer.. He doenst need his credit too much, as he isnt that great at managing it, but we'de like it back..Argh...
 
Help!
 
 
Message 1 of 13
12 REPLIES 12
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

He needs to pull all of his credit reports directly from each of the three CRAs in order to find out which one(s) has/have him listed as deceased.  Then he needs to write a letter to that CRA disputing that piece of information.
 
Wait for their response and take it from there.
 
Also see this thread from the Credit in the News Forum:
 
 
Message 2 of 13
MidnightVoice
Super Contributor

Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

Is this a case of a reverse split file?  Two different people's credit reports combined?
The slide from grace is really more like gliding
And I've found the trick is not to stop the sliding
But to find a graceful way of staying slid
Message 3 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not



MidnightVoice wrote:
Is this a case of a reverse split file?  Two different people's credit reports combined?


Cases of mistaken identity on a CR are not that uncommon.  This is one reason lots of people have accounts on their reports that they don't recognize, and why others have accounts that are missing entirely (sometimes they're reporting to the wrong report).
 
When OP's DH's father passed away, I would imagine that one of his creditors unintentionally reported that OP's DH had passed away instead.  This kind of mistaken reporting happens not infrequently to people who have similar names and shared the same address at some point in their lives.
 
Message 4 of 13
cobra19
Valued Contributor

Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

When my Dad passed, I sent copies of his death certificate to all his creditors - think he had 4 or 5 credit cards.  
New York Yankees - 2009 World Series Champions. 27... and counting.....
Message 5 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

If I remeber correctly-
He won't be able to pull online if the file is marked deceased-

cheddar wrote:
He needs to pull all of his credit reports directly from each of the three CRAs in order to find out which one(s) has/have him listed as deceased.  Then he needs to write a letter to that CRA disputing that piece of information.
 
Wait for their response and take it from there.
 
Also see this thread from the Credit in the News Forum:
 
 



Message 6 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

CCCs are funny (strange-funny, not giggle-funny). :/

When my FIL passed away over a year ago, the CCCs (BoA, Cap One, AmeX and one other I can't remember) refused to believe he had died, even after receipt of the death certificates. My SIL, the executor, had the worst time dealing with them (and ALL cards were in PERFECT standing with VERY low balances).

However, my MIL routinely gets CCs, maxes them out, and then writes "Deceased" on the envelopes and sends them back. Apparently, even though she's over $60K in debt with them, they believe her.

Go figger.

Perhaps in "our" case, closing the account of a wonderful customer is harder to bear than writing off thousands and thousands of $$ in owed debt??
Message 7 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

No luck pulling the credit reports... He tried to buy a car 2 weeks ago and they flat out told him no... Whats ironic, he whent and to see what would happen, opend a CC in his dads name.. Came through fine, with a nice 5K limit... I think it may be time for a lawyer... He really wants to pay on them, but they dont want him too... Where like, WTH??? Orchard Bank did take a payment over the phone... I think they may be back on...
 
Also, Citi called today... They want his truck.. Why? Because hes dead.. Sent them a payment last week
 
After 5 minutes of punching buttons, they got it straight....
 
I dunno how they could get the two files confused.. But i guess they could.. Hence why i suddenly am a Auth User on some ones (who i don't know) Amex... Has a 25K limit they pay off monthly.. Amex refuses to remove it, its been disputed.. Hey it boosted my score 50 pts.. Shouldnt complain..
Message 8 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not



jburdette321 wrote:
Whats ironic, he whent and to see what would happen, opend a CC in his dads name.. Came through fine, with a nice 5K limit...
That was probably a bad idea.  First it's technically identity theft.  Second, now he has to convince all of the creditors and CRAs that his reports have been mixed up with someone who really is deceased, but who, oh yeah, did just open a new credit card account a few days ago.

 
Message 9 of 13
Anonymous
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Re: What to do when all the credit card companys think your dead and your really not

I told him that.. He did it anyway... I made him call crap. 1 after hopping on here and tell them ( im sitting on here as this is going on).... She basicly said it doesnt matter if there dead or not.. She said lots of dead people have credit cards..
 
Our friend at a local car dealership who can pull actual reports (all three) is getting us reports.. He said that he's not listed as dead any where now.. But the mortgage from his dads house is showing now, along with his dads BofA and Elan Credit Cards...Theres also a fresh hard pull on his report from Crap. 1...... Hmmmm.......  
Message 10 of 13
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