(This is my first post here! ... If this topic has been related elsewhere, I'd like to read of others' experiences. Perhaps it is a common issue.)
... After many years of being someone who does NOT use credit, I started to consider taking an interest in playing the game of raising this all-important "credit score" a few years ago, anticipating my one day perhaps wanting to buy something of substance, such as a home.
So, at annualcreditreport.com, I attempted to answer their identity verification questions. To all of the handful of questions they ask, I had to honestly answer, "None of the Above."
They were such as "It appears you obtained a mortgage in August of 2014. Which bank did you get the mortgage with? A. Bank of America, B. Wells Fargo. ... .. D. None of the Above"
"It appears you opened a retail charge account in February of 2016. Which store was this with? ...."
...Since I had done NONE of the actions asked in the questions, I answered None of the Above. I was then told I was unable to obtain my score in this simple way, and was directed to download a form and follow instructions.
I first tried to get the scores a few years ago. ...At that point, I didn't want to bother to pursue such a rigamarole. I wondered if my identity had been compromised. ...What else would it lead one to believe?
A year or so after that, I tried again and got essentially the same questions, to which I again answered, "None of the above." ...Sigh.
After being instructed to download the initial request form and send in copies of documents ( I sent my driver's license, SS card, and recent utility), I then got responses from all three CRAs. Two of them, despite getting the initial request, wanted more documents; one of them apparently unable to be bothered that I'd already sent in the same documents to the initial entity that they were now requesting again. I went back and for with these idiots for a few months before I finally had my credit reports from all three. ...And all three of the accounts show, accurately, no activity.
...I am wondering if it might be because I had NO credit history. They essentially have NO credit actions I could verify in the positive to have occurred for them to use as identity verifiers.
I really would rather not go through that every year, in order to get the reports I am entitled to.
(And yes, they have misspelled my last name when they sent my reports, which I just read in one of the advice stickies here is something intentional?) Cripes, how can people be expected to respect these mysterious behemoths that are given so much power to decide our fate? Ugh.
