Odd credit report situation

[Anonymous]

I just reviewed my Experian credit report and it seems as though, in the last month, my credit report has merged with someone else's. This does not in any way appear to have been a case of someone taking my identity and applying for different things. There are several credit cards, a car loan, and a mortgage, none of which belong to me, and all are established accounts opened anywhere from 2012-2020. My experian report refreshes about the 21st of each month and this is the first I've seen of it. I do not see this activity on Equifax or Transunion but those haven't refreshed yet this month. Equifax is tomorrow - I sure hope this is an Experian whoops and not all across the board. 

My question is, who do I call about this? Experian? Each lender? Someone else? 

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I just reviewed my Experian credit report and it seems as though, in the last month, my credit report has merged with someone else's. This does not in any way appear to have been a case of someone taking my identity and applying for different things. There are several credit cards, a car loan, and a mortgage, none of which belong to me, and all are established accounts opened anywhere from 2012-2020. My experian report refreshes about the 21st of each month and this is the first I've seen of it. I do not see this activity on Equifax or Transunion but those haven't refreshed yet this month. Equifax is tomorrow - I sure hope this is an Experian whoops and not all across the board. 

My question is, who do I call about this? Experian? Each lender? Someone else? 

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You probably need to send them a written dispute letter.

[cashorcharge]

Reach out to Experian ASAP!   You need to tell them you have a Mixed File.  The good news is, once you bring it to their attention, they are pretty good about cleaning it.  If you just spotted it and we're on top of it...awesome!  Get it handled now.

I, on the other hand....had that same problem and didn't notice it as it was a second card with a bank I had an account with and wasn't to invested in my credit back when this happen.....8 or so years ago.  They got it resolved but now as a result, I can no longer submit any disputes online.....that is blocked...I can only call them and answer a bunch of questions to verify msyelf AND I can no longer use Annual Credit Report to review my report to see SP's and other INQ's because my file has been flagged as "previously mixed."  That may not be the case for everyone that has this issue, but it is for me.

Good luck!

[Iusedtolurk]

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@cashorcharge wrote:

Reach out to Experian ASAP!   You need to tell them you have a Mixed File.  The good news is, once you bring it to their attention, they are pretty good about cleaning it.  If you just spotted it and we're on top of it...awesome!  Get it handled now.

I, on the other hand....had that same problem and didn't notice it as it was a second card with a bank I had an account with and wasn't to invested in my credit back when this happen.....8 or so years ago.  They got it resolved but now as a result, I can no longer submit any disputes online.....that is blocked...I can only call them and answer a bunch of questions to verify msyelf AND I can no longer use Annual Credit Report to review my report to see SP's and other INQ's because my file has been flagged as "previously mixed."  That may not be the case for everyone that has this issue, but it is for me.

Good luck!

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That's horrible getting Penalize for their error and not something initiated by you breaking some rule.

[hdporter]

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@Iusedtolurk wrote:

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That's horrible getting Penalize for their error and not something initiated by you breaking some rule.

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I would consider it a rather extreme caution on Experian's part, but one that is likely reasonably warranted.

A "mixed file" isn't a clerical error.  It likely results because something in the merged data matched the OP's credit data sufficiently that the two were linked.  This likely means that some portion of identifying info (name, SSN, address, b/d, etc) matched on more than one characteristic.

Bottom line, this puts the OP at risk of disclosure of credit information to the other party, not to mention the possible manipulation of that data.  Not knowing who that might be, in OP's shoes I'd prefer that EXP put in place a verification protocol before disclosing further informtion.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice. It took me a few days to get a chance to call, but I did today. It was easy on my end when I knew exactly what to tell them happened, and it was pretty obvious to the guy helping me what had occurred as well. It took him awhile to get them separated, but he got it done. The only lingering effects are that he said any folks pulling my credit in the future should use my full middle name or exact middle initial, nothing else (I kinda thought that would already be the case - I have a very common first middle and last name, but it appears that my file was mixed with someone who didn't even have the same middle name, which was very odd to me), and that there might be some disputes I can only do online rather than over the phone due to whatever block he had to do to prevent it from mixing again. 

I miss the temporary higher Fico score I had since the other person definitely had a better record than I do (I'm improving but it is slow going), but at least I come by the actual one honestly. I didn't want to be the one responsible for dragging someone else down either. 

[coldfusion]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the advice. It took me a few days to get a chance to call, but I did today. It was easy on my end when I knew exactly what to tell them happened, and it was pretty obvious to the guy helping me what had occurred as well. It took him awhile to get them separated, but he got it done. The only lingering effects are that he said any folks pulling my credit in the future should use my full middle name or exact middle initial, nothing else (I kinda thought that would already be the case - I have a very common first middle and last name, but it appears that my file was mixed with someone who didn't even have the same middle name, which was very odd to me), and that there might be some disputes I can only do online rather than over the phone due to whatever block he had to do to prevent it from mixing again. 

I miss the temporary higher Fico score I had since the other person definitely had a better record than I do (I'm improving but it is slow going), but at least I come by the actual one honestly. I didn't want to be the one responsible for dragging someone else down either. 

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While you are at it I suggest you get a copy of your Lexis Nexis consumer report and review that as well.  If they managed to add someone else's information to your file I know from experience that information can percolate downstream to the CRAs and create headaches when a creditor picks up on the additions as a result of a normal AR soft pull. 

[cashorcharge]

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@coldfusion wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the advice. It took me a few days to get a chance to call, but I did today. It was easy on my end when I knew exactly what to tell them happened, and it was pretty obvious to the guy helping me what had occurred as well. It took him awhile to get them separated, but he got it done. The only lingering effects are that he said any folks pulling my credit in the future should use my full middle name or exact middle initial, nothing else (I kinda thought that would already be the case - I have a very common first middle and last name, but it appears that my file was mixed with someone who didn't even have the same middle name, which was very odd to me), and that there might be some disputes I can only do online rather than over the phone due to whatever block he had to do to prevent it from mixing again. 

I miss the temporary higher Fico score I had since the other person definitely had a better record than I do (I'm improving but it is slow going), but at least I come by the actual one honestly. I didn't want to be the one responsible for dragging someone else down either. 

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While you are at it I suggest you get a copy of your Lexis Nexis consumer report and review that as well.  If they managed to add someone else's information to your file I know from experience that information can percolate downstream to the CRAs and create headaches when a creditor picks up on the additions as a result of a normal AR soft pull. 

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YES!  Good point @coldfusion 

When I reviewed my LN and SageStream I found the erroneous address from the incorrect account on there.  The person my file was mixed with had a similar name but lived in another state I have never lived in.  Admittedly, cleaning LN and SS were much easier but you're exactly correct...chances are the errors are elsewhere too...as were mine.  

[coldfusion]

I've been caught up in this myself as I have an alias for common usage although not used for legal documents, and my reports have been appended before with SSN info, derogs, prior residences, and death notices from others with matching name/matching alias.

These things usually aren't difficult to clear up but they do have a tendency to show up and create headaches at inopportune times.