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I finally got a copy of my TU report. Noticed an inq from a car dealership I had never heard of. They ran credit for someone with my name and SSN who gave an address at which I've never lived. I happened to see this same address listed on my EQ report as well - same firstname & last name, in a city and state I did live in. But with a street address that was never mine.
Car dealership doesn't seem to see this as an issue, as they never opened an account for this SSN anyway. But I'm in process of rebuilding, so am kinda freaking a little about this. Thoughts?
Maybe an issue of identity theft, but maybe an issue of simple mis-reporting by the furnisher, or mis-matching by the CRA.
Do both the CRAs and your current creditors have a full, updated listing of your current personal identifiers, such as full name, address, etc?
I would begin by sending the CRA a list of your personal identiiers, accompanied by a copy of the CR showing an inq. that does not match your identifiers.
Ask them to check the matching identifiers reported with the inq, and remove the information from your file as an administrative procedure.
You could also place a simple fraud alert in your credit file without intitiating actual identity theft proceedings.
In addition to what RobertEG stated I would dispute the address with EQ. This might help prevent the mis-matching in the future, if that was the problem.
I too had a possible id theft. I placed a fraud alert on my credit reporting account. It is good for about 90 days and can be renewed. You need only contact one cra and they will forward your request to the other cra's. It's free, fast and easy. Should any request for credit come in, they will call YOU FIRST before releasing the info. Hope this helps.
I would also get that address off your credit report. I would also consider postin a fruad alert on your credit file with all three bureaus complete with contact info.
Okay, I did all of the above - fraud alert is in place, disputed the address, and will send TU a copy of the report showing the incorrect address. Will keep you posted as to whether they remove the inq. I certainly hope so, since it was in April and waiting nine months for it to fall off is unnerving.
The fraud alert is a preventative measure. With the fraud alert in place if your credit report is pulled the lender will see the alert and call you. It might help catch the person(s) who is doing this. It is easier to take steps to prevent it than to dfix after the fact.
So this is fun....
After several conversations with TU, they say that I need a letter from the dealership saying that this inquiry is in error. Apparently they can't see the "Inquiry analysis" section that gives the incorrect address.
Okay, so I call the dealership. They do not seem to understand why this is a big deal. They inquired as to a "Jane Smith", and if TU matches up the wrong Jane, well - not their problem. I feel a bit roadblocked.
Thoughts? Inq happened March 30 of this year, so it's a looong wait for this to fall off.
When the CRA received the inquiry, it included personal identifiers that they used to match that inquiry with your credit file.
They considered the provided identifiers to be sufficient to match the inquiry with your credit file. So it appears to be a file matching issue rather than any identity theft.
All I can suggest is sending the CRA a complete list of your personal identifiers, and ask them to compare with the identifiers provided in the inquiry.
It appears to be a file mismatching issue.
A dispute will most likely simply result in their using what they already have, and simply verifying.
You cannot pursue by way of a direct dispute to the dealership, and thus requiring them to investigate, as issues related to credit report inquiries are excluded from the direct dispute process.
In my opinion, you need to convince the CRA of their administrative error.
RobertEG, I actually quoted your earlier post in my letter to them - thanks for your assistance on that. I did frame it as an administrative error in the letter. Got nowhere on the phone, as the CSR kept saying she couldn't see the Inquiry Analysis section that showed the incorrect address on the inquiry.
Fingers crossed that this works. And thank you again for your help. It's much appreciated.