When Is A Dispute Not A Dispute

[Anonymous]

This is driving me crazy.

Every month or so my DOB falls off my EQ credit report and has been going on the the last year or so.  To get it back on I continually have to call EQ and fax then reams of crap and I'm getting sick and tired of it. 

EQ Legal Department claims it is because a creditor is reporting invalid data such as "00" for day of birth in the DOB field during their monthly updates, but EQ cannot identofy precisely which creditor.

***** Question:  Is this common?

***** Question:  WHat possible problems can there be if you apply for credit and a creditor doesn't see your DOB on your CR?

I sent a letter to each creditor asking them to check and verify that they are reporting my DOB correctly.  All have replied that they are.

In addition, Macy's now has added "Account in dispute -- reported by subscriber" to my Macy's store tradeline.  After they sent me a letter stating that they verified my DOB is being reported correctly, they changed the annotation on my Macy's tradeline to:  "FCBA Dispute Resolved -- Consumer Disagrees."  I never really disputed much less disagree with their results.

***** Question:  Does Macy's comment have any relevance and how, if at all, can it effect me?

On the 26th I pulled EQ and my DOB was showing.  On the 27th I pulled again and my DOB had dropped.  From what I can see, comparing the two reports shows the only difference that Macy's has updated.  That makes me think that Macy's is, indeed, the culprit.  But when I talk to their credit reporting department they claim they are not reporting incorrectly.

***** Question:  WTH should I do?  Please suggest peaceful solutions first before suggesting violence.

[GregB]

I had a similar issue where one creditor had added an extra digit to the street number of my address. My credit reports would show that I lived at the correct address and then at the incorrect address. I didn't want my reports to show I was moving twice a month so I tracked it down. The delay in EQ reporting complicated that. Are you including that delay when you try to determine which creditor is reporting the wrong date?

The 0-1 day delay of EX reporting might make this easier. Truecredit reports the actual date of the last report instead of just the month and year. Perhaps a 1 month free trial of either of these might help you track it down.

FWIW, I found that I had to prove to the creditor that they were reporting the wrong address. All their records that I could access online showed the correct one. The CSR said their records were correct also. Once I proved that the change happened the same day they reported, they were able to find the error.

[Anonymous]

---

@GregB wrote:

I had a similar issue where one creditor had added an extra digit to the street number of my address. My credit reports would show that I lived at the correct address and then at the incorrect address. I didn't want my reports to show I was moving twice a month so I tracked it down. The delay in EQ reporting complicated that. Are you including that delay when you try to determine which creditor is reporting the wrong date?

The 0-1 day delay of EX reporting might make this easier. Truecredit reports the actual date of the last report instead of just the month and year. Perhaps a 1 month free trial of either of these might help you track it down.

FWIW, I found that I had to prove to the creditor that they were reporting the wrong address. All their records that I could access online showed the correct one. The CSR said their records were correct also. Once I proved that the change happened the same day they reported, they were able to find the error.

---

Since EQ has their head up their rear and doesn't know which is reporting incorrectly, I have to pull my EQ on a daily basis to see what's happening.  EX and TU doen't have this issue because, I suspect, their system is not brain-dead like EQ's.

So, on the 26th I pulled and DOb is ok.  On 27th I pulled EQ and it disappeared.  Only difference I could find was on 26th Macy's had a reported on date of 8/2010 and on 27th 9/2010.  So, I figure it must be Macy's.  Strange thing is that I have had Macy's for a long time and only about a year ago this started happening. 

[IOBA]

Father Time!!!

heheehe

FWIW - my DOB is NOT on any of my CR's.   Never had a problem with it.

[Lel]

I recall your mentioning this problem in the past.  I'm sorry to hear that it hasn't been resolved yet.

This is similar to a problem that I've had with Equifax regarding my birthdate.  Sometime in 2008, my birthdate started reporting incorrectly.  I figured that it had to be a reporting problem from a new creditor, but it wasn't.  I disputed the incorrect birthdate not once, not twice, but seven times with EQ before I got some long-lasting results.  My birthdate has been reporting correctly for 6 months now, knock on wood.

At one point, I figured out - or so I thought - the a creditor that was the source of the error.  I happened to pull two credit reports within a couple weeks of each other.  The first credit report had my correct birthdate, and the second had reverted to the incorrect date again.  The only card that updated in the interim was one of my Chase cards.  This was surprising to me, since both my Chase accounts are over 10 years old and this problem didn't start until relatively recently.  I called Chase, and found out that somehow my birthdate did get changed.  They corrected it in their system, but the next time I pulled a report (after getting it corrected via dispute with Equifax) the error reappeared.  It just didn't make any sense.  I have to believe that this was an internal problem at Equifax that perhaps originated with a creditor, but somehow the problem persisted at Equifax even after Chase fixed their problem.

I finally wrote a more indignant letter to Equifax, with large fonts for effect and a laundry list of the dates and confirmation numbers of every single dispute that I had submitted in the prior two years, and asked them just how many copies of my DL and SS card and other information they needed to fix the error permanently.  Since then, my birthdate has been reporting correctly.

Another reason why I think the problem lay with Equifax is because throughout this whole time, Experian has always reported my correct birthdate, even though they were theoretically receiving the same info as Equifax.  Also, it doesn't make sense that the incorrect reporting from a single creditor would somehow trump the correct information from my other 15 or so creditors.

Anyways, having said all that, the birthdate problem didn't hamper my ability to obtain credit.  I got a HELOC while my Equifax report had the incorrect date, and I know that the lender pulled Equifax.  I got a preapproval for an auto loan last summer when the date was wrong as well.

[Anonymous]

I think EQ's system is designed a bit differently that TU and EX's in that EQ's was written by a monkey.  TU and EX are smart enough not to drop your DOB because a creditor enters your DOB as 7/00/0000 -- an obvious error.

The only reason I even started to be concerned with the DOB issue is because about 1/2 a year ago I wanted to add another cell phone line to my account.  I've been with this cell phone service for well over 35 years without any problems and figured they'd approve me for 100 more lines if I asked.  Wrong.  Because they could not verify the DOB on my CR with that in their system, I had to fax in ID proving my DOB. 

I think I'll give Macy's another shot and if that doesn't work I'll call each TL one by one.  I have already put pressure on EQ and they say their technical dweebs are digging through everything to find the perpetrator.  I ain't holding my breath, but if I ever get denied credit because of this issue I'll be all over EQ like stink on sewage.

[IOBA]

Have you considered canceling Macy's?   Theoretically, if the card is cancelled, you will still benefit from the card and it will stop reporting monthly.  I say theoretically, because sometimes cards still report after they have been closed.    (I have one card that I have cancelled many times that is being reported, monthly, as an open account!)

[Anonymous]

---

@IOBA wrote:

Have you considered canceling Macy's?   Theoretically, if the card is cancelled, you will still benefit from the card and it will stop reporting monthly.  I say theoretically, because sometimes cards still report after they have been closed.    (I have one card that I have cancelled many times that is being reported, monthly, as an open account!)

---

Actually, I have considered that.

The only problem is of the two Macy's tradelines -- store account & AmEx -- it is just the store account that is messing things up.  I would cancel the store account if I thought I could still keep my Macy's AmEx.  Do you think they'll let me keep the AmEx and nuke the store account? 

[IOBA]

Yep!

They get a kickback every time you use the Amex one.  

[IOBA]

PS - Just be SUPER sure that they are ONLY canceling the store card....don't even mention the Amex when you call.  Give CS the store card number only.  Then make sure DW knows it's been cancelled.   

Another suggestion would be to charge something on the Amex card, give it a few days to post, then cancel the store card.