Could this be a sign of identity theft?

THE EXPERIAN CREDIT BUREAU HAS SOMEONE ELSE'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER LISTED AS MINE.

I have been trying to obtain copies of my credit reports and scores from the three major credit bureaus available to the General Consumer.

Yesterday I placed an on-line order with Experian for a 3 credit bureau report and scores.

After the transaction was processed and my credit card was charged (it showed up almost immediately on my on-line account balance) I was shown a page stating that because Experian was unable to verify my information it could not release the reports and told me to call a customer service number. Customer service was unable to offer any help and referred me to another number which is Experian's automated telephone ordering system by which you are not able to speak with a live person. The first menu option is Do You Want an Experian Credit Report or Experian Credit Score, The second menu option asks for your credit card information.

Yesterday afternoon I filed on complaint on-line with the Federal Trade Commission. I wrote to Experian to inform them of this.

Later I received another email telling me that I would be receiving a call today, which I did. I'll spare you the details during which I was charged an additional $30 for something that I could not receive.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT the EXPERIAN CREDIT BUREAU HAS SOMEONE ELSE'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER LISTED AS MINE.

The person I had been corresponding and talking with are Experian's On-Line Marketing arm and while they corrected my social security number on their system they are powerless to correct it on"The Bureau's" records.

After charging me for another issuance of the credit report they told me I would have to inform and verify my info. with "The Bureau," And how was I to do this? By calling the same automated ordering number I was referred to before. I was told that after my card would be charged for the order, I would be informed that Experian could not release the info because it could not be verified I would be given a recording of an address to write about this to Experian which would trigger a process of verification which would include a letter back asking for copies of my soc sec card, birth certificate,and driver's license, and such.

I need to move from where I currently live by Feb. 1, 2105. I am also handicapped which slows that process considerably The first thing a real estate a agent will do after getting my application will be to request my credit report. Will she be able to get one and if she does, will the information on it be mine or will it be the information of the person whose social security number is listed as being mine.

This presents a host of issues and problems for me but here I am asking if this could be a sign of identity theft or just a major screw up commonly made by the credit bureaus.

Experian makes it extremely difficult to contact anyone except their Public Relations People which I did today via an email entitled:

"FILING FORMAL COMPLAINTS AGAINST EXPERIAN WITH FTC, US SENATE and HOUSE, and FBI

"Hello:

I will be filing a second formal complaint against Experian with the Federal Trade Commission, sending letters to my Congressman And Senators, and to all members of Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation who had Experian, among others, summoned before it in December of 2013 in an oversight investigation. I will also be speaking to the Federal Bureau Of Investigation Cyber Crimes Division and filing a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)'

This error by Experian is a very serious matter."

That's just the opening paragraph. I sent it every public relations contact email address at Experian that I could find.

I'm sure it will scare the pants off them. Or are elephants not afraid of mice?

 

Thanks ronjor but I'm afraid that won't work either, because someone ele's soc. sec. number is listed as being mine but I will definitely give it a try.

 

Thanks again rojar. I was able to get one of three credit reports this way. I got one from Transunion. Evidently, Equafax has the wrong social security number listed for me as Experian does. But I at least was able to get the addresses to get the ball rolling on correcting the situation with Equafax and Experian.

I Have NO CREDIT SCORE. I refuse to use a credit cards anymore because I hate the big banks and have no loans or mortgage - I rent., and I drive a 24 year old Honda Accord which has become like an old friend. It's paid for, runs fine, and still looks good except from some stains caused by two cartons of Coca Cola exploding in the heat a few summers ago - that stuff actually eats it's way into glass. LOL. Car is so old I don't even get a property tax bill on it any more-i don't thik it's even still listed in the Blue Book-it's like driving an annuity - I'm told no credit score is not good. It's known in the trade as a "Thin File" which is usually considered a bad thing.

 

Thanks

 

Keep us posted, & All the best with it & your future etc !

 

If your identity has been jacked, you should be receiving collection phone calls and collection letters in the mail. Creditors reach out to every current and past phone number, address and even relatives, so if you are not being harassed by any o fthose methods, it could be you simply failed their online authentication process.

Also, is your number an easy number to transpose? Sometimes social numbers get input wrong by clerks or data entry, but they stick with your report forever. If the wrong number (i.e 6665 is your correct number, but a clerk processing your application enters 6655 or 6656) becomes the lead number, it can cause problems. In the old days, they called that "file shedding", changing one or two variables to confuse their systems. Crooks or even savvy consumers would do it purposely.

Answering the online security questions can be a pain in the butt, especially if they have a CREDITORS ADDRESS incorrectly listed as your street address, or they ask you about some oddball account that you are not familiar with. The last time I tried ordering online, the same thing happened to me, and it applied to all 3 bureaus too, they put up some type of flag. I too called and talked until I was blue in the face, telling them I was a Cali resident and never stepped foot in Sioux Falls South Dakota - but maybe Citibank did! They didn't care and thought I was trying to social enginner them.

Before you do anything further and assume the worse, there are forum boards dedicated to these types of topics, I'm sure your question can be answered in short order. Search these boards: http://creditboards.com/forums/ and http://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/forum/165-credit-repair-forums/ .

After a few minutes of reading either of those credit boards, you will see that any threat you make to a credit bureaus falls on deaf ears or goes straight to the WDGAF basket, they really don't care and will gladly engage in litigation with you.

My fix was simply ordering the reports the old fashioned way - through the mail.

Good luck, amd have patience.

 

The issue has been resolved. No identity theft involved.

Experian makes it very hard to contact it by phone or email. It's corporate headquarters does list email addresses for it's public relations managers and officials.

In December of 2013 Experian, among other credit bureaus, was summoned to appear before a Senate Oversight Committee. One of the things Experian had to answer to was a recent scandal reported in all the media where a recently acquired subsidiary of Experian had sold the personal and financial information of millions of persons to an Identity Theft Ring operating out of Tokyo. Experian plead ignorance.

You would be surprised at the rapid response one gets from Experian when you write an email to all of its public relations personnel informing them that you are filing complaints against Experian with The Federal Trade Commission, The FBI's Cyber-Crimes Division, your Seanators and Congressman and all members of the Senate Committee that investigated them last year in December.

I was contacted by Experian by telephone this morning and the matter was promptly resolved while I was on the phone.

Experian had all the correct digits for my soc. number, they just had them in the wrong order. Evidently, some entity had either asked for my report or wanted to make a collection report for $50 that was caused by a screw up by my Blue Cross. That entity gave the wrong number for my soc security number. That's how Experian came to have the wrong listing for my correct social security number. Seems like a bad business practice to me.

 

Glad it worked out for you in a way. But unclean data in other people's databases is nightmarish to identify and challenge. And an enormous problem in so many ways....

 

Glad it worked out, make sure you follow-up to verify the transposed numbers have been corrected. Remember, there are 3 credit bureaus. Experian is huge, credit reporting and scoring is big business. The thing is, a social security number, by law, is ssupposed to be used only for the administration of ss benefits - and not as a national identifier. Notwithstanding that fact, who gave them permission to use OUR numbers? Nobody.

Also, the credit bureaus sell our data to many, many different types of companies. These companies readily sell the info to anybody willing to pay for it. For example, companies like Pipl, Zabasearch, Lexis/Nexis - all of them, data whores.

If you really want to tackle a project, try "opting out" of these services. Also, you are entitled to one free report from Lexis/Nexis. It will contain all the same date a credit bureau maintains, and then some, except for the actual payment history and scoring.

https://personalreports.lexisnexis.com/access_your_personal_information.jsp

 

For my credit report use credit karma and I don't summit any financial data outside of whats necessary for a account and use the information on the website to better my knowledge and apply for credit cards at the cards website NOT credit karma's website, company's pay to be listed on Credit Karma's website.