Two Credit Bureaus Have Killed My Wife

[Fishing Rhino]

We are in the process of doing business with a local bank, and they pulled up three credit reports. On two of them, my wife is listed as deceased.

Here's how that happened. She co-signed a student loan for our son-in-law with Sallie Mae. In 2008, our son-in-law passed away. Because her name was on the loan, someone entered the deceased in her name, not Joey's.

It's never a bad idea to check your credit rating. Mistakes do happen. It's not much fun when the bank informs you that you are deceased, or have some other problem that you really do not have.

It takes over a month for them to correct your credit report even when it's obviously an error.

[GLADES]

Good advice to check your credit rating annually.

Sorry about your son-in-law.

[Redlinerobert]

Sorry about your son in law. That should be a fairly easy fix for her.

[Bassn Blvd]

Perhaps she'll come back reincarnated with a PERFECT score.

[Fishing Rhino]

Sorry about your son in law. That should be a fairly easy fix for her.

The first credit rating service she spoke with said it would take thirty days to research it. The second one found what caused the error in a few minutes, but it will still take thirty days to go through the process. And after that another seven days or so to get it corrected.

Here's what I do not understand. She has W-2 forms showing that her employer paid her for her services through June of 2010 when she retired. Now that she is receiving payments from her tax deferred annuity, she gets W-2s from them since these are now returning those earnings to her.

If need be, she could produce her birth certificate, social security card, valid photo ids and whatever else, then show up in person, but they still have to go through their process of finding out where the error was made. Why not correct their error on her credit report and then do their research. It has been established that she is indeed alive.

[Fishing Rhino]

Perhaps she'll come back reincarnated with a PERFECT score.

Heck, I'd like to cash in on her life insurance policy. No death certificate needed. The credit rating service has declared her to be dead, oops, they said deceased.

[Sam]

Because each credit reporting service has a protocol that cannot be changed and must be followed.

Of course they should change the status but they must do the research to make sure they are correct.

It is like dealing with attorneys. The are pains in the fanny but they have to confirm and reconfirm before saying something is correct.

So sorry to hear about your son-in-law. He left us way too soon.

[key chain bass guy]

Of course they should change the status but they must do the research to make sure they are correct.

That makes sense. In fact it makes so much sense that if they did this before they declared her dead they wouldn't have do all this research. Of course I know it would be pretty overwhelming for them to research every death.

[telmomarques]

cash ur wife's life insurance and buy a boat and new truck

[Fishing Rhino]

That makes sense. In fact it makes so much sense that if they did this before they declared her dead they wouldn't have do all this research. Of course I know it would be pretty overwhelming for them to research every death.

They obviously didn't do due diligence to make sure that the info regarding her death was correct. Yes it would involve more work for them to confirm the accuracy of everything they use to establish an individual's credit rating. It would make their cost of doing business much higher. That's all well and good until their error seriously impacts someone.

Suppose an erroneous credit rating prevents Joe and Mary from buying their dream home, or borrowing to invest in a business opportunity. Who covers their loss?

[quanjig]

Wonder why the third did not have her listed as deceased??

[Fishing Rhino]

Maybe they did due diligence, and double checked beforehand.

Who knows. The bank sent us a copy of the credit report(s). There is a lot of weird stuff on them.

We use credit cards for most of our purchases and travel. Consequently the monthly bill on one of them averages 3000 dollars. It has been over 12,000 when we paid for our son-in-law's funeral. They are always paid in full and on time. For some odd reason the credit bureau says we are carrying too large a balance, in spite of the fact that we have done so for years and promptly paid them in full.

There is a comment about my Social Security number and fraud. The dates for their concern began January 1, 1958 and ended sometime in 1961. I was a junior in high school on 1/1/58. Never have had a problem with Social Security.

My wife, who has an MBA, and retired from her postion as chief nursing officer for a three hospital healthcare system looked through the ten to twelve pages and shook her head.

Our credit rating is over 800, and yet in spite of a history of using credit cards and paying them off promptly and in full, they made an issue of the amount of the current unpaid balance on our cards. It's just absurd.

[Fishing Rhino]

An update. The thirty days of research plus another seven or so to process the dispute are out the window.

We received a letter today, six days after the dispute was lodged, that they had corrected the error. Amazing, simply amazing. Actually it has been five days including Saturday and Sunday. We lodged the dispute on Wednesday. That was on the 24th. The letter was postmarked on the 26th. That makes a lot more sense to me than the 37+ days they initially stated to confirm my wife was not deceased.

They have resurrected my wife. There goes the insurance money.

[deaknh03]

Maybe they did due diligence, and double checked beforehand.

Who knows. The bank sent us a copy of the credit report(s). There is a lot of weird stuff on them.

We use credit cards for most of our purchases and travel. Consequently the monthly bill on one of them averages 3000 dollars. It has been over 12,000 when we paid for our son-in-law's funeral. They are always paid in full and on time. For some odd reason the credit bureau says we are carrying too large a balance, in spite of the fact that we have done so for years and promptly paid them in full.

There is a comment about my Social Security number and fraud. The dates for their concern began January 1, 1958 and ended sometime in 1961. I was a junior in high school on 1/1/58. Never have had a problem with Social Security.

My wife, who has an MBA, and retired from her postion as chief nursing officer for a three hospital healthcare system looked through the ten to twelve pages and shook her head.

Our credit rating is over 800, and yet in spite of a history of using credit cards and paying them off promptly and in full, they made an issue of the amount of the current unpaid balance on our cards. It's just absurd.

Social security fraud wasn't invented in 1958...

[Blue Streak]

Should we send flowers or make a donation to her favorite charity?

[Fishing Rhino]

Social security fraud wasn't invented in 1958...

Tell that to the credit bureau that put it on our report. Keep in mind, back then, you didn't get a social security card/number until you went to work. You could get one, but you did not need it until you got a job, farm work not included. Now, you are issued a card and number when you are born, or very shortly thereafter.

I didn't even get my card until 1959 after the high school basketball season ended. Prior to that I worked summers on three farms in town, one chicken/egg farm and two dairy farms. Started that when I was eleven years old, grading eggs and shoveling out chicken houses into a manure spreader, then spreading it on the fields.

Mowed a few lawns in the neighborhood as well.

[slonezp]

Looks to be quite common

http://news.yahoo.com/bank-america-declared-live-customer-dead-3-years-170928915--abc-news.html

[Mandy Shea]

We are in the process of doing business with a local bank, and they pulled up three credit reports. On two of them, my wife is listed as deceased.

Here's how that happened. She co-signed a student loan for our son-in-law with Sallie Mae. In 2008, our son-in-law passed away. Because her name was on the loan, someone entered the deceased in her name, not Joey's.

It's never a bad idea to check your credit rating. Mistakes do happen. It's not much fun when the bank informs you that you are deceased, or have some other problem that you really do not have.

It takes over a month for them to correct your credit report even when it's obviously an error.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me at: mandyshea@live.com

I have the exact same issue w/Sallie Mae - since 2006. I have done a lot, but still they continue to do this. This is HIGHLY illegal & doubtfully done on accident. Will explain more in an email. I am in the works of a law suit.

[Mandy Shea]

An update. The thirty days of research plus another seven or so to process the dispute are out the window.

We received a letter today, six days after the dispute was lodged, that they had corrected the error. Amazing, simply amazing. Actually it has been five days including Saturday and Sunday. We lodged the dispute on Wednesday. That was on the 24th. The letter was postmarked on the 26th. That makes a lot more sense to me than the 37+ days they initially stated to confirm my wife was not deceased.

They have resurrected my wife. There goes the insurance money.

Sorry to say, but don't be so sure. I have had my status reversed 3 times in the last 6 years.... only to be reversed again by Sallie Mae supplying "evidence" I was deceased.

And checking your credit the normal way does nothing to find this info out. You have to pay to get your actual credit score to find out it probably says "0" OR apply for credit some where only to be turned down b/c of a weird response they receive from the bureaus.

[Fishing Rhino]

The issue is resolved. Our business with the bank has been successfully concluded.

Credit bureaus accept the statements given to them by the reporting companies, such as Sallie Mae, or credit card companies. They do not investigate them for accuracy. Nor do the credit rating bureaus take any responsibility for erroneous reports. All they do is compile the info as it is received.

This matter was resolved months ago.