Son's bad credit showing on DH's reports - I need a really fast fix...

[Dancemom03]

I've sadly discovered the number one reason in my book not to name a child after you in any way, shape, or form. DS32, who shares my husband's first and last name but not the middle initial or suffix, is not responsible with his creditors.

DH is having neurological issues and his muscles are deteriorating. It's only a matter of time before he won't be able to work at all. His doctors have suggested filing for disability now but the best way to survive in our home until the disability is granted would be to refinance. So the health planner recommended someone they work with in cases like this.

When they pulled DH's credit report, the only derogatory - or even open accts at all besides our mortgage - belonged to DS32 who uses only his first and last name with this address. We feel sick, used, betrayed. Neither DH, nor I, believe this is an entirely innocent mistake after discovering a hospital DH had never been to before this year had a balance with DS32's name & birthdate that also had DH's SS# attached to it.

There are several open collections and a judgement granted several years ago showing on DH's credit report. None of these are DH's. I know I can dispute them thru the reporting agencies but that'll take valuable time to repair - something we don't have right now. I've called the court clerk's office for the judgement and the creditors but am getting a huge run-around. Nobody wants to take responsibility for reporting the info, much less correcting it, and I'm so frustrated repeating my story to each new guy in the chain that I could scream.

I tried reading creditboards but nothing seemed to apply specifically to our situation and there's so much to know, to do or not to do, that I'm intimidated and overwhelmed over there. I know it's a cop-out but can anyone suggest a faster way to correct an inaccurate reporting thru Equifax? Somehow I've got to prove to the mortgage lender that DS is not DH - and do it in the next 2-3 weeks...

 

[msmayor]

No where in your post did I read that you contacted your DS, who can and SHOULD be more active than you in making these corrections.

Get in contact with him NOW, explain the situation and tell him his father needs his help immediately.

 

[Ennazus8810]

No suggestions, just support. My DH is a III, named after his father and his grandfather. There were credit issues involved with both, and my DH had to fight to have them removed. This is why he has sworn that he would NEVER name a boy "the family name" much to his father's disappointment. Luckily we had a girl, and another on the way. My advice would be to work with a financial attorney, they can get much farther much faster than the average person.

 

[RachaelA]

To get information on the judgment, check the court's online docket. It should list your son as the defendant and the creditor as the plantiff. Look up the plaintiff's attorney and contact them immediately about the mistake. Make sure they do not have your husband's information (ss #, etc) on record.

 

[Dancemom03]

No where in your post did I read that you contacted your DS, who can and SHOULD be more active than you in making these corrections.

Get in contact with him NOW, explain the situation and tell him his father needs his help immediately.

Sadly, DS32 is currently being more than a bit irresponsible with family members too. He's not speaking to us at the moment b/c we insisted his belongings and the vehicles left after his move two years ago be removed by last week so we could ready the house for a summer sale if it comes to that. He's aware of the problems but denies that it could hurt his father's credit rating or that he's responsible. I guess it must be the credit fairy's fault...

Anyway, needless to say, if he's hiding from his creditors, he's sure not going to call them for the people who gave him life and sacrificed to make sure it was filled with an abundance of experiences and opportunities...

 

[SOnotLayuh]

Good luck. I'm so sorry this is happening to you!

 

[skip323]

Best wishes to you. I wish I had a fast and easy fix for you but I do not! We were hit with a double whammy when building our house. My stepson is a junior and very irresponsible with bills. Much of his credit was on dh's report. My sister and I share the same first initial and last name (not similar names though) and our ss#'s are only 1 number different (apparently you used to not get them at birth but when a parent applied so my siblings and I all have very similar ones). dsis is also very irresponsible with bills so we ended up with hers on my credit history. It took quite a bit of time to get the information all cleared. We attacked everything by every approach possible...called the major credit history companies, the companies where the bills originated, and dss and dsis. It just depended on the situation as to whether they would clear the information up by conversation or not. To be quite honest, in one case, we even paid the doggone bill because we needed to move ahead with our plans. It was very frustrating. Once the credit was cleared it became easier....a year or two ago I was denied a credit card because of my sister's credit history. I was able to call the companies and remind them that this had already been taken care of and they immediately changed it but it will always be a problem for both dh and I!

 

[rock_doctor]

Get a lawyer and have him write letters, ASAP. good luck

 

[akcire]

Sadly, DS32 is currently being more than a bit irresponsible with family members too. He's not speaking to us at the moment b/c we insisted his belongings and the vehicles left after his move two years ago be removed by last week so we could ready the house for a summer sale if it comes to that. He's aware of the problems but denies that it could hurt his father's credit rating or that he's responsible. I guess it must be the credit fairy's fault...

Anyway, needless to say, if he's hiding from his creditors, he's sure not going to call them for the people who gave him life and sacrificed to make sure it was filled with an abundance of experiences and opportunities...

OP-Sorry to hear about your troubles. I don't know if there are any quick answers. Creditors are not going to be too quick to want to fix this "mistake".

How do you feel about having your son arrested and sent to jail? I am not saying that to be mean, but ultimately this is not just a "credit" issue--this is a criminal matter.

Good friends of ours had a situation with their parent and brother having the same name. The brother was illegally using the father's credit and knowingly running up bills in his name (credit cards, hospital, etc). Additionally, following the Father's death he continued to receive and cash social security checks. The brother is now serving 3-5 years in federal prison. As I recall he was convicted of fraud, mail fraud (since some items were mailed), and essentially fraud against the elderly. There were some other charges that were dropped during the plea agreement, I don't remember the rest of the details. (There were a combination of state and federal charges he committed, but I think he was only prosecuted federally).

Good luck--this is certainly not an enviable situation when dealing with a sick spouse.

 

[tommya60]

I may be completely wrong, but I 'THINK" you can add a comment to your credit report. Call the three major companies and ask, beg them to add a line indicating that the judgement of $XXX, past due XXX, XXX, and XXX belong to First Name, Last Name, SSN123-45-6789 (son's SSN) not your DH first name, last name, SSN 123-45-6789 (DH's SSN). No need for lengthy explanations that this is your challenging son. It's just NOT your DH. Than start making calls: the court, the creditors, the legal aide group in your town. Do what you have to do to get the ball rolling to fix this, no matter the impact on your son, he's going to have to fix his own mess.
(((HUGS)))) I am sorry you are dealing with this as well as your DH's illness.

 

[camlace]

Each of the 3 major credit reporting agencies have online dispute forms you can fill out and submit. We frequently have to do this for my husband since he and his father have the same name. We have never had an issue correcting, never needed to involve his father. We even had to have a deliquent mortgage removed from my husband's account that was his father's account from many years ago.

Now how quickly it will be resolved is another issue, credit reports are not up to the minute accurate. So even if they fixed the issue in the next week or two, it may take a while to appear on your report. For instance I just got a new car loan, 2 of the agencies showed it within two weeks, the 3rd took over a month to show up.

 

[Justsyd2]

I've sadly discovered the number one reason in my book not to name a child after you in any way, shape, or form. DS32, who shares my husband's first and last name but not the middle initial or suffix, is not responsible with his creditors.

When they pulled DH's credit report, the only derogatory - or even open accts at all besides our mortgage - belonged to DS32 who uses only his first and last name with this address. We feel sick, used, betrayed. Neither DH, nor I, believe this is an entirely innocent mistake after discovering a hospital DH had never been to before this year had a balance with DS32's name & birthdate that also had DH's SS# attached to it.

There are several open collections and a judgement granted several years ago showing on DH's credit report. None of these are DH's. I know I can dispute them thru the reporting agencies but that'll take valuable time to repair - something we don't have right now. I've called the court clerk's office for the judgement and the creditors but am getting a huge run-around. Nobody wants to take responsibility for reporting the info, much less correcting it, and I'm so frustrated repeating my story to each new guy in the chain that I could scream.

Sorry for your trouble. I've had some bad debt show up on my credit report for someone with the same name who I have never met, so I wouldn't be so quick to blame your son. It appears that the creditors are attaching the debt to anyone with the same name.

I disputed some of this two weeks ago online and it was taken off the next day. I suggest that you try doing that.

 

[summerrluvv]

CRA's get things wrong ALL the time so I wouldn't be so quick to say your DS is stealing your DH's identity. I can't tell you how many father/son same name mixups I've seen, especially when they have lived at the same address, and they are not always negative things. Unfortunately the only thing you can do is dispute it online and hope it gets fixed quickly. I've had mistakes fixed in a day, so it's possible it would be timely.

 

[Dancemom03]

I've had some bad debt show up on my credit report for someone with the same name who I have never met, so I wouldn't be so quick to blame your son. It appears that the creditors are attaching the debt to anyone with the same name.

I'd like to think that this was an error but it's not. It's well known to DS32 that he has these debts and he has chosen to ignore them for years. Despite living somewhere else for two years now, he's still creating bills using just his first and last name with our address. His mail still comes here and he's selective about what he picks up. Often he won't even open the envelopes - and yes, there are legal papers sitting unopened right now in the two month old pile of his uncollected mail. He knows it, has been here several times, yet here they sit.

Ironically the judgement was showing on DH's report when we refinanced years ago, the mortgage broker handled it then with a letter for the lender, then we disputed it, and after several months it disappeared but, like a bad penny, it's turned up again to haunt us - and this time brought a few unpaid collection friends for company. I'll have to figure out how to dispute it online and do that tonight. I was getting all caught up in the creditboards "do this and don't do that plus memorize all the related laws & regulations" without realizing I might be able to handle it online instead of needing a certified letter.

I know DS didn't deliberately intend to hurt his father's credit rating but he's also made no effort to help correct it or avoid it in the future either...

 

[Planogirl]

Check your credit reports and see if there is a social security number variation showing. If there is call the cra's tomorrow. Many times files are combined or the wrong information appears on the wrong credit report. This happens a lot when people have the same name and have lived at the same address. Collection companies often don't report social security numbers and they never show up with judgments or liens.

Call Experian just to get info at the very least. It seems that they are the easiest to get through to nowadays.

Does this wrong information show up on all the reports?

 

[Swimalie]

I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Check Clark Howard's web site for information on what to do. Search things there and if that doesn't work, they have people on the site you can contact for help - Team Clark. http://clarkhoward.com/

My husband and father-in-law have the same first name but different middle names (don't ask my why) and we've had issues with that in the past. Luckily, before he passed, he was good with his money. But even now, 9 years later, we get odd things in the mail that we know are meant for my father in law, not us. And (gag) unfortunately, I agreed to name my son the same name. Why oh why did my husband ask me 2 hours after his dad died?! I hate it and never acknowledge the name. Last week, we couldn't check our son in for the flight to leave Disney because they said the name was "too similar" to someone else already checked in for the same flight. Oh how I hate that name. At least I got the middle name and I love it. Sorry to vent there. Good luck.

 

[summerrluvv]

CRA's are supposed to go by the SSN, not JUST the name and address, so again, I wouldn't entirely blame your DS unless he is using your husband's SSN.

 

[dzorn]

Good Luck one additional thing I would do is stop accepting his mail. Go to the post office and see what can be done. At the minimum I would write return to sender occupant moved and give to your post man for any mail you know is not yours.

Denise

 

[Cdn Gal]

 

[katieandemismom]

Been there - done that only with FIL b/c dh is a junior. Our lending officer was able to help us clean a TON off our credit quickly. I would also contact each credit reporting agency to dispute asap. We ended up sending copies of dh's ss card, drivers' license, and other paperwork to prove that he wasn't the right age to have procured the debts.

Good luck!