Same Name, Wrong Credit Report

Viewers contact Seven On Your Side frequently, asking for help correcting mistakes on their credit reports. But one viewer's problem really caught our attention because the same mistake could happen to you. We discovered that court judgments can easily show up on the wrong person's credit report because they're filed using very little information.

Will the real Kenneth Kaliski please step forward? Said Kenneth Kaliski of Anderson, "I can't refinance this house until this judgment is removed."

A mix up with another Kenneth Kaliski stopped this Kenneth Kaliski from refinancing his home. Said Kaliski, "The mortgage lender said to me, do you know anything about this civil judgment? I said what civil judgment?"

Kaliski says he never lived at the address on the judgment and was not involved in the case, which he says he learned was a battle over a house payment.

Said Kaliski, "I have nothing to do with this. I'm an innocent victim here. This other person has a name similar to mine, its not me, they're a young couple."

So how did it get on his credit? Court clerks tell us credit bureaus routinely check court records for unpaid judgments.

Here's the problem. Court records are usually filed with just a name. Maybe an address, if your lucky. There's no social security number, no date of birth. If you have a common name, you could be out of luck.

Kaliski filed a dispute with the credit bureau TransUnion and it was removed from his credit. So we asked TransUnion how they verify who's who on judgments. The answer?

Steven Katz with TransUnion sent us this statement: "While TransUnion cannot discuss specifics of our verification process for security reasons, we do actively encourage consumers to check their three credit reports frequently to ensure that each appropriately reflects how they've managed their credit health over time. If consumers see an item on a report that they don't recognize, they should first consider going directly to the party reporting the item - the card issuer, mortgage lender, etc. If they still require assistance, they can file a dispute through TransUnion either directly via phone, online or in writing if they prefer. Details can be found at www.transunion.com."

Kaliski has now refinanced his home and believes court judgments should list more identifying information. Said Kaliski, "I believe there should be another resource for them to before entering a judgment onto somebody, have a more pertinent information on you than just a name and address."

But is that the answer? Court records are public. Court officials tell us more personal information could expose you to identity theft.

So for now, the answer may be to regularly check your credit to make sure Kenneth Kaliski's or any other judgments aren't on yours.

You can check your credit reports once a year for free. If your report lists any debt that is not yours, you can dispute it to have it removed. Credit reports usually come with dispute forms. Fill it out and send it back with any documentation showing the debt is not yours

news source : http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/