Kelly Guzzo, PLC recently filed a lawsuit against two credit bureaus, Experian and Equifax, after they issued a mixed credit report. A mixed credit report (or merged file) file occurs when a credit reporting agency combines one individual’s credit report with another person with similar identifying information. In this instance, the mixed credit report showed an inaccurate personal loan with Lendmark Financial. The loan was actually taken out by the consumer’s father who has a similar name.
When individuals share similar identifying information, the credit bureaus often include information about one person in the other person’s credit report. Experian and Equifax have substantial notice and knowledge of their mixed file problems, including the combining of credit reports of one individual with another person with similar identifying information. Over the past thirty years, Experian and Equifax have been repeatedly sued for mixing consumers’ credit reports. Despite this extensive notice, Equifax’s and Experian’s computer systems still cause mixed credit reports because they do not require or use full identifying information for a potential credit grantor’s inquiry even when unique identifiers such as a full social security number are present. Equifax and Experian do this to sell more credit reports.
In this case, Experian and Equifax not only mixed the consumer’s file but they also failed to delete the information after the consumer disputed the loan in their credit report. Experian and Equifax failed to delete the information from the consumer’s credit report because, as a matter of practice, Equifax and Experian relied entirely on Lendmark’s investigation results to verify the Lendmark account and neglected to conduct any additional investigation into Plaintiff’s dispute. Because Experian and Equifax rely on the company that furnishes the credit information, they refused to delete the account even after the consumer sent three letters.
If your credit reports have been inaccurately mixed or combined with another individual, the lawyers at Kelly Guzzo, PLC can assist you with removing mixed information from your credit reports. We can also assist you with filing a claim against the credit bureaus to compensate you for the damages you suffered as result of the inaccurate information. We have handled dozens of similar cases involving mixed credit reports. There is no out-of-pocket cost for these services and we only recover if you do.
Please contact us if there is a mistake on your credit report.
