 2 credit bureaus say he's dead
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 Dear
Dr. Don,
I recently applied to purchase an item on credit. I was surprised
to find out that two of the three major credit agencies had me listed
as deceased. What is the best way to change this? How can something
like this happen? Thanks.
-- Henry Hassled
 Dear
Henry,
I shared your question with Rod Griffin, manager of public education
at Experian, one of the big three credit agencies, and he doubted
that the Social Security Administration reported you to the credit
bureaus as deceased, since all three bureaus would have the same
information, and you only show up as deceased on two reports. The
credit bureaus use a file maintained by the Social Security Administration
to update their records.
Talk to the nice folks at the Social
Security Administration to see if they know you're still with
us. If they do, then you've confirmed that they're not the cause
of your problem and you can focus your energy on correcting the
situation with the credit bureaus.
Here's what Griffin thinks might have happened:
The other, more probable issue is that a creditor
is reporting an account as being associated with a deceased individual.
If so, the credit reporting companies are not reporting that the
consumer has died, so the entire credit history is not flagged
as belonging to a deceased individual. That is a common misunderstanding
for an uncommon situation.
Instead, a lender is reporting that an account is
associated with a deceased individual. Again, this is uncommon,
but when it does happen, it is usually because the account is
joint and the other account holder died. The lender then updates
its account record to show the account is associated with a deceased
person but does not distinguish between the dead account holder
and the living account holder, and the status is shown as reported
on the living person's credit history.
If you're uncertain, reviewing your credit reports
can establish whether this is the case. From there you can work
with the lender and/or the dispute
process under the Fair Credit Reporting Act to change the status
of the accounts and the report. Griffin told me that Experian will
accept a notarized letter with a copy of a valid government-issued
identification card to resolve the issue.
To ask a question of Dr. Don, go to the "Ask
the Experts" page, and select one of these topics: "Financing
a home," "Saving & investing" or "Money."
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