Complaint / Review
Experian
Identity theft they ddin't catch an obvious red flag

I check my credit every year or 2 with all 3 major credit bureaus. The state of Georgia allows you two free reports a year from each of these companies. That is why I don't understand everyone offering to check your credit for you at a price. You can do this yourself for the price of a stamp most of the time or with a toll free phone call.

Don't pay someone to check it for you. They will tell you that it looks better on your report if they check it. What is the difference if it shows that you check it or when they check it they put down the name of the company that checked it and it just looks like you applied for credit with them.

I checked my credit with Experian this year and low and behold here was my credit and someone elses credit reports combined. She lives in Michigan. Both of our first names were the same, our middle initials were the same (but not the middle name) and last names were different.

And they sent me a report that had two ss#s for me. Everyone knows that you only get one ss number. Shouldn't this have been a red flag? No they send me her social security number which showed that it was one number off from mine. They tell me her full name, who she has done business with, where she works and where she lives along with her telephone numbers for both work and home.

Well, it did come in handy because I called this lady at work and let her know what had happened. It took a while to convince her that I wasn't scamming her. But I sent her a photo copy of everything that they had sent me. I did remove my social security and drivers license numbers.

But it is lucky for this lady that I am the type person I am or I could have gone on using her information and applying for credit under her name.

I called Experian and made them immediately remove the information I requested and it was real quick that they sent me a updated report. Most of the information was corrected but not all of it. This lady was not even aware of a company called Experian and she had never checked her credit. I believe she will from now on. If you do this make sure that you get the name of the person you speak with and suggest that they give you a confirmation number or something for your records and follow up on it.