Should Medical Debt Be On My Credit Report
While you may not have heard of this happening before, thousands of consumers each year experience the same thing: credit bureaus mistakenly placing a “deceased indicator” on a living consumer’s report. If you have mistakenly been reported as deceased by a credit bureau, you already know the impact it can have on your credit score, credit applications, or insurance.
Having a deceased notation on your consumer credit file can prevent you from getting a mortgage, bank account, or driver’s license. It may even cause credit card companies to revoke your credit cards, stop reporting credit information, and cancellation of your insurance policies. Most importantly, the FICO scoring model will not generate a credit score based on a deceased person’s credit. Without that FICO credit score, most financial institutions cannot issue any line of credit.
A false “deceased” notation on your credit file is no laughing matter, and this kind of credit report error can turn your life upside down. If your credit history shows you mistakenly reported as deceased, contact us today.
Most often, a false death report starts in one of two places, the Social Security Administration (SSA) or a creditor.
Every year the SSA mistakenly reports 15,000 people as deceased on its Death Master File. That file contains the names of every person who has ever been issued a Social Security number and died. The purpose of this list is to provide lenders, credit card companies, and credit bureaus with a quick way to find out if a social security number is being fraudulently used or as part of identity theft. The names of the deceased normally come from death certificates, but sometimes the SSA makes a mistake by adding the wrong person to the Death Master Files. These files are sent to credit reporting agencies who use them to identify the credit files of dead consumers in their own systems. If you have been marked as deceased by the Social Security office, chances are good that you will be reported as deceased by the credit bureaus too.
Credit companies and lenders can also cause a deceased notation on your credit file. When banks and lenders learn that one of their customers has died, they are required to close the credit account of the deceased person and report that person as deceased to the credit bureaus and Social Security office. But sometimes, financial institutions mark a joint account holder, family member, or associated person as deceased, rather the the person who has actually died. When these mistakes are added to their records, they also get added to the credit bureau records.
If you have been mistakenly reported as deceased, contact us today.
An experienced credit report attorney can help if you have been mistakenly reported as deceased using the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Here are some of the things they can help with.
False death reports can happen to anyone. While many websites and credit bureaus offer help, consumers can get trapped in an endless cycle of phone calls, disputes, and letter writing. Our team can help you restore your true credit and get compensation for credit denials, harm to your credit reputation, and the ordeal of correcting the errors. If you are tired of the endless cycle of disputes contact us today.
Ian Lyngklip has been litigating credit report errors since 2001 and has nearly 30 years of experience in FCRA litigation. He has been coaching and training other lawyers since 2003. He can help you recover compensation for any harm and punitive damages available under federal law. We won’t charge you any upfront fees to help you dispute your credit errors. And, if we file a lawsuit for you, your fees are paid by the other side. There is no charge unless we recover for you.
Our law firm knows consumer rights and we will use the FCRA to help correct your report and have the credit reporting agencies pay your fees. There is no up-front fee and we only get paid if we can recover for you.
Q: Why does my credit report say I am deceased?
A: Chances are good that either the Social Security Administration has placed your name on the Death Master File or one of your creditors has mistakenly reported you as deceased.
Q: What can you do if your credit report says you are deceased?
A: The first step is to dispute the deceased notation with the credit reporting agencies. Your dispute should request that they identify to you the name of the source of their information about the notation. When you receive the response, you should dispute the death record with the source of the information used by the credit bureau.
Q: What is the impact on my credit score if my credit report says I am deceased?
A: If you are reported as deceased, your credit report cannot be used to generate a credit score. You effectively have no credit score if your report says you are deceased.
Q: Will a false death report or deceased notation impact an application for a student loan or mortgage?
A: Yes. If your credit report includes the codes indicating that you are dead, your report cannot be used to create a credit score. Without that score, you cannot receive some kind of credit like a student loan or home mortgage.
If you are looking for additional resources, you can get a free copy of your credit file from the Annual Credit Report website. If you are requesting your report by mail because you are reported as deceased, be sure to provide your full name, date of birth, and social security number on your request form.
You can also get more information on false death reports directly from the credit bureaus. Their contact information is here,
You can make a complaint about your experience with the credit bureaus or see other consumer complaints by visiting:
There is also more information about credit reporting errors from false death reports and the Death Master File on the web, such as on:
Federal law provides victims of false credit reports with the right to attorney’s fees for restoring their credit and fighting the bureaus. If you have been mistakenly reported as deceased by the credit bureaus in Michigan your fees are paid by the other side, and we charge nothing unless we can get a recovery for you. Your initial consultation is free.
There are four major credit bureaus that get information from lenders, debt collectors, and public record collectors. They are each required to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit file every year.
Additionally, there are dozens of other credit reporting agencies that collect and sell data about consumers. Here are some of the others and their addresses where you can request your free credit file.
For a more complete list of the companies that operate as consumer reporting agencies, you can see the list prepared by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at their website: https://www.consumerfinance.gov.
Our office is located in Metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. We practice throughout the entire state, and we have been admitted to practice and made appearances in several other states where we are not licensed: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Virginia. If we are unable to practice in the state where your case needs to be filed, we can make a referral to another qualified credit report attorney near you.
If you are looking for an attorney to help in one of our service areas, contact us for a free initial consultation.
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