Inaccurate Credit Information

[dnoling]

My husband's father's credit information continues to surface from time to time on my husband's credit report. This includes a bankruptcy my father in law filed when my husband was about 15 years old.
When we purchased our house 7 years ago we had a nightmare of a time trying to get it cleared up but thanks to a friend at a bank she was able to help us. This has just been horrible to have to deal with. We have very little outstanding credit and always pay our bills on time.
Recently we applied for credit and the bankruptcy is now surfacing again. My father in law had to be involved seven years ago and showed proof that it was infact his bankruptcy not my husbands.
This is just a nightmare to deal with. Because this has been going on for over ten years and the information keeps appearing and disappearing can we bring legal action against any of the three credit reporting agencies?

 

[racer72]

The credit reporting agencies are only holders of information, they do not supply the info. You cannot hold them liable for the incorrect information. There are two things that can cause the problems you are having. The first would be if your husband and his father have the same name. This can usually be remedied by insuring your husband uses Jr. on all correspondence and credit applications. You should also notify the CRA's that only to include credit info that has Jr. and to not accept any others. That info will be included in any credit inquiry. The other way would be if your father in law used your husbands name to acquire credit in the past. Parents that have financial difficulties will use their childrens name to get credit. We regularly get posts on this forum from folks that have had that problem.
In the short term, you should get copies of all 3 credit reports and challenge any and all inaccuracies. They are required to investigate all challenges and delete those that cannot be confirmed. Good luck.

 

[tjz35]

I have to disagree. You ABSOLUTELY can hold the CRA liable for entries on your report. They are required to have in place controls that ensure only correct data is contained in your report.

I had a statement added to my TU report stating the following:

DO NOT CONFUSE WITH CONSUMERS OF SIMILAR IDENTIFICATION; VERIFY ALL
IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.

I did this because accounts of my dad kept showing up in my file.

I would add this statement to your file and then threaten a lawsuit against them if this BK shows up again once this statement is there.

 

[bigun]

If it has been over 10 years since the bk was discharged, the CRA's are supposed to keep it cloaked accept for certain purposes. I'd have the FIL send a letter {RRR} to all 3 agencies explaining the problem and ask why it is still being revealed and also put them on notice that it is being reported on the wrong persons credit file.
I'm not a lawyer but unless there are some additional facts, the CRA's may well have dropped the ball. I don't know that it would hurt to see a lawyer just to try and put this thing to bed for good.