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Credit Report Disaster Through Mistaken Identity
I've got some very important info I want you to think very seriously about. I'm sure by now you've heard of Identity Theft,...heck you may have even been affected by it. I know many of my friends have. But how about what may potentially be even a more dangerous threat......."Mistaken Identity". That's right, "Mistaken Identity"! Throughout my career in lending, the absolute biggest problem that I've seen clients encounter when applying for a loan, is someone else's derogatory information showing up on their credit report! You would not believe the nightmare I've seen clients go through, when they realized someone else's bad credit history was showing up on their report, causing them to be declined for the loan the should have easily qualified for. Little did they know that everytime someone on the other side of town made a late payment, or decided not to pay at all, it was being added to their credit report. Believe it or not, I've even seen one specific case where "Mistaken Credit Identity" forced someone into bankruptcy! That's right, a lady came to me wanting to apply for a new home loan. Unfortunately she had recently lost her job and her bills were starting to pile up, and her reserves were running low. Luckily, or though she thought, she had plenty of equity in her home that she could access through a home equity loan, to pad her bank account and give her plenty of breathing room until she landed a new job. To her shock and dismay, I pulled her credit report and informed her that she did not qualify for the loan. She was in disbelief. "I've never had a late payment in my life"! she exclaimed. I told her her credit score and begin listing off the multiple derogatory entries that were listed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could this happen? It happened because she had a very common last name, and also shared a very similar first name to another individual who lived not far from her, and even had a very similar social security number. Unfortunately my potential client had not applied for a new loan of any kind for several years and had no idea that these errors had been piling up. As a matter of fact, the errors were so severe that despite literally months of working with her to get the errors corrected, we couldn't wash them away in time. Her financial situation had sprialed out of control and she was ultimately forced into bankruptcy. And......it all could have been avoided if she had only known the situation existed in time. I cannot stress enough the importance of having your credit checked at a minimum, every six months to check it for errors. Don't let something like this happen to you! I can very easily be avoided if you take the proper steps. It is now reported the over 80% of all credit reports have errors, and if you have a common last name, or have Jr. or III, etc., at the end of your name, chances are closer to100%! Don't wait until it's too late, take action now and give your credit a "check up"! ****Please feel free to pass this article along to a friend, or to publish on your web site, as long as no changes are made to the resource box.**** Don Bethune
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Comment by John S. Baick