An anonymous reader says credit bureaus can’t keep her identity separate with that of another woman with the same last name who used to live in her building. The reader says the bureaus won’t resolve her complaint, insisting the other woman has to take the initiative to fix the errors.

She writes:

I have a problem with the credit bureaus. My personal information is on another woman’s credit report. She happens to have the same last name, and I believe she used to live in my building (different apartment). The credit bureaus won’t fix it. The credit bureaus say the other woman has to go through a formal complaint process to remove the information, even when I offered to send them notarized letters explaining the mix-up.

I am constantly receiving mail for her, with her personal details but my address. I get calls and emails for her also. When I ask the companies to correct the address and name, they tell me they purchased the info from the credit bureau “mailing lists that they sell” and say they cannot correct it. They say the credit bureaus are the only ones who can fix it.

So far, her info is not on my credit report, only my info on hers. I have been lucky with that, but I am watching my report closely.

Any ideas on how to resolve this? None of the three major credit bureaus would remove my info from her report. They all say SHE has to do it!

Here’s a guide to dispute credit report inaccuracies.

What would you do if the credit bureaus thought there was another you running around out there?

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