The below video by attorney Joseph McClelland is about an important topic today. More and more the same type of error keeps popping up: murder by credit reports. The weapon: a deceased indicator from Equifax.
So, what is an Equifax Deceased Indicator?
Equifax deceased indicators are simply a phrase on your credit report. It will generally just say “DECEASED”. It you can find it under who is responsible for the bill. It will normally say individual, joint, undetermined, or deceased.
Does Equifax say you’re dead on your credit report?
Not many attorneys practice the Fair Credit Reporting Act or (“FCRA”). It is a complex law with very few players. Because of this, in most cases, you will have to fight against some of the best attorneys from across the country that only do one thing: FCRA litigation.
This makes this practice are unique among lawyers.
One of the things mentioned in the video is the need to locate the deceased indicator on your report. You can find info on how to find it in that article.
Once you find the indicator, you will want to read the rest of the report to make sure there is only one. Often, there are multiple accounts reporting this. Each will need to be dealt with. Even other credit agencies doing this. You will want to locate the Experian deceased indicator, as well.
These are all moving parts. Getting one fixed does you nothing. You have to get them all corrected. That means every credit card, collection company, and credit agency has to be on the same page that you are alive. This is not easy.
For some reason, they started reporting this. That reason has not gone away. What triggered the error the first time is ready to do it again. I’ve seen it. You fix it. It comes back.
Contact our office today if you have any questions about errors on credit reports that are causing you issues. This is just one of several videos we have created for consumers.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) governs what can be on your credit report. This controls the businesses and credit agencies alike. In most circumstances and depending on your state, maybe the only law available for you.
In these types of cases, we argue that the credit agencies automatically violate the law when they allow a creditor to say you’re not alive unless they took real steps to actually see if that’s true. Given that you’re alive, I will guess that they didn’t research it too hard, right?
On occasions, the reason for the deceased indicator is because Social Security Administration made an error.
I would contact an attorney to do this for you. Why waste time?