It’s not unusual for people to be compared to their parents, regardless of age. Maybe a long-time friend of the family remarked at a holiday party that your facial features are similar to your father’s. Perhaps you’ve been mistaken for your mother when you answered the phone at her house.
Credit reporting companies can make the same mistakes with your credit data. One of the more frequent mishaps on credit reports can be the mixing-up of similarly-named relatives. If your parent or child has particularly poor credit, this can lead to big problems when applying for loans or a mortgage.
Luckily, these errors are easily corrected. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires credit bureaus to fix such mistakes within 30 days of a report. If they don’t do say within 30 days, reporting agencies may be breaking the law by allowing these mix-ups to remain on your records.
However, individuals who share the same name as a parent or child should note that applying for a loan in another person’s name is considered fraud. If certain names run in your family, you need to make sure that you provide your full, accurate legal name whenever you apply for a line of credit.
While mistakes on a credit report can be rectified, you should try to avoid any temporary credit score damage and uncertainty such errors may cause by carefully checking your credit reports.
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