Fight being mistakenly reported as deceased with credit report lawyers.
A credit report falsely stating consumer deceased is such a harmful credit report error that frequently just the fact that you’ve been mistakenly reported as deceased is enough to pursue legal action.
And guess what? These false deceased notations are so common that thousands of people are impacted each year. In fact, the Social Security Administration estimates that it mistakenly lists up to 1,000 people per month on the Death Master File it maintains.
At Consumer Justice Law Firm, our credit report lawyers help make recovery from a false deceased notation easy. You don’t have to wait for peace of mind. You can be confident you’re in the right hands from the start.
In This Guide…
What Does it Mean to Be Mistakenly Reported as Deceased?
Being mistakenly reported as deceased is a type of credit report error. It means that the credit report of a consumer who is very much alive is mistakenly marked with a deceased notion, which indicates that the consumer has died. This type of credit report error is also called deceased reporting.
False deceased notations are a shockingly common cause of credit denials and other rejections, and have the unique ability to spread rapidly through a consumer profile, causing wide-ranging financial harm.
What is a Consumer Deceased indicator?
The consumer deceased indicator on a credit report is a notation that is intended to be a consumer safeguard.
When a consumer dies, marking a credit report with a consumer deceased notation is way of preventing identity theft, fraud, and financial exploitation.
Fraudsters and identity thieves look through obituaries and funeral home websites to identify the recently deceased. Then they leap into action attempting to access bank accounts, lines of credit, death benefits, and more, in that person’s name.
By marking a consumer deceased on their credit report, it flags their accounts in order to do two main things:
- Give notice to lenders, banks, mortgage companies, retailers, and financial companies that very careful review is required before any transactions are approved.
- Lock down the person’s financial profile until court orders and other formal documents give someone the legal right to access the accounts.
While these two things are a fantastic security measure when a consumer really is deceased, they also mean that being mistakenly reported as deceased can quickly become a living nightmare.
Check out The Consumer Justice Blog for articles on being mistakenly reported as deceased, along with other credit reporting errors and topics in consumer protection and employment law.
4 Causes of Being Mistakenly Reported as Deceased
Deceased reporting or false deceased notations are usually caused by one of four common things:
- Clerical Errors- This is the result of a data entry error when retail accounts, banks, lenders, or similar input a social security number, birthdate, full name, or other personally identifying information incorrectly.
- Entering the wrong information can unintentionally flag one of your bank or store accounts as deceased. This error then gets passed along to the credit bureaus when records are updated.
- Mixed Credit Reports- Mixed credit reports or mixed credit files are another type of credit report error that can originate with the credit bureaus or with a data furnisher (a bank, lender, agency, etc.).
- When your credit file is accidentally mixed with someone else’s, you could end up being mistakenly reported as deceased if the other person is already dead or dies before you catch the mix-up and fix the error.
- Social Security Errors- These errors are made at the Social Security Administration when your social security number is mistakenly marked with a deceased status and your SSN is entered into the Death Master File.
- This is an especially problematic version of a deceased reporting error and requires in-person correction with the Social Security Administration at your closest local office.
- Shared Loan Errors– These errors arise when you are correctly listed as a co-signer to a loan, mortgage, credit card, or line of credit and the other co-signer dies.
- While the death of a co-signer shouldn’t result in you being mistakenly reported as deceased, it is a common source of these errors.
11 Ways Being Mistakenly Reported as Deceased Harms You
Deceased reporting can harm you in a number of significant ways, including these:
- Financial Lockdown. If you’re believed to be dead, access to your checking, savings, retirement, benefits, insurance, lines of credit, and more, go into a lockdown status until you can prove you’re still alive.
- Credit Score Drops to Zero. All of your hard work maintaining a healthy credit score can end with a rapid and unfair drop all the way to zero. Afterall, if you’re dead, you don’t need a credit score anymore.
- Mortgage denials. When you show up as deceased on your credit report, lenders can’t process and approve a mortgage in your name, even if you’re sitting right across from them.
- Rental denials. Whether you’re looking for a long-term rental for housing, a vacation rental for fun, or a car rental for commuting, if you aren’t alive on your credit report, you aren’t able to rent.
- Car loan rejections. Even if you’ve saved for months, selected within your budget, and paid every single bill, loan, and debt on time, a dead person with a zero credit score is not driving off the lot with a new car.
- Job loss. Whether you’re a new candidate or a current employee, if a healthy credit report is part of your assessment, you can be let go or passed up due to deceased reporting.
- Credit denials. Home equity loans, personal loans, and lines of credit through a bank or lender can be stopped mid-processing or you can lose access to any already open and in good standing.
- Store account refusals. Whether you apply for a store card or account with a favorite retail brand, or you already have accounts in good standing, you can lose access.
- Insurance denials. Insurance policies and claims get flagged and processed as though you’re no longer among the living.
- Added to the Death Master File. Even if the deceased reporting didn’t start with the Social Security Administration, if you’re falsely reported as deceased, you can quickly be added to the SSA’s Death Master File, losing access to ALL of your finances, benefits, and accounts with one simple keystroke.
- Mental and emotional distress. Deceased reporting is one of the most stressful and anxiety-inducing forms of credit report errors. Losing access to your entire financial life can cause rapid and disastrous consequences.
3 Steps To Fight Being Mistakenly Reported as Deceased
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have significant rights to fight deceased credit reports. Taking these three steps will set you on the right path toward recovery.
Review Your Credit Reports Carefully. Carefully review your credit reports from all three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Clearly mark the unfair deceased indicator, but also go through line by line, highlighting any other errors, including personal and financial details.
If you can identify that info provided by a bank, creditor, or account holder caused you to be mistakenly reported as deceased on your credit report, then you can also dispute directly with that company. It is smart to review all of your statements and accounts anyway to see if this error has impacted anything else.
You have a right to receive and review a copy of your credit report at the time that it’s run. Or, you can access your credit reports for free at the verified site annualcreditreport.com.
Dispute Credit Report Errors. Dispute the false deceased indicator, along with any other inaccurate, misleading, false, or unreportable data. If you’re working with us, we’ll handle this process for you, including drafting legally sound dispute letters.
If you’re disputing on your own, clearly mark the errors and indicate that you’ve been mistakenly reported as deceased. File your credit report disputes via certified mail to preserve all of your legal rights and create a paper trail.
Be sure to include copies of any supporting documentation with your dispute. If you have to dispute with the Social Security Administration, you’ll need to do so in person with originals of your identity documents. (See “How to Dispute a Deceased Reporting Error” below.)
Talk to a credit report lawyer. As many consumers learn the hard way, the credit bureaus (and other consumer reporting agencies) frequently fail to meet their legal obligations under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
They violate their FCRA obligations by including false deceased indicators in the first place, but also by ignoring credit report disputes all together, failing to properly investigate disputes, failing to fix deceased reporting errors, repeating errors even after acknowledging they should be fixed, and not sticking to their legally required timelines for investigations and corrections.
At any step in this process, getting a free consultation from a credit report lawyer is the best bet for a personalized recovery action plan.
What Does a Top Credit Report Lawyer Do?
Working with an experienced credit report lawyer gives you the best shot at fixing the problems for good and getting money for any harm to your life, finances, and mental wellbeing.
Here’s how a credit report lawyer helps with fixing a false deceased indicator on your credit report, benefits, and other financial statements:
- We know the law. We know the laws that protect you and how to go after these careless mega-corporations using every possible legal option available.
- We know the SSA. We know how to handle the process of disputing this credit report error with the Social Security Administration.
- We know the problems. We’ve seen, heard, and handled every type of credit report error, including being mistakenly reported as deceased, and put our full knowledge and resources into everything we do.
- We know the tricks. We know the tactics used by the credit bureaus to delay doing anything to fix credit reporting mistakes. They’d rather convince you it’s a lost cause. We know otherwise.
- We know what you need to win. We help you gather necessary data and evidence, craft and file legally sound disputes, and advise you of your rights and best practices along the way.
- We know how and when to file a lawsuit. If your deceased reporting error isn’t corrected or the fallout persists, we file a lawsuit to hold the credit bureaus and other financial companies accountable.
- We know how to get you money. If you’ve been harmed by credit report errors and you’re entitled to compensation, we know how to maximize it.
What is the Fair Credit Reporting Act?
Being mistakenly reported as deceased is a mistake that happens due to a fast and furious data industry that relies on monstrously large corporations to gather, process, and report data for approximately 200 million on a rolling basis.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a very important federal law that protects consumers. Credit report lawyers rely heavily on this law, along with others, to protect consumers credit report errors and move toward a complete recovery.
Your Rights Under the FCRA
When you’ve been mistakenly reported as deceased, the Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to accurate credit reports and other consumer reports. Here’s what it says:
“Whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates.”
In addition, it gives you the right to:
- review your credit reports for free
- know which data in a credit report was used to deny you an opportunity
- dispute credit report errors
- file lawsuits against the responsible parties
- seek compensation for harm suffered (or, in the case of deceased reporting, potentially seek compensation without having to prove harm)
- make the wrongdoers pay for your legal costs and fees
How to Dispute a Deceased Reporting Error
- Review all your accounts for mistakes, including credit reports, benefits, insurance, retirement, banking, store accounts, and social security. Your looking for instances of being mistakenly reported as deceased, but also any other mistakes.
- Gather any evidence and documentation you have to support your dispute. In this case, birth certificates, driver’s license, recent transactions, current bills, leases, etc. Anything that proves you’re alive.
- Dispute with the SSA. If the Social Security Administration is involved and your Social Security Number has been added to the Death Master File, you will need to report in person to your local SSA office with originals of your supporting documents. The SSA will then issue you a formal document called a Proof of Life. Copies of this document should be included with any dispute sent to the credit bureaus and other companies.
- Write thorough and clear letters disputing the fact that you’ve been mistakenly reported as deceased.
- Mail your letters, along with copies of the supporting documents (including the Proof of Life, if necessary), via certified mail to the credit bureau or financial company reporting the errors. This preserves your rights and leaves an easily traceable trail. Avoid using online dispute platforms that make you waive your rights.
- Keep a copy of the letters and documents for your file.
- Track the days. They have 30 days to respond.
- Don’t give up. If they don’t respond, don’t investigate, don’t fix the errors, or claim that their investigation confirmed that you’re dead, you need a lawyer NOW.
How Much Does a Credit Report Lawyer Cost?
If you work with Consumer Justice Law Firm, the answer is simple. It costs you nothing out of pocket to work with a credit report lawyer.
From your FREE consultation all the way through to the resolution of your claim, including filing a lawsuit if necessary, you don’t pay us a dime up front or out of pocket.
Our credit report lawyers get paid by the credit bureaus and companies we sue when we win. Period.
No Justice, No Fee.TM
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I dispute deceased reporting with the Social Security Administration?
Yes, if necessary, but not every incidence of being mistakenly reported as deceased begins or ends with you showing up in the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File.
For instance, if you’re mistakenly reported as deceased by a single retail store and you catch and correct the error right away, you may not need to involve the SSA at all.
However, if that single incidence of deceased reporting cascades across your financial and credit profile, and causes a financial lockdown, the error may make its way to the SSA. If your Social Security number is mistakenly placed in the Death Master File, it’s a big problem.
Similarly, sometimes the deceased reporting error actually starts with the SSA. Obviously, when this is the case, you need to start there to fix it.
As soon as you’re aware of being mistakenly reported as deceased, check your Social Security account to confirm that you’re still considered alive and well. If you are listed as deceased in the SSA’s Death Master File, the process for fixing this credit report error is not typically called “disputing” but rather obtaining a Proof of Life.
A Proof of Life is a document issued by the SSA which you can then use as proof of the error when you file disputes with the credit bureaus and other companies.
How long does it take to fix deceased reporting?
As long as it takes to get the consumer reporting agencies (credit bureaus and other companies) to correct their files.
In theory, it should only take about 30 days for a company to investigate a dispute and correct its data errors or credit report errors. But, given the overall lack of incentive to complete adequate investigations and the general disregard for the consumer experience, it may take considerably longer.
But, you do have powerful rights to fight back when this happens.
Working with a credit report lawyer, such as the ones on our team at Consumer Justice Law Firm is the best way to expedite your timeline and optimize your outcome. We can’t give a guaranteed timeline for corrections, but you will be on track to get the corrections as soon as possible and potentially get money, too.
FREE consultations! We only get paid when we win. No Justice, No Fee.TM