Mixed Credit Reports

At Consumer Justice Law Firm, we help you recover from the harmful consequences of mixed credit reports by upholding and protecting your rights under federal and state law. This includes enforcing your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and doing everything the law allows to hold companies accountable for the reckless way they handle your data. 

Mixed credit reports are a type of credit report error that is incredibly common. Justice for mixed credit reports looks like this: Making credit bureaus, other consumer reporting agencies, and data providers (1) fix their mistakes, (2) pay you compensation for the harm they caused, and (3) pay for your legal bills because you had to force them to do the right thing.

What Mixed Credit Reports Are

A single credit report that inadvertently contains information about the credit and financial history from two different people is called a mixed credit report. It is a type of credit report error that is a common cause of credit denials and other rejections for those impacted.  

There are instances in which a credit report might legitimately include data from two different people, such as when two people are co-signers on a loan or mortgage. So, the simple presence of someone else’s name on your credit report is not necessarily a mixed credit report, as long as the name is correctly and legally affiliated with a debt that you hold. However, when someone else’s data appears on your credit report for no rightful or legally justifiable reason, it is a mixed credit report, which is a violation of federal law. Mixed credit reports may also be referred to as co-mingled credit reports or mixed credit files. 

The type of data that can be mixed or “mixed up” with your data includes any of the data that typically gets reported. For instance, it can be personal data (names, birthdates, addresses, social security numbers), rental and eviction data, loan and debt data, financial account data, bankruptcy data, etc. 

What Causes Mixed Credit Reports

Mixed credit reports are caused by two things: (1) an emphasis on speed and profit and (2) bad review and investigation protocols. 

Consumer data is a huge business. Billions of dollars are made from the buying and selling of data, which means consumer reporting agencies (including the credit bureaus- Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) have an interest in maximizing speed and profit. Because of this, they use algorithms to gather, sort, and report data, with very little human review and poor investigations of disputed information. Where a human reviewer might easily recognize that certain data clearly belongs to someone else, algorithms cannot rely on common sense. So the net is thrown wide and data that has no place on your report ends up there. 

How Mixed Credit Report Harm You

Mixed credit reports can harm you in any of the following ways and more: 

  • Credit Score Drop. All of your hard work maintaining a healthy credit score can end with a rapid and unfair drop. 
  • Mortgage denials. At any phase of the home-buying process, including after you’ve searched for and found the perfect house, you can be unjustly denied. 
  • Rental denials. Whether you’re looking for a long-term rental for housing, a vacation rental for fun, or a car rental for commuting, you can be falsely flagged as a rental risk.
  • Car loan rejections. Even if you’ve saved for months, selected within your budget, and paid every single bill, loan, and debt on time, you can be unfairly turned down.
  • 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 bad data.
  • Credit denials. Home equity loans, personal loans, and lines of credit through a bank or lender can be denied without any fault of your own. 
  • Store account refusals. If you apply for a store card or account with a favorite retail brand, you can be refused rather than rewarded.
  • Insurance denials. When you seek insurance or other financial products, a solid credit rating is usually critical, and you can be denied for falsely failing to meet the standard. 
  • Worse loan terms. Even if you’re approved for a loan, inaccurate or misleading data can mean that you get stuck with worse interest rates and bad loan terms.  
  • Added to the Death Master File. If you’re falsely reported as deceased, you can 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. From missing out on long-awaited opportunities to losing sleep due to worry or being plagued by anxiety, the toll these errors take is real.

Steps To Take After Discovering a Mixed Credit Report

Step 1  Talk to a lawyer

The law upholds your right to accurate consumer data and obligates companies to investigate and fix their mistakes, but the system itself is broken. Investigations are frequently inadequate, and stalls, delays, and unfixed errors are common. A lawyer will clearly set out your rights, guide you through the dispute and recovery process, and get you compensation.

Step 2  Dispute the errors

You have a right to receive a copy of your credit report when a credit check is run. Carefully review your credit reports and financial statements and dispute any inaccurate, misleading, false, or unreportable data. If you’re working with us, we’ll handle this process for you. If you’re not, file your disputes via certified mail to preserve all of your legal rights. (If you’re reported deceased by the Social Security Administration, there’s a more involved process.)

Step 3  Make them fix it

If you know the data in your credit report is wrong, never accept their nonsense when they say they’ve investigated and confirmed that it’s right. This is a common outcome of shoddy internal investigations and does not meet their legal obligations to do the right thing. But a lawsuit usually gets the job done.

How A Mixed Credit Attorney Leads You to a Full Recovery

Correcting mixed credit reports shouldn’t have to be a complicated and convoluted process, but it frequently is. Working with an experienced attorney gives you the best shot at a full resolution and maximum compensation. 

Here’s how we help you: 

  1. 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. 
  2. We know the problems. We’ve seen, heard, and handled every type of credit report error, including mixed credit reports, and put our full knowledge and resources into everything we do. 
  3. We know the tricks. We know the tactics used by these companies to delay doing anything to fix reporting mistakes. They’d rather convince you it’s a lost cause. We know otherwise.
  4. We provide legal guidance. 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.
  5. We file a lawsuit. If your errors aren’t corrected or the fallout persists, we file a lawsuit to hold companies accountable.
  6. We get you money. If you’ve been harmed by credit report errors and you’re entitled to compensation, we know how to maximize it.

Don’t underestimate the peace of mind that comes from knowing every next move is the right move toward recovery.

The Role of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

Consumer data errors are the consequence of a fast and furious economy that depends largely on the ability of monstrously large corporations to gather, process, and report data for tens of millions of individuals on a rolling basis. In the balance between speed and profit, accuracy is the first thing to go. And you pay the consequences. Because mixed credit reports are part of a persistent, systemic problem, and because they cause genuine harm to consumers every single day, the federal government passed an important piece of legislation- the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to try to protect you.

We rely heavily on the FCRA to build the best possible cases and get the best possible outcomes. The FCRA gives you critical consumer reporting rights, including 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
  • make the wrongdoers pay for your legal costs and fees

How to Dispute a Mixed Credit Report

  • Review your credit reports for mixed data.
  • Gather any evidence and documentation you have to support your dispute.
  • Write a thorough and clear letter explaining exactly which information in your credit report is wrong and why.
  • Mail your letter, along with copies of the supporting documents, via certified mail to the credit bureau reporting the errors. This preserves your rights and leaves an easily traceable trail. Avoid using online dispute platforms.
  • Keep a copy of the letter and documents for your file, along with the mail receipt.
  • 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 the bad data, you need a lawyer NOW.

One of the most important and least known facts about embarking on the credit error recovery journey is that you don’t have to pay out of pocket for legal help. Under the FCRA, you are not expected to spend your own money or take on debt just to dispute credit errors and demand corrections of your data since you didn’t create the problem in the first place. The ones who made the problem have to pay to fix it. 

At Consumer Justice, we respect this fee-shifting provision for the role it plays in our legal system, especially since it serves as an equalizer, bringing justice to everyone, including those who otherwise couldn’t afford to work with an attorney. We value each and every client and every case, and appreciate that the law has carved out a way to center equity and fairness in legal representation for consumers harmed by big business data errors. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I dispute a mixed credit report without an attorney?

Absolutely, yes. Every consumer reporting agency should have multiple ways for you to dispute information in a credit report. You can usually choose among phone numbers, mailing addresses, and online dispute forms. We recommend skipping the phone calls and online forms and filing your dispute through certified mail. This is the best method to preserve your rights and clearly document everything that happens. You should send a dispute letter, along with copies of your credit report (with the errors clearly marked) and supporting documents. Keep a copy of everything you send and the mailing receipt. If you don’t hear back after 30 days, nothing is done to fix the mistakes, or you’re told the investigation showed the data was accurate, then an attorney plays a critical role. 

How long does it take to fix a mixed credit file?

Far longer than it should. Consumer reporting agencies have 30 days (or, in limited instances, 45 days) to investigate and respond to consumer disputes. So, in theory, it should take approximately 30 days to fix mixed credit files. However, the same system that creates consumer reporting mistakes that impact about one-third of the population has a similarly dismal track record of investigating and fixing its mistakes, including mixed credit files. When you begin working with the Consumer Justice Law Firm, we won’t be able to guarantee a timeline for corrections, but you will have the security of knowing that you are actually on track to get corrections and potentially even get money, too.