For more than a decade, my partner has been mistaken by credit reference agencies for another person with the same name and the same date of birth.
The other Christopher Smith has lived in numerous places and seems to leave properties without paying his bills – so utility companies and councils chase my partner for this money. The two men have different middle names but this doesn’t appear to make any difference.
As a result of the other Christopher’s debts, my partner has had his credit score lowered, credit refused and had councils, companies and debt agencies claiming he owes them money. He has tried to get to the bottom of the situation many times, and has successfully challenged parts of his credit score. However, he has not been able to eradicate the problem elsewhere in his records.
This morning, a man from Birmingham city council “enforcement” rang to pursue unpaid money, although the man didn’t seem to actually work for the council.
The situation seems beyond ridiculous and I cannot believe my partner has to live like this. It is a constant source of stress for him, and it affects his financial decisions. He even changed his surname five years ago but this has not made any difference. The fraudster seems to live in the Midlands but we live in Somerset. Is there anything you can do to help, please?
JC, by email
This letter is an abridged version of a longer one, and I can see why you are both so frustrated, not least because at some stage you may wish to apply for a mortgage. Unless you solve this problem now, it could scupper your mortgage hopes.
To get an expert view on this, I asked James Jones, a longtime expert at the credit reference agency Experian, for some advice.
He said: “These can be tricky, as both name and date of birth are key identifiers. To try to put a stop to this, your reader should obtain a credit report from each main credit reference agency (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion), and then request a dissociation from the other person.
“He should also ask them to add blocks, if possible, to any debtor-tracing services they provide to clients, to help prevent his address being suggested as a possible new address for the debtor. If the reader’s credit reports still include entries that aren’t his, including linked addresses, these should be disputed with the relevant agency and removed. That should resolve things.”
He has also offered to get the ball rolling at Experian, and that process has started. I fear you have several weeks of form-filling ahead but it needs to be done.
